Death Valley

[Sitarro]

A few shots taken in Death Valley last week, beautiful place! Shot with a Nikon D300 with a polarized Nikkor 18-200 G ED VR, a very complicated camera that I don't really have a clue how to use yet so please be kind. :laugh2:

[hjmick]

Beautiful. I love Death Valley. I hope to get out there this spring when the wildflowers bloom.

BTW, what brought you out this way?

[manu1959]

great shots....i have a d300 as well......i feel retarded using that thing.....

[moderate democrat]

those images are lively! If that is as a result of not understanding that camera, I hope that you keep taking photos and never "figure it out".

[Sitarro]

Beautiful. I love Death Valley. I hope to get out there this spring when the wildflowers bloom.

BTW, what brought you out this way?

My brother and I flew to Vegas and rented a hyundai and put 2700 miles on it in 5 and a half days. We drove through Death Valley the first day, the weather was perfect. The air was incredible........ spring must be amazing there. We then drove up to Reno and spent the night(stayed at a casino that gave us an airline discount on a 70 dollar room, 35 bucks!). From Reno, we drove across Donner's Pass to Grass Valley, Auburn and Roseville and on to Sacremento and up to Burney Falls.

From there we went around Mount Shasta and on up to Medford, Oregon. We were going to go to Portland and around Mt. Hood but decided to abort that and headed south the next morning. We then went down the coast to Humbolt State Park to see the Redwoods. We then headed down the 101 to Sausalito, fooled around there for a while then headed across the Golden Gate down to Half Moon Bay to shoot the golf course there.

Spent the night in Santa Cruz and got up to drive to Carmel at eat a great breakfast at the Wagon Wheel diner and then to downtown to check out the art galleries. We then went to Point Lobos, then to 17 mile drive by Pebble Beach, Cypress Point and Spanish Bay Golf Courses. On to Monterey and then headed East towards Vegas.

Spent the night somewhere and on into Vegas the next day to hang out until the 7 o'clock show of the Beatles "Love" by Cirque du Soleil........ great show! From there we went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Jerome Arizona and on into Phoenix in time to eat at Samari Sam's before catching a flight back to Houston.

Too much detail? :laugh2:

[Sitarro]

great shots....i have a d300 as well......i feel retarded using that thing.....

It's quite a machine, I did get a great book by a guy from the Nikonian web site on it but didn't get it read in time. It's called ........ Mastering the Nikon D300 by Darrell Young. It's well worth the 39.99 purchase price but I got it from these guys for around 28 bucks with shipping.

https://www.discountbooksale.com/store/productView.aspx?idProduct=734876&ec=1&ProdId=112&AWTrck=1050955753&gclid=CJWTgd_t9pgCFRo-awoddCMnnw

[Sitarro]

those images are lively! If that is as a result of not understanding that camera, I hope that you keep taking photos and never "figure it out".

Thanks, the camera helped a lot, it can do a lot more but haven't got that down yet...... I would probably use it in RAW anyway if I had the time. My brother is the "let's go" type that doesn't give you any time to actually think or plan a shot so that didn't help.

[Mr. P]

One thing I regret is NOT taking a camera to work with me all the time.

You'd have loved going along Sitarro, the photo ops were endless.

[Sitarro]

One thing I regret is NOT taking a camera to work with me all the time.

You'd have loved going along Sitarro, the photo ops were endless.

I'm sure there were! I shot a few photos from helicopters when I would catch rides on PHI out to rigs in the Gulf when I was younger......... when I relaxed enough to actually shoot. Those PHI pilots back in the 70s and 80s were former Vietnam chopper drivers and were pretty wild to ride with. Taking off from rigs were always an adventure. :eek::thumb:

[hjmick]

My brother and I flew to Vegas and rented a hyundai and put 2700 miles on it in 5 and a half days. We drove through Death Valley the first day, the weather was perfect. The air was incredible........ spring must be amazing there. We then drove up to Reno and spent the night(stayed at a casino that gave us an airline discount on a 70 dollar room, 35 bucks!). From Reno, we drove across Donner's Pass to Grass Valley, Auburn and Roseville and on to Sacremento and up to Burney Falls.

From there we went around Mount Shasta and on up to Medford, Oregon. We were going to go to Portland and around Mt. Hood but decided to abort that and headed south the next morning. We then went down the coast to Humbolt State Park to see the Redwoods. We then headed down the 101 to Sausalito, fooled around there for a while then headed across the Golden Gate down to Half Moon Bay to shoot the golf course there.

Spent the night in Santa Cruz and got up to drive to Carmel at eat a great breakfast at the Wagon Wheel diner and then to downtown to check out the art galleries. We then went to Point Lobos, then to 17 mile drive by Pebble Beach, Cypress Point and Spanish Bay Golf Courses. On to Monterey and then headed East towards Vegas.

Spent the night somewhere and on into Vegas the next day to hang out until the 7 o'clock show of the Beatles "Love" by Cirque du Soleil........ great show! From there we went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, Jerome Arizona and on into Phoenix in time to eat at Samari Sam's before catching a flight back to Houston.

Too much detail? :laugh2:

Nice, sounds like a great trip. Funny though, I don't recall any mention of it prior. Like no "Hey all you SoCal dorks, I'll be in your area, let's all meet for a beer!"

Huh... funny that...

LOL. Good that you guys had a great time.

[Sitarro]

Nice, sounds like a great trip. Funny though, I don't recall any mention of it prior. Like no "Hey all you SoCal dorks, I'll be in your area, let's all meet for a beer!"

Huh... funny that...

LOL. Good that you guys had a great time.

My older brother was running the show(he's a great guide, he been around a lot, but a little too much like Chevy Chase in Vacation....uhh hu, let's go!)he had everything scheduled to the hour(airline captain). At 55, I'm still the little brother that has to do what he wants to do or he pitches a fit. The trip came about pretty quickly and was changing on a daily basis.

When I come out there by myself I'll buy you the beer and be able to spend some real time shooting the photographs I want to. I could have easily spent a couple of days in Death Valley shooting and at least a day at Point Lobos shooting the pelicans. :thumb:

[jackass]

Nikon D300 with a polarized Nikkor 18-200 G ED VR, a very complicated camera

Maybe you should get a real camera like a Canon!!














:laugh2:
Sorry...I know its going to start so I just thought I would be the one to do it.
I would love to get a D300

[Sitarro]

Maybe you should get a real camera like a Canon.



:laugh2:
Sorry...I know its going to start so I just thought I would be the one to do it.
I would love to get a D300


I ran into a German tourist out there with a Canon Rebel set up he had bought on the internet. I explained to him what a circular polarizer does and showed him how to use it, he was very appreciative.

I saw a post on the Deviant Art website in the photography section the other day. I was directed there by another poster and found it to be a very interesting site, the title is a bit misleading but, I digress. The post was an attempt to be the definitive end to the argument between Canon and Nikon enthusiasts. I will try to find it and post it here. He basically said that all cameras have their pros and cons and the really important thing attached to the equipment is the person using it. It all comes down to what feels best in your hands because if you aren't comfortable, you aren't going to get the most out of the equipment or enjoy what you are doing. As far as professional photography, a pro will be a pro with any equipment they pick up just as Tiger could kick most people's asses with a set of rack clubs from Academy. He won't do his best but he will work around the lessor equipment's weaknesses and probably break par easily.

I have used Nikons for 30 years. I have also used Olympus, Pentax, Minolta, Mamiya and a Hasselblad for a day. I like the way Nikons are laid out, they feel very comfortable in my hands, everything is familiar even though I haven't picked it up before. It may take a while to learn all of the controls on the new camera, the D300 is a great example, but it felt like a heavy D70 in my hands so I was somewhat familiar with it already. The camera and Photoshop helped me get the images in this post, if I keep the D300, I'll learn more about it when I have some time.

I may still decide on the D90, it has newer technology, has video capability and is simpler and lighter. The D300 is a great camera but needs to be used everyday to get the most out of it, the D90 has most of the same specs but doesn't have the same learning curve and is half the price, the rest of the money could be applied to great glass. It really depends on whether my brother gives me a decent deal on his camera, he wants to get rid of it. As a pilot, he says he doesn't want to have to go to ground school every time he wants to take a photo(his way of saying that he feels it's way too complicated for the casual user that he is). He had the money and read the magazines and thought he was getting the best in the price range, it just isn't the best fit for him in the real world....... that's the problem with the magazines and the articles they print, they tend to cater to the pros which makes it harder for the amateur to figure out what is best for them.:thumb:

[glockmail]

... It all comes down to what feels best in your hands because if you aren't comfortable, you aren't going to get the most out of the equipment or enjoy what you are doing. .... Exactly. Although not much more than an amateur my Mom bought me a Canon AE1P for HS graduation and I used it all through college shooting sports, dragged it all over backpacking and on the back of my motorcycle, took it skiing, shot all the baby shots for my kids with it, and after about 15 years of use it quit on me and I finally had it cleaned-lubed-adjusted. It now sits in a drawer but works as good as new. My first digital that actually took useful pictures was a Canon sure-shot or something like that. I dropped it in the river during a canoe trip and it still took pictures but the battery life was never the same, even after replacing it. My current digital is a Panasonic Lumix that I bought for its 10x zoom and compact design, for my kids sports and such, and my son crashed while taking a ski movie and it captured the whole thing, now has a some nice rock scars on it but works flawlessly.

Nice pics of DV.

[Sitarro]

Exactly. Although not much more than an amateur my Mom bought me a Canon AE1P for HS graduation and I used it all through college shooting sports, dragged it all over backpacking and on the back of my motorcycle, took it skiing, shot all the baby shots for my kids with it, and after about 15 years of use it quit on me and I finally had it cleaned-lubed-adjusted. It now sits in a drawer but works as good as new. My first digital that actually took useful pictures was a Canon sure-shot or something like that. I dropped it in the river during a canoe trip and it still took pictures but the battery life was never the same, even after replacing it. My current digital is a Panasonic Lumix that I bought for its 10x zoom and compact design, for my kids sports and such, and my son crashed while taking a ski movie and it captured the whole thing, now has a some nice rock scars on it but works flawlessly.

Nice pics of DV.

Thanks, that place is definitely what you would call big sky country. I will go back.:cool:

[5stringJeff]

I've spent some time at the National Training Center, which is about halfway between Barstow and Death Valley. It is, indeed, a beautiful place, in its own way.