Another JMT Momento [dial-up hazard, pic inside]

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Dial-up hell version

We had spent the previous night at Thousand Island Lake screaming at a marauding bear, then awoke to a freezing cold storm. But we got up early and hit the trail. It was a glorious few miles from Thousand Island Lake to the far side of Garnet Lake, where I snapped this shot of Banner Peak shrouded in clouds. I wasn't sure the pic would come out because it was hand held and zoomed at 200mm in low light with Velvia 50 film, and I was still panting from the switchbacks. I felt as steady with that lens as an elephant on a swing bridge. What really caught my attention with this scene, as I first saw it as we had rounded another series of switchbacks, was that it looked more like a scene from Kilimanjaro in Africa or perhaps the Peruvian Andes, but certainly not the Ansel Adams Wilderness in the High Sierra.”

“Watch out though storm chaser and bacpac are looking at men's rumps........better put on a chastidy belt fast!”

“Beautiful, buck!”

“Holy Cow! I wish I could take pictures like that.”

“Buck, what do u use to enhance your colors? Photoshop?”

“Scorch, I'm pretty sure he just uses really good film...Fuji Velvia I think. He probably also uses a tripod and a nice SLR.”

“Speaking of rumps, spanks for the kind comments everyone! Spanks a lot. Spank you. Hey Dub, it's all about the scenery, man, allz I did was just point my camera at the mountain, anyone can do that, and I'm not just saying that to be humble, it's true. Hey Scorchy, the colors are compliments of both God and the Fuji® gods who make that wonderful stuff called Velvia®. In Photoshop I always try and match the original slide and not make any alterations, although that certainly isn't an exact science, especially with my minimal knowledge of Photoshop. I pretty much just scan, sharpen, and do some minor adjustments to the contrast and color that get lost in the translation from slide to jpeg file. The original slides used for these scans are crisper, brighter, cleaner, and more colorful. Most folks who scan slides know the frustration of making a digital file look like the slide. Scanning is to slides is what microwaves are to yesterday's leftover pizza.

From what I understand, if you have a good slr digital camera you can capture Velvia-like images with the proper adjustment of the camera settings (bumping up the contrast and color while keeping a low ASA setting). It's tough to really do it correctly afterwards in Photoshop without it looking sorta manipulated. At least from what I understand, which isn't much, I don't even own a digital camera yet. Take everything I say with a grain of salt and a shot of Tequila.”

“: ""Scorch, I'm pretty sure he just uses really good film...Fuji Velvia I think. He probably also uses a tripod and a nice SLR." - Dub

I would like to add that pretty much "all" film is "good", but each have their different purposes. Some are better for skin tones, some better for low light, some for high contrast, some are biased for certain types of color and lighting, etc., but most all films are good. Fuji Velvia is good for capturing the brilliant colors in nature for landscape photography, but not under all conditions. Velvia would not be a good "vacation" film to capture your family vacation, it's too picky. The lattitude is too narrow. You really have to know this film and its limitations.

As for the above photo, I had a tripod on my backpack but I didn't whip it out, so this shot was hand held and zoomed in at 200mm from right off the JMT. I wish I had used my tripod, but at the time I didn't wanna take off my pack and set up for a shot. That's why I was concerned whether this one would even come out very good or not... it was low light and Velvia 50 is a very slow speed film. I was hand held and zoomed, and still trying to catch my breath, which all combined is high risk for a blurry shot. I wish I had to go pee when I took this, then I might have been more inclined to take off my pack and setup my tripod. I take a lot of self-portraits of me going pee. BUCK, YOU'RE SICK, GO AWAY. NOW. SHOOO. GO ON, GET. Anyway, short story long, that's about it.”

“I'm going to have to try some of this Velvia for backpacking. I got some good pictures with Kodak 400 and I moved to 800 and my results didn't improve, so my next step was to go down to 200. However, I bought a new camera (point and shoot) for backpacking trips where I don't think there will be outstanding scenery. If I go somewhere as beautiful in the picture above I'll take my SLR. I'm still learning to take pictures...I think I have a pretty good eye...it's just getting the shot to turn out well...using the right film, film speed, aperature, etc...I need lots more practice.”

“That pic is Bucktastic!”

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This photo shows how much weight I lost while hiking the John Muir Trail.”

“Love the shots, the boots with hat is even a pretty good pic - if you have the right sense of humor.

I'll have to get some of the Velvia 50, I've heard and read that it's THE film for outdoor scenery.”