Colorado Road Trip 2019 | A few from Boulder

The first leg of the trip was Boulder, where we were for a few days for a wedding and to spend time with family.  Here are a few photos:

Dinner at Mountain Sun

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An evening outdoors at the Hilton Gardens.  No humidity. No bugs.

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The University of Colorado is gorgeous.  It is on one side of Boulder Creek and the town is on the other side. There are pedestrian and auto bridges connecting both, and there is a beautiful walkway along the river.  Next time around, this is where I want to go to college!

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We ate at "The Buff Restaurant" (as in buffalo) every breakfast we could, and Laurie and her sister had a lunch there as well.  I love their tag line: "Eat in the Buff".

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A day trip up Flagstaff mountain. The view north is toward Rocky Mountain National Park.  My best guess is that the white capped mountains are actually in the park.

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From Flagstaff mountain, this is a view of downtown Boulder.

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Boulder has a very active Farmers Market, twice per week.  No jewelry and T-shirts at this Farmers Market.  A craft fair is held on another day each week.  (I think on Thursdays.)

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The Boulder County Court House.

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Photo Gear

Before I get into the gear I packed for the trip, I thought I would write something about my philosophy regarding travel photography.  It is simply that travel comes first and photography comes second.  

Let me give an example of what I mean.  When traveling, if we were to arrive at a gorgeous landscape location at noon and the light is harsh and the shadows deep, I would find a composition I like and bracket a few shots in raw format. Then I would return to the car and drive to our next destination.  On the other hand, if photography were the first priority, I would not take a photo at noon but merely “check out the location”.  Then I would return when the light was expected to be better, such as one of the golden hours. And if the light was not “just right” I might come back yet another day.

As a result of this approach, I expect only about 1% of my shots to be potentially “portfolio” shots, and perhaps another 4% to be useable for Facebook or Instagram.  The other 95% are just “nice-to-have” photos.  So, at least 95% of my shots do not require a great camera or fast lens. They will not be printed and will be viewed at a maximum of perhaps 1080 x 1920 (full HD).  That’s about 2 megapixels. (I think my iPad has a bit higher resolution than “full” HD, at 1536 x 2048. That’s about 3 megapixels.)

With this in mind I try to keep my gear small and light, although I do feel I need to cover focal lengths of 24-300mm ffe to get the framing right, or 24-600 ffe when there will be animals such as the elk, moose, and big horn sheep, which we were expecting in Rocky Mountain National Park. 

[Unfortunately I ignored my own advise and took zooms and primes that covered only from 18-350mm ffe.  I never used anything wider than the 24mm end of my 24-200 ffe zoom, and wish that in about a dozen of my images that I had something longer than the 90-350 ffe zoom.  I wish I’d brought my 200-600 ffe zoom. Oh well, next time.]

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The cameras and lenses went into an Incase Camera Insert.  I bought it through Amazon two years ago for $40; however it is no longer available. But it shouldn't be hard to find something similar. I'd google/search for something like "camera bag insert".

The insert then slipped into by LLBean "Ridge Runner" day pack ($100 but Bean's always seems to have a 20% off sale going on).

Olympus E-M1 and 12-100mm (90-95% of images)

Panasonic GX80/85 and 40-175mm (5-10% of images)

Sony A6000 and Rokinon 12mm (didn't used)

Cinch it up

Slide into day pack

Toys to be accessible while flying:

MacBook Pro, iPad, Kindle

(note orange brick/battery in camera insert in first photo above, 

to be available if needed during the flight.)

Sound reducing headphones

Zipped up with compression straps too.

Will easily slide under plane seat

19" long x 10" wide x 7" thick

Colorado Road Trip 2019 | Initial Planning

Road trips are always fun. The planning for this one started with an invitation to our niece’s wedding in Boulder, CO.  

Neither my wife nor I particularly enjoy flying.  Actually the flying is fine… it’s all the antics and shenanigans between leaving the house and actually sitting at the gate at Logan airport. There are just so many things that need to go right (or at least not wrong). It always fills me with anxiety, and it starts with setting two morning alarms so we don’t oversleep  Perhaps if I flew more than once a year I’d get used to it.  Anyway, to “amortize” the annoyance of flying we decided to stay in Colorado an extra two weeks after the wedding!  

Map of the U.S.A. (From Rand McNally Road Atlas)

I designed a trip that had us staying one to three nights in eight locations (if you count one night at the Embassy Suites at the Denver Airport), traveling in an approximately counterclockwise circle through the central third of Colorado:  Boulder to Estes Park to Winter Park to Steamboat Springs, then south and east to Avon/Beaver Creek/Vail, further south and east to Buena Vista, then north and east to Denver.

Map of Colorado (from a map I picked up at the Fraser, CO welcome center)

My wife made our plane reservations with Southwest Airlines because she likes that one can check two bags for free, and with the wedding we were packing relatively “heavy”.  

I made our overnight reservations all through AAA, Travelocity, and Airbnb (first experience and it went well). Standard size SUV reservations were made through Enterprise.

Next up will be planning for what camera gear and electronics to bring.  The clothes part will be easy.

New Lens and some Fresh Flowers

In my last post I talked about the new (for me) Olympus lens I now own.  It's the 40-150mm PRO F2.8 zoom (80-300mm-full frame equivalent).

Here are a few shots from our local public arboretum.  All were done at F2.8 using the focus bracketing feature onboard my Olympus E-M1.  All were shot with 25 images.  I focus on the closest part of the flower and the camera does the rest, moving the focus point further away in small increments until 25 images are recorded. I do often discard one or more of the photos at the end of the series if by then the images were focused past the flower. The total images used in creating the images below ranged from 8 to 24. The images were stacked and processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.  It is a rather lengthy process.

These are all hand held, but I do use a little fold-up stool for low shots.  I sit on it and rest my elbows on my knees. I do have a tripod (not a fan), but usually leave it in the car (on purpose).

Tulip

Veronica

Grape Hyacinth

Apple blossoms

White Trilliulm

Very pink Trillium

I'm not sure yet what kind of fruit these will be.

Yup, just your basic Dandelion

Pink Trillium

I Got Me a New Lens!

Well, it’s not exactly new; but it is new to me. I bought it “used”, but in mint condition, from my friend Dennis. 

I’d been eyeing this lens since it was first announced by Olympus some four years ago, but I was just not able to justify it. It’s one of their PRO models: the 40-150mm (80-300mm full frame equivalent) F2.8 and is pictured below on the right. [Side note: Think of it as Olympus’ answer to the classic 70-200 F2.8 full frame zooms, but with a bit more reach, similar price tag ($1500 compares with Canon), slightly smaller size (6.3” length and internal zooming), and significantly lighter weight (26.8 ounces).]

To make comparisons like this, go to camerasize.com

This comparison shows the two complementary

 F2.8 PRO lenses I now own.

Left: 12-40mm (24-80mm-ffe)

Right: 40-150mm (80-300mm-ffe) 

I originally owned the PRO 12-40mm (24-80mm full frame equivalent) F2.8 zoom (above left), and when the 40-150 was subsequently announced I thought the pair would make a beautiful combo. But it was the $1500 list price that held be back from buying the longer zoom. Plus, since the 12-40 covers 75% of my landscape and travel focal length needs, the PRO level long-zoom seemed to be overkill in size and price. (What I opted for instead was the “good enough” consumer level 45-175mm (90-350mm full frame equivalent) F4-5.6 from Panasonic which had a grey market price on eBay of about $250.)

Left: Olympus 12-40mm PRO F2.8

Right: the "good enough" Panasonic 45-175mm F4-5.6 

The 12-40 and 45-175 has been one (of several) of my standard combos.  This focal range covers nearly all of my travel and landscape focal length requirements.  (The exception is when there are large animals to photograph, such as in Yellowstone, and for that a longer zoom comes in handy.)

So why add the 40-150mm F2.8?

First, Dennis and I agreed on a $900 price, which I found reasonable. I figured I could use the lens for a year or two and sell it for the same price, or a bit less, assuming I am able to keep it in mint shape. To be truthful, I believe I will use it only sparingly. I like to travel light so I believe my travel needs for a long zoom will continue to be met with the small and light 45-175mm (only 7.4 ounces!).

Primarily I think the 40-150 F2.8 will help me with my flower and butterfly photography. I have been enjoying focus stacking and want to do that at F2.8 (and this lens is quite sharp wide open) to keep the background out-of-focus and less distracting. My Olympus EM-1 camera has a focus stacking feature built it.  It will take up to 99 images. I usually have it set for “just” 25 images, starting with the part of the flower closest to the lens. In post, I usually discard a number of images at the end of the series because by then they are focusing beyond the flower. I’m currently favoring Photoshop for stacking the images.

I do own the 60mm F2.8 macro, and this works great if I can get close enough. But the 40-150 has a real advantage because when fully zoomed in I can fill the frame with a 3” flower at 2 1/2 feet. This extra working distance is quite helpful at botanic gardens, where I comply with the “stay on the path” rule. 

Last week I spend one hour on two different days with this new lens at a local arboretum.  I am still working on the images, but will post some soon. 

Waterville Valley Yesterday for some nice Skiing

Monday I was able to get in my first day of skiing this season.  Things hand looked pretty good around Thanksgiving (about seven weeks ago) with some decent early snow.  But there has been no snow down here in southern New England since then, while northern ski areas were able to finally get some the last couple of weeks. For one reason or another I got a delayed start this season.  My goal for the season is 15 days, with the "minimal accepted" number being 10. Fingers crossed.

I bought my day pass at Waterville Valley ($29 midweek for seniors if bought online, at least one day prior) and packed the car the night before.  It is about an hour and 50 minute drive for me… just long enough to listen to two podcasts and sip on an insulated mug of black coffee.

There seemed to be plenty of people on the mountain and in the lodge, although I did not need to wait in line at the lifts.  I see my photos are also pretty void of skiers.

For gear I had the little Panasonic GM-5 with the tiny collapsable 12-32mm (24-64 equiv.) zoom.  I kept it in the outside chest pocket of my ski jacket for easy access. 

High temperature was about 24 degrees Fahrenheit and there was very little wind.  The battery registered as full when I got home, so I don’t think the temperature had much of an effect on the battery. And the camera worked fine. It must have picked up some body heat from me (I had 2-3 layers under my shell parka, depending on what you count as a layer) but the outside pocket allowed it to stay cool enough so that when I took it out to use, there was no fog on the lens.  Indoors, I just kept it in my pocket (except for two of the images below, both taken in the upper hut featured in the first image.)

"Come Back Soon"

Reviewing old images: a few black and white Landscapes

My friend Dennis Mook had a motivating post on his blog this week (link) about his use of black and white renderings for landscapes.  It had me thinking about my own (rather limited) use of black and white for landscape photography.  Like most of us, I shoot digital and color.  Then, on my computer with Adobe Lightroom (Lightroom works great for me, but any software will do) I create what adobe calls “virtual copies”, to which I apply a black and white preset to see how the image will look in black and white. If I like it, I keep it.  The black and white file will then sit in my Lightroom catalog, side-by-side with the color file.  The dog-eared lower-left corner (see below) lets me know which are virtual copies, something that is helpful if you’re making multiple color copies or multiple black and white copies. So, in the case below, the color image is the original file.

It is very difficult for me to predetermine what images will look good in black and white.  Often what I think will look great in black and white will, in fact, look boring and unappealing.  There are other times when I have accidentally clicked (or hovered) over a black and white preset and have been amazed how good a photo looks in black and white.  Except for the random hovering over the preset I would never have guessed. I have come to believe that the best chances of a successful conversion is when there is a lot of contrast and/or a lot of texture or “gritty-ness”.

Lightroom has many presets for different black and white styles (for lack of a better word). In the “develop” mode in Lightroom Classic CC, these presets (there are 10 of them in the initial group, and a few more further down the panel) run down the left side.  Examples of black and white styles found in the presets are: Landscape, high contrast, punch, and low contrast.

I filtered my 40,000 images in the Lightroom catalog and was surprised to see only 150 black and white versions, over the 10 year period I have been using digital cameras for landscape photography. That’s not a lot.  But I do like many of them. 

I picked ten to post below, chronologically starting in 2007.  I enjoyed seeing how my camera selection has changed over the years.  I didn't remember that I had had so many different cameras, including Panasonic, Olympus, Nikon (just the first image and it was borrowed for our 2007 vacation), Canon, and Fujifilm.

Schwabacher Landing, Jackson WY

2007: The second day with a borrowed Nikon D40.

As I recall, full auto, jpeg.

I had no knowledge RAW.

Sailboats and Morning Haze

2008: Fujifilm Finepix F20 point and shoot

At the time this camera with its slightly larger point and shoot sensor

had nearly a "cult" following

Kayaking on the Sudbury River

2010: Canon S90 point and shoot

Same size sensor as the Finepix F20

but with more pixels as I recall

Three images above from The Canadian Rockies 

2012: Panasonic GH2 with Olympus 70-300 zoom

 Three Hemlocks

2014: Olympus E-M1 and 75mm F1.8

Lobsterboat and fog bank

2015: Olympus E-M1 and Panasonic 14-140

Blizzard Conditions

2017: Olympus E-M1 and 12-100 F4 zoom

Leaving the Mooring

2017: Olympus E-M1 and Panasonic 100-300 zoom