photoprospect

June 27, 2015

Thanks everyone for you help. I'm now back home and would like to say that your help is really appreciated. It was an excellent, I would say exceptional, trip - and the place was chosen solely based on your feedback! Probably in part due to not being prepared for the view, I was awed by the views offered by the Olympic park and Skagit valley. I'll say it's definitely in the top 4 of my trips, and given that it was much shorter than the others on this list (Galapagos islands, New Zealand, Croatia) and how easy it is to get there for some of you - it's quite a feat. When I'm done sorting through 3.5K photos made in a single week, I'll post some to <a href="http://www.photoprospect.com">www.photoprospect.com</a> - but even those made with a cell phone are beautiful, so I'm attaching one as a teaser. It comes straight from the phone, with only resize and resharpening done at home.

May 23, 2015

I'm looking for help planning the itinerary in the Olympic NP and its vicinity

After combing the net for places to see and photograph, I came up with the following list:

Must see:

<ul>

<li>Lake Quinault (starting place - coming from Portland, OR this is as far as I'm willing to drive in one afternoon)</li>

<li>La Push - Ruby beach, beach #2/#4</li>

<li>Cape Flattery - light hike</li>

<li>Hoh Rain Forest - light hike</li>

</ul>

Nice to see:

<ul>

<li>Lake Crescent</li>

<li>Ozette Lake</li>

<li>Hurricane Ridge (probably on my way out of the park)</li>

</ul>

Fixed dates:

<ul>

<li>June 7th - I'm driving from Portland, OR (in the afternoon) and Lake Quinault is as far as I'm willing to drive</li>

<li>June 14th - Have to be in Redmond by the end of the day</li>

</ul>

Actual itinerary:

June 7th - Lake Quinault

Sleep and move on in the direction of LaPush, can visit some of the beaches on the way

June 8th - La Push

I'm currently thinking to spend 3-4 nights in La Push, which should give me enough time to photograph the must-see places above. Anything else would be a bonus. In theory I could spend one less day here, but it would reduce my chances of catching a nice light.

June 12th - 13th ???

This is where I'll probably start moving in the general direction of Redmond.

I'd also like to see a sample of Skagit Valley and of Seattle, but it seems to be too much for the time I have - and this is where your recommendations come it :-)

June 14th - Redmond

Suggestions please! Much appreciated! :-)

Jean

May 15, 2015

@Charles - Can't make it two weeks, it's a week sandwiched between two conferences/events, so the dates are pretty much fixed. Your closer locations went on the list though, so thank you!

@Robin Great advice, I'm not a power-hiker, and with 12kg of gear it's even more strenuous

@Sheldon You recommended some beautiful places in Oregon, but I had a chance to visit part of them (Multnomah falls, waterfall road, and Cannon beach with a few hours in Ecola park) a few years back. The visit was way too short to do the area justice, but still - I'd like to see more places.

May 14, 2015

@Stephen, @Bob - thank you very much for your help.

It's decided then - I book the flights to have a free week in WA, and then will have a couple of weekends to do some more detailed research based on your recommendations.

May 13, 2015

Backround

I was just notified that I'm going to the US in a couple of weeks (and need to book the flights ASAP).

Sorry to be asking this question w/o having researched first, but if you'd be so kind as to throw in a recommended place or two it would really help me out.

What I'm looking for

I love shooting natural landscapes (examples are <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/SelectLandscapesImages?noredirect=1">here</a>) with mountains/forests/water and clouds are also important to have, and will have a week in June either in Ann Arbor, MI or in Redmond, WA.

Which area would be better? Any specific locations/ national parks?

I'll have a car, but yours truly is not a fan of long drives (well, unless they're very scenic and have places to stop and make some photos). Some short (up to several hours) hikes can also be a great idea - as long as they serve the main purpose, i.e. making photos.

Thanks!

May 14, 2013

as long as they are not blown out

</blockquote>

Actually that's the whole point of shooting raw - you have the option to save images that would be blown-out with JPEG. While JPEG holds 8 stops of dynamic range, raws hold more - depends on the camera, but it can be up to about 14 stops at the current level of technology. Saving images that look blown out is as easy as using a simple slider - in Lightroom it's called "Highlights". Try it once on an image that looks blown out and you'll never shoot jpeg again. This is especially true in the situation that you describe with limited time to consider your options - you have to take care of framing, angle, DOF, shutter speed, timing etc. with almost no time to think, so chances are your exposures won't be perfect.

With raw, you can also adjust other values as color (white) balance, exposure, sharpening etc - but the Highlights (and, to a lesser degree, the Shadows) is THE tool for me.

April 3, 2013

The only place I've been to personally that is relevant to you is Cannon Beach with its impressive Haystack Rock. Definitely not to be missed. Ecola park nearby is also very beautiful.

Jean<div></div>

March 8, 2013

Have you considered Nikon 1 series (e.g. J2)?

It's actually much smaller than the Panasonic FZ200 and has excellent focusing capabilities, which will come in quite handy on safari.

While the image quality is not the best, it's probably still a notch or two better than the FZ200's

Nikon's 30-110mm lens gets you to 300mm equivalent, which should be all right for casual safari shooting.

Note: If you really wanted to, you could use any other Nikon lens with an adapter which - taking into account the x2.7 crop factor - could easily get you into the 800mm quivalent reach zone with something like Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 VR. The latter will give you a less compact package, but still very manageable, mind you, AND who else can boast a 800mm f/5.6 with VR for around $1K?

Take a look at the camera size comparison at:

http://camerasize.com/compare/#349,124

September 18, 2012

Some general thoughts:

<ul>

<li>If you want good photos - don't spread your time too thinly over the country. IMO the best option is to have a chance of seeing the same place at least twice in different times of day. While you have a limited time in NZ, I'd recommend you to concentrate on a single island - and choose just a few specific areas there. You may have to skip some points of interest in order to make a good trip plan - just leave them for another visit.</li>

<li>The driving experience on the South Island is amazing - not a lot of cars there and the views are breathtaking. If you're not experienced in driving on the left side of the road - take it slowly in the beginning as it can be quite stressful (at least it was for me) and even dangerous. Tourists get killed there once in a while.</li>

<li>Skip the glaciers if needed - not because they're not beautiful, but because of the weather. Even in February, we spent two days in the hotel as the weather didn't allow helicopters to fly.</li>

</ul>

Given our similar interests, I'd like to suggest an itinerary for 9 days - season to taste :-) Taking my suggestion means you won't get to see the relatively remote places like Abel Tasman and Moeraki boulders - but you should have enough quality time at the places you will see:

<ol>

<li>Fly to Christchurch</li>

<li>Drive from CC through Castle Hill to Arthur's Pass and spend a night there. There are some short and beautiful hikes, like Devil' Punchbowl falls and Bridal Veil falls.</li>

<li>From Arthur's Pass go to to one of the glaciers and see Lake Matheson. If the weather doesn't cooperate, just keep driving through Haast Pass (another beautiful area) to Wanaka (not sure about the driving times/conditions here - make sure it's feasible) - now you're in Otago. A good idea could be a combined plane/hike/jetboat trip called Siberia Experience (google it, we loved it - even given limited time in the Siberia valley). You get to see and do a lot in a single day.</li>

<li>From Wanaka, head to Glenorchy - the road and the area are one of the most beautiful in NZ if I may say so about such a beautiful country. The whole areas offers fantastic views, but one of my favorites are the lake Wakatipu as seen from the Kinloch lodge and the Routeburn nature walk (2 hours long hike - don't confuse with the Routeburn Great Walk that take s a few day to complete). Also, Rob Roy hike takes 3-5 hours to complete and should be quite beautiful (I haven't finished it due to time constraints, so can't say for sure).</li>

<li>From Glenorchy, go to Te Anau (probably through Queenstown/Arrowtown). While not an amazing city (more like a big village), the place offers great hikes and is a good starting point for the Miford Road on the next morning as it's the closest point with lodging options before Milford Sound. While the main glowworm caves are found on the North Island, there are some in Te Anau vicinity, so you can see them as well.</li>

<li>Now it's time to see Milford Sound. The road is beautiful and there are a lot of amazing stops along the way. I say head out before the first light, so you're at the most beautiful part during sunrise. if you have the time, hike to Key Summit (takes about 3h). Top off your gas tank before leaving Te Anau and check the road conditions as the Milford road can be closed. A cruise on the sound is a treat, and doesn't take a whole lot of time. If you decide to spend the nigh there and get up before the first light, you'll be rewarded by the exquisite experience of watching the sunrise over Mitre Peak. Just note that sand flies can get bothersome.</li>

<li>Drive to Queenstown and fly back from there. It may be more expensive, but it saves you driving all the way back to Christchurch (the gas is expensive, but your time in NZ is even more so).</li>

</ol>

According to the above itinerary, you will have a day or two to spend at whatever location you like the most. I recommend Glenorchy or Wanaka.

Last, but not least - the weather affects everything you do in NZ, so be prepared to miss some points of interest. Be sure, though, the the rest will be more than worth the trip.

For the reference:

<ul>

<li>Some of my better images (some of them are from NZ)</li>

</ul>

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/SelectLandscapesImages">https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/SelectLandscapesImages</a>

<ul>

<li>Only-NZ photos (most of them unedited, but at least they're are all geotagged, which can prove quite useful to you)</li>

</ul>

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/NewZealand?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTN14r067-4GA">https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/NewZealand?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTN14r067-4GA</a>

June 15, 2012

I'm a local and - while I take most of my images overseas - there may be a few that you may find interesting.

As I'm pointing you to panoramio, they're all geottagged:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/4237494/tags/Israel

As far as the customs "cavity search", it very much depends on your looks, nationality and specific alerts. Mostly it goes smoothly, but one co-worker - a US citizen - got the worst possible treatment, most probably because he was born in Egypt. Bottom line - just as you wouldn' joke about carrying a bomb at a US airport, don't do it in Israel either.

FWIW,

Jean

May 10, 2012

PTGui can stitch multi-row panos.

Here's an example of a vertical pano from 13 (odd number of) images in two rows:

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/SelectLandscapesImages#5662715224850505746">https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/SelectLandscapesImages#5662715224850505746</a>

Regards,

Jean

May 8, 2012

Hardware: while you can manage w/o, a pano head is highly recommended. Will save you a lot of trouble and decrease the chances os sloped (i.e. ruined) panos. At a minimum you'll need a rotating base - your ball head probably has that.

Software: PTGui is what I use for stitching.

Technique: Make sure to get some practice before leaving on assignment, but in short:

<ul>

<li>Level the camera</li>

<li>Lock focus in manual</li>

<li>Lock exposure in manual (exposure varies wildly between frames in a pano)</li>

<li>Ensure 30% overlap between adjacent images (stitching software needs overlap)</li>

<li>Watch out for parallax - make sure there are no very close subjects</li>

<li>Beware of ghosts (things that move between frames and still stay in more than one frame, e.g. cars)</li>

</ul>

Less critical, but still:

<ul>

<li>Don't use polarizing filters (they cause dark spots in the sky in panos at 90 deg from the sun)</li>

<li>Shoot raw - or stitch real HDR pano (PTGui an do that)</li>

</ul>

Regards,

Jean

April 7, 2012

Russ,

I believe the problem is that when people are going to an unknown location there's some anxiety with regard to local crime and other dangers. After you've lived there for a while you know where to go and where not to.

For example, I live in Israel and while tourists might be wary to visit due to rockets falling every few days and some other issues, I feel perfectly safe and wouldn't think twice before recommending anyone to visit this beautiful and varied country as all those issues are localized and I know the places one shouldn't visit (and which tourists wouldn't visit anyway).

Regards,

Jean

April 2, 2012

I'd like to reiterate - there's a dedicated photography equipment insurance available.

In some place it be a rider on your homeowner's insurance, sometimes you can get a separate one. It depends on the country you live in. My personal experience - from Israel - is that you can extent your apartment contents' coverage to your photography gear to be covered while traveling for about $50/year. You still don't want to lose your stuff mid-trip as you wouldn't be able to take any pictures - but at least you will be reimbursed for the lost gear.

On a totally separate note I'd like to mention the topics of

- Backup camera - highly recommended

- Backing up your photos - preferably on more than one media, e.g. SD cards plus your hard drive

Regards,

Jean

April 2, 2012

I'd also recommend a 100-400 with travel insurance - so if it goes missing you can always get most of your money back.

If you decide to go with a 70-300, I say go with the best there is (and don't get a converter for any 70-300 - not a good idea).

Also, I'd recommend getting a polarizing filter for your telephoto lens - it can be a great help in the harsh African sun.

Good luck!

Jean

March 22, 2012

What camera are you using? I'm using Nikon GP1 with my (Nikon) SLRs - it connects to the camera and gets its power from the camera's main battery. It's quite nice that the GPS goes to sleep when the camera is inactive, so the battery life impact isn't significant. As long as your camera has power, so does the GPS. The photos are geotagged in-camera, so you have nothing to do after the shoot. My only problem that the GPS plugs into the 10-pin remote connector, making me buy yet another remote that plugs into the GPS unit. Other than that - a very convenient solution. There are also quite a lot of 3rd party solutions out there. Regards, Jean

February 24, 2012

For landscapes, I'd recommend to visit the area of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro (all are parts of former Yugoslavia). If you only have one week, you'll have to choose a single country - actually a part of country as you want to spend at least two days in any place as you want to catch both sunset and sunrise, preferably more than one to improve your chances of getting a good light. Some highlights: Slovenia - Lake Bled Croatia - Plitvice lakes NP and Dubrovnik (you can do both in a week, but they're quite far apart and you may have to plan for a flight between the two). I'd recommend this pair of locations. If you get bored fast, you can visit Ston - the nature is beautiful there too. Montenegro - Kotor and Kotor Bay (quite close to Dubrovnik, so you can combine both)

I'm sure there will be a lot of options, I can vouch for Croatia and Montenegro as being perfect for landscapes - and Plitvice Lakes is the best of them all!

You can look at some photos from the places I mention (with names of the places, equipment etc.) <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/Croatia?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3Vk4P13vf42QE">here</a>

Regards, Jean<div></div>

February 10, 2012

<ul>

<li>Should I have used flash?</li>

</ul>

Usually the answer will be "No", though a weak off-camera flash during one of the exposures could make the fence structure more visible (not sure why you'd want this anyway). The fence is what I'd try to avoid including in the frame in the first place.

<ul>

<li>Should I have used smal ler aperature? f16? f22 and resulting in long shutter?</li>

</ul>

Depends on of what you're trying to achieve. Most lenses perform the best around f/8, but if you're after more depth of field (more things in focus) you can do down do f/13-f/16. Don't go further than that w/o really knowing what you're after as diffraction will rob you of sharpness

<ul>

<li>Should I have set my focus point to MANUAL and s et it to the center point? It was on AUTO I believe.</li>

</ul>

YES! YES! YES! The problem is that the camera's AF may (and will) focus a bit differently every time it does AF. And this, in turn, will change the magnification a bit (called breathing, happens on most lenses in the world). And then when you try to combine the images, a single pixel difference will cause horrible loss of image quality.

I believe this is what's caused loss of sharpness and then you had to oversharpen the image to make it look acceptably sharp.

<ul>

<li>I do shoot in RAW but I do not have PS5 handy so I processed it directly through Photomatix, am I suppose to "pre" process RAW images first hand before doing anything?</li>

</ul>

There are different techniques for that - just google for HDR tutorials. What I find interesting is that if you create .HDR image using Phtoshop's "Merge to HDR" feature and the do the tone mapping in Photomatix, the results are much more pleasing and natural compared to doing the whole process inside Photomatix.

Another suggestion. Seeing how the lights are so bright, you may want to check the histogram of the darkest and the brightest images before leaving the scene. If the darkest image has blown highlights (peaks at the rightmost part of the histogram), usually it means you won't be able to recover them using HDR. If the brightest image has blocked shadows (peaks at the leftmost part of the histogram), it means you won't be able to recover some shadow details. Of course, sometimes there's nothing to recover in some images, e.g. black sky in your case - in this case blocked shadows are fine. If you see a problem with your image, just reshoot using a wider range of exposures (or start with negative EV compensation if blown highlights are your priority).

Regards,

Jean

January 31, 2012

I suggest you try shooting wherever you live in light levels similar to what you expect to have at your destination. Get some practice. See the results you get with your current equipment. Add new stuff as needed, but IMHO learning good handholding technique is crucial for when you can't use a tripod (with remote, and, probably, even mirror lock-up).

Basic things that might help:

<ul>

<li>As wide angle as possible</li>

<li> Optical image stabilization</li>

<li>Any way to stabilize the camera (some of it already mentioned above)</li>

<li> == Learn good handholding technique</li>

<li> == Lean on something solid</li>

<li> == Monopod</li>

<li> == String (surprisingly good solution)</li>

<li> == Table tripod</li>

<li> == No filters</li>

</ul>

Nothing replaces a quality tripod, but you have to live with local restrictions. Bottom line - if other people succeed to get a shot, you should be able to take it too.

Regards, Jean

January 23, 2012

Why focus on point-and-shoots while there are a lot of exceptional quality mirrorless cameras that are sometimes smaller than your average P&S? Take a look at http://camerasize.com/compare/#140,167 - the web site compares cameras side-by-side. In the above link I've shown Canon S100 (a small high-quality P&S) and Panasonic GF3 (mirrorless), which has interchangeable lenses and a much bigger sensor - which means higher image quality and more flexibility. Both cameras are the same size. Note that lenses for cameras with bigger sensors tend to be bigger as well. Bottom line: you want to have a small camera AND you want to print 24x24 - you go with mirrorless (and at least a tabletop tripod for low-light shots).

Regards, Jean

January 7, 2012

First, I totally agree with your approach.

Second, the South Island is divided by mountains range and it affects your planning significantly as there're only two passes available in your area - Arthur's Pass and Haast Pass.

I'll list some points of interest, but you'll have to decide which ones you "have" to see:

* Lake Tekapo

* Lake Pukaki

* Mt Cook (Aoraki)

* Glacier (Fox/Fraz Josef)

* Arthur's Pass and/or Haast Pass

* Wanaka (Glendhu Bay is spectacular)

* Glenorchy/Kinloch (the road there is beautiful, and Kinlock is an amazing location, also access to Routeburn nature walk - a couple of hours well spent)

* Arrowtown (cute town)

* Milford Sound (make sure to spend a night there - otherwise you'll miss both sunset and sunrise, the road from Te Anau is amazing and you should spend a few hours on the road)

* Queenstown and Christchurch (these you won't miss)

Note: I didn't mention locations to the north from Christchurch and the southeastern areas of the Island as the above list should keep you busy for two weeks. I suggest you map your points of interest in Google Earth and plan your route thoroughly as - while the driving is a major part of the fun in NZ - the last thing you want is spend all your time traveling between destinations and driving times can take a while.

I posted a couple hundred photos with locations marked - feel free to take a look:

https://picasaweb.google.com/110752296968089205692/NewZealand?authkey=Gv1sRgCMTN14r067-4GA

Enjoy your trip,

Jean

January 1, 2012

You may want to bring some silica gel as - while there might not be any immediate issues - fungi build-up can occur long-term due to high humidity inside the lenses.

December 6, 2011

Grand palace is one of the obvious places... though the visitors can be a problem, it's an amazing place to visit.

Others more knowledgeable than myself will surely suggest more options :-)

Regards,

Jean<div></div>

November 30, 2011

@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=3897923">Larry Greenbaum</a> - this is just my opinion, but your time would be better spent on SI alone. NI is very nice, mind you, but the farther south you get the more beautiful/wild the nature becomes. I say spend at least 15 days on SI.<div>

00Zfoh-420277584.jpg.13d84e44b4d42afb06f72f7307044284.jpg

</div>

November 22, 2011

Just to rephrase my suggestion for skipping Fox - last February, we spent 2 nights there in order to improve the chances of actually doing the heli-hike, but the weather didn't cooperate and the only thing I brought from there were a few shots of Lake Matheson taken in heavy rain and even those weren't too impressive. As this was the only big miss in our 5 weeks in NZ it was ok, but if it were one of 5 days spent in NZ - well, not having set foot on Fox glacier I can't know what we missed, but IMO on such a short trip it's better to go for sure bets and the country has a lot to offer.

Regarding Milford Sound cruise - you may be right regarding highest quality images, but it's short, not overly expensive and fun. The cruise lets you see/shoot some waterfalls w/ rainbows (if the sun's out), sea lions and the beautiful fjord itself.

Regards,

Jean

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