linc

I never got any pictures when I was there, but the marshalling yard at Durango in the hour or so before the earliest departure looked like it had some really fine, Monet like scenes of steam, fog, engine lights, etc.

I was just at Catherine Creek yesterday, March 20. Grass widows, shooting stars, yellow bells, yellow desert parsley and buttercups were profuse. Also, there were a few glacier lilies, some purple desert parsley and the balsam was just starting to bloom at the base elevation.

There are wildflowers in the Columbia Gorge from as early as late February (Catherine Creek)through the summer. I'm most familiar with the Washington side, which tends to be a bit warmer than the Oregon side. Silver Star east of Vancouver can open as early as June. In mid June, Grassy Knoll is beautiful. The first week of August try Bird Creek Meadows, one of the grander wildflower sites in the Cascades.

The San Juans are really more like Mendocino than Nova Scotia. The scenery is gorgeous, but the islands' habitations are composed largely of vacation and retirement cottages and mansions, plus resorts, and finally the community necessary to serve them.

 

What you may see are killer whales, eagles, red-barked madrona trees, ferries jostling for docks in small bays and expensive yachts. My sister, who lived in Friday Harbor for many years, calculated that there were several hundreds of millions of dollars worth of yachts anchored in Roche Harbor on one Fourth of July. There is a quaint hotel at Roche Harbor that might be interesting to photograph.

 

Orcas and San Juan Islands are beautiful and accessible. The view from the top of Mount Constitution on Orcas can be spectacular--with views toward the Cascade Mountains, Vancouver, B.C., Vancouver Island. Friday Harbor is the liveliest of the towns on the islands.

 

As far as fishing villages, the nearest thing would probably be at La Conner, which is on the mainland on the way to Friday Harbor. However, La Conner has turned into a tourist-y place.

By and large, the light is so intense and the animals so accessible that you probably can get by with hand-held equipment.

 

The biggest problem I found was metering. There is much black lava and/or pure white sand that the TTL meters get fooled. An incidence meter would help, or you might try some exercises at home with snow and black surfaces.

 

Being at the Equator, the Galapagos have harsh light and little or no twilight.

 

Linc W

David:

Setting up a home network is something I have to do from time to time, but I never get it straight the first time. However, some advice:

 

1. Make sure the computers are talking to each other through the cable. XP should recognize the hardware changes on each computer and the systray icon should tell you that the connection speed.

2. Make sure the two computers are named and have different names.

3. Make sure file sharing is enabled on at least one of the computers.

4. This is where I get hazy, but in Windows Explorer, under Tools/Map Network Drive/ you should be able to \\computername\sharedrivename\ and be connected.

5. If that doesn't work, try the network connection wizard.

 

In addition, the following web site has some good information.

 

www.homenethelp.com

Find a book that "talks to you."

 

Identify a couple of Photoshop features that you want to learn. Go to a large bookstore or library and read the myriad Photoshop books with regard to those topics. Find out which ones you find most understandable. Those are the books that you want to buy or check out. Some of the ones in this thread are probably in that list.

On the Galapagos, I used a lot of Velvia and Provia. The Galapagos are a desert--high contrast, lousy light for most of the time. In addition, there is a lot of pitch black lava and/or white sand/sea foam that will throw off your TTL metering, unless your are careful or carry an incidence meter.

 

You might do some metering exercises at home with high contrast subjects--new asphalt, for example, as a backdrop to your subject.

I use Photo Secretary (1, I think) with my 90s in Windows XP. Note: There could be two versions on the disks provided--a 16- and a 32-bit version. Make sure you're using the 32-bit version (with the long file names).

I hope you can take a wide-angle lens. I had a 20-35 zoom, which did nicely.

 

Generally, the shots are tight, particularly within the village streets, but even at Vernazza, it was nice to get all the colorful fishing boats from the harbor side.

 

On the other end, I'd recommend a long lens to capture one of the villages from a distance, getting the mountainous terrain and the houses perched on the promontories. I used a 80-200 with a 2x teleconverter to get a nice shot of Manarola from Corniglia, where we stayed.

 

By the way, don't miss the gnocchi pesto at Gianni Franzi's in Vernazza. And, the local wines in pitchers or carafes are wonderful.

It's been years since I put my Arca-Swiss ballhead on, but I believe there are some set screws that needed to be tightened. These are reached from the tripod side of the ballhead. Perhaps they have not been loosened enough.

Windows XP has a free screen saver that I ported to Windows 2000 where it works fine as well. I save PS 96ppi or 72 ppi images after I've worked on them into a folder. To use the folder or any other folder, you just need to identify it through the desktop properties option (on a Windows system). You can page through the photos once the screensaver has fired up by using the left and right arrow keys.

 

Linc Wolverton

Thanks for all the input to date.

 

In response to Kevin Thurner's note, I scan the slides with an LS-2000 machine running under Nikon's 3.1 scanning software. I have analog gain set to neutral, Digital Ice se to normal, 16X passes and 8 bit output.

 

I normally control the scanner through the Photoshop 6.02 Import command--just pressing the buttons to scan.

 

As soon as I have the time to scan in one of the photos as an example, I will do so, and upload it.

 

Linc W.

Like an idiot, I failed to realize that the automatic detection of

ISO had been disabled on my Nikon after it came back from the shop.

 

I inadvertently exposed a roll of Velvia film at 200 ISO, but I did

not discover the error until the film was developed. [Otherwise, I

could have asked the camera shop to treat the development as if it

were pushed two stops.]

 

What I need to do now is use Photoshop to correct the problem. I

could hunt and peck at the menus until I found what needed to be done-

--brightness, saturation, etc.--but maybe somebody out there has

already found the solution.

 

If so, help!!!

 

Linc Wolverton

My wife and I were in the Galapagos a year ago last Spring. The longest lens I had was an 80-200 2.8 zoom, and I carried a 2x teleconverter. That setup was ample.

 

The animals are really close to trails, so you can almost walk right up to them and take them with a 50 mm lens if you want.

 

Landings can be somewhat rough, so be careful of the weight that you carry, and put your equipment in waterproof bags in case you fall in.

 

The light is harsh, even though our group was on land at 7 am and in the evenings. The islands, after all, are on the equator and we were there at the equinox.

 

TTL metering is very difficult because of the preponderance of dark black lava, bright sun, black sand, bright white sand and white seas. I would urge you to practice taking photos in harsh-light with black and/or white backgrounds in bright sun. You can bracket, of course, as well. I found that metering on foliage, anything neutral gray or just using a combination of black and white for metering purposes worked well. I didn't have too many throwaways. I used my compensation button alot. [On my Nikon, I have the option to spin the dial next to the snap button.] Because the islands are so barren, once you get a good meter setting you can probably use it for awhile unless the cloud cover changes.

 

Have fun. We did.

 

Linc Wolverton

I probably have to send the scanner to the shop, but maybe somebody

has a quick fix.

 

When I scan a slide, the mechanism that holds the scanning beams is

stuck and only scans the part of the slide towards the opening. Each

color shows in a line at the edge of the slide. Maybe the light beam

mechanism is just off track and there is an easy fix.

 

Help, anyone?

 

Linc Wolverton

It will be very hot, so weight may be a problem.

 

Though not directly on point, be sure to take an incidence meter or bracket extensively. The Galapagos lava is very black and a roiling sea is very white, so through-the-lens meters can be thrown off easily. And there is little shade, but what there is makes for high contrast with the bright sun.

 

Linc Wolverton

Having taken photos of lava flows in similar situations--in the Galapagos--let me urge you to be careful of metering. The problem in the Galapagos was to get good meter readings with a black background of lava and bright white seas, green vegetation, or birds and animals. I don't know whether Hawaii will expose you to such high contrasts, but lava is tricky.

 

You can take an incidence meter, a gray card, or figure out what is neutral gray and meter off of it, holding the readings for your composed shots.

 

Linc Wolverton

I'd like to see a permanent Photoshop forum.

 

Linc Wolverton

Jim,

 

This is the note from my sister:

 

"It might be best for him to talk with the Galiano Conservancy at

250 539 2424. If he spoke with Ken or Linda Millard or Keith they could probably give him a good idea. This "Spring" is a bit odd. We're still under snow and freezing up here."

 

If you're coming from Vancouver by ferry, be ready for some spectacular shots as you go through the narrow passage between Galiano and Mayne (?) Islands, depending on the weather and light. The ferry has to make two 90 degree turns beneath some sharp cliffs and mountain sides. Usually, there is another ferry in the passage as well. Blue water, white ferry, dark green forests, dark cliffs, etc. I recommend relatively fast film and a telephoto lens.

 

Also, if you look on your right (going West) at the end of the passage, there is a cliff and mountainside on Galiano Island which houses bald eagles--sometimes hundreds of them can be seen at a time. You won't have a lot of time to set up, because the ferries go through the passage at a pretty fast pace, even the locals to Saltspring.

 

Best of luck.

 

Linc

My sister has a cabin on Galiano Island, the next major island to the east of Saltspring. I can ask her about the wildflower timing, but I need to know more precisely what month you would be going.

 

Those islands are very mild, and flowers will be blooming from January on.

You might look at the Kinesis system at www.kinesisgear.com. I haven't used their gear for a long backpack trip, but I have used their camera/lens packs and carried a separate different-brand daypack. The camera/lens packs allow you to use your waist or shoulders for support or any combination thereof. They also have packframe outfits thay might be more suited to longer treks.

 

The products are well made and convenient.

 

--Linc Wolverton

My wife and I spent three weeks hiking in Tuscany last May--which is the month when the poppies and many wild orchids bloom. I would suggest that you just take side roads and wander wherever strikes your fancy. Siena, San Gimignano and Volterra are beautiful, especially at dawn, but they are crowded during the daytime. I second someone's suggestion for the Cinque Terre.

 

I found one photographer's web site that epitomizes much of the beauty: http://www.terraditoscana.com/santioli/ukindex.html

 

Linc Wolverton

When we went there many years ago in April, another off-season month, one could simply walk down the trails into the canyon, wade across the river and walk to (beneath) the ruins. Plus, there were many places to view the canyon from the rim, which provides some very nice photo opportunities.

 

Maybe they've tightened up in the past few years.

 

Linc Wolverton

I used the Gitzo Monotrek through Italy with an N90S setup. It works fine as a walking stick (It has a ski-pole strap), but I found it too light to do much with the camera. Much more useful were my beanbag--there are lots of fenceposts, walls and pedestals in Italy--and my el cheapo Slik $40 tripod that I threw in my suitcase at the last minute. I since broke down and bought a carbon fiber tripod and love it.

 

Linc Wolverton