A few photos of Phoenix from South Mountain...

Don B. · #1 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 3:09 AM**

This forum is slow, so I figured I'd put these pics here...

Went hiking South Mountain ten days ago when it finally stopped raining here every frakking weekend:

--don

PHX NATIVE 929 · #2 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 3:14 AM**

Gorgeous. Thank you.

CraftTeutonic · #3 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 3:41 AM**

sweet pics. downtown looks pretty substantial in the third one

HooverDam · #4 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 5:55 AM**

Very nice as always. I was up there a few days back, no spring flowers yet but lots of green growth everywhere. I figure we should have a pretty good wildflower season this year due to all the rain.

NorthScottsdale · #5 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 4:45 PM**

I love how everything is green now because of all the rain. Nice shots. THis spring is gonna be hell, my allergies are already kicking into high gear.

mwadswor · #6 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 5:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthScottsdale

I love how everything is green now because of all the rain. Nice shots. THis spring is gonna be hell, my allergies are already kicking into high gear.

No kidding. I rarely have allergy issues in Phoenix, but I'm already having problems this year.

Vicelord John · #7 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 8:46 PM**

Are you looking for input on the pictures? I don't want to say anything if you don't want to hear it.

What equipment are you using?
What trail is that?

thanks for the pictures. I never get tired of seeing desert pics!

Leo the Dog · #8 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 11:33 PM**

The last two are amazing!

Leo the Dog · #9 Posted **Mar 17, 2010, 11:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicelord John

What trail is that?

I'm gonna guess the Hidden Valley / National Trail...?

Don B. · #10 Posted **Mar 18, 2010, 1:47 PM**

^ Leo, you are correct. I even squeezed through Fat Man's Pass with no problem. Whee!

Vicelord, comment away. I know that I can do better, but frankly I don't have the time, money or inclination to do better. For example, carrying a tripod will always result in cleaner shots. I have no desire to lug a heavy tripod, or even a smaller monopod, on a 5-hour-long 15-mile hike. I have an older version of Photoshop (CS2), which lacks some of the whiz-bang features of CS4. I have a 10 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel Xti with a malfunctioning sensor cleaner (these photos required a LOT of clone-stamping to get rid of the dust spots, which drive me nuts). I could be shooting HDR, but that requires a tripod. I shot these in both RAW (recent development) and highest quality JPG but can only work with JPG because I need to learn how to create an effective RAW workflow and teach myself how to properly manipulate RAW files. I only have a Canon 16-35 mm L-series wide angle lens, which is horrible for zooming in on distant targets like downtown Phoenix, but it is great at capturing scenery shots. And there are likely other things I'm missing as well.

Thanks for all of your comments.

--don

TAZ4ate0 · #11 Posted **Mar 18, 2010, 3:26 PM**

@NorthScottsdale and mwadswor...

Yeah, me too. My allergies are already kicking into high gear. It's getting so bad that even my ears are getting stuffed up. Me thinks it's time to go see the doc and get some of the good allergy meds. The OTC stuff just isn't cutting it.

BTW... like the pics Don.

Vicelord John · #12 Posted **Mar 18, 2010, 3:50 PM**

Geez don, all i was going to say is 3 is somewhat too soft and they are all a bit underexposed. Id love to see them again with proper focus and exposure and they would be great.

Don B. · #13 Posted **Mar 18, 2010, 3:54 PM**

^ I know, but I can think of all sorts of things to make photos better. I'm always thinking. I purposely underexpose my images, as it tends to eliminate blurring from hand-holding the camera and I prefer the richness of the colors as a result.

3 is also a 100% crop so it is going to be softer than the others. The actual image is much bigger than that, but I cropped it tight to focus on downtown, as much as I can with a wide angle lens.

Thanks for your comment, though.

--don

Vicelord John · #14 Posted **Mar 18, 2010, 4:34 PM**

Ive got a decent light tripod that would be great for a small camera like yours pm me and perhaps we can figure out a trade or something.

Leo the Dog · #15 Posted **Mar 19, 2010, 10:18 PM**

Don,
I hiked hidden valley on Weds. Nice to see how green the desert is. Some flowers starting to pop up on the south facing slopes. We all know in only a few weeks its going to dry/brown up so now is a great time for pictures!

combusean · #16 Posted **Mar 20, 2010, 3:53 AM**

http://rawtherapee.com is the site of a free program I've used for dealing with RAW images.