Random pictures from a 6-month trip to South America

Thanks for your comment. The condors were all shot from the ground at the Colca Canyon in Peru. This Canyon is very deep (2x the depth of the Grand Canyon), so if you are walking on the top side you are sometimes level with and sometimes above the condors (that are looking for food on the (very steep) slopes). As for the Mayan ruins: I just shot those standing on other ruins.

It was a backpacking trip: so, no money to fly )

Cheers

DannyV said:

I am absolutely green with envy. I have a quick question. I noticed
some of the shots like the condors and the Mayan ruins were
photographed from above. Were you in an aircraft or were you able
to climb so far above the surrounding countryside?

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--
Being the amateur I am, I just love photography

My G3 pictures: http://www.pbase.com/pt_vd

Thanks a lot. It's quite the compliment.

I really must say that I was completely new to photography when I went on this trip. I had never owned a camera but felt that I should get one because of the exceptional things we were undoubtedly going to see. So, I bought the G3 a few months beforehand.

I don't know if I switch that much between evaluative and center weighted metering (I did so in the beginning when I was trying out these unknown features). Whenever I doubted the picture would turn out alright, I would play with that setting to see if it could be improved. I first tested the difference between the 3 metering methods by positioning a book in front of a lamp (lamp in center of picture). Holding the camera steady and switching between metering methods you will sometimes be able to read the cover's text (stupidly simple, I know, but it gave me a feel to what the metering 'did').

The Moon valley...uhm. I shot that picture 6 months ago and since then another 3000... uhm. I think I usually focus on a point that is midway in the picture (if I want about everything to be in focus). But again I recommend you to try out yourself and see what suits you best in a certain situation... I usually just go with the moment. I do move the focusing rectangly to wherever I want to focus, that's about the only thing I do, most of the time.

Shooting animals is something very different: I always switch to manual focus (infinity)... animals hardly ever come so close that "infinity" would not work. And the autofocus simply is too slow to capture flying birds (however "large" they may be ).

I hope this helps a bit, I'm still learning myself...

Cheers

George Adams said:

Pieter, you have a great gift! Your pictures are just spectacular!
I'd like to learn from you, if you don't mind.

I see you switch a lot between centered weighted and full
evaluative metering. Why? And in which situations do you select
each?

Using your Moon Valley shot as an example, how did you frame that
picture? Did you focus on a near object to get your measurement or
did you just focus on a distint object, manual focus perhaps?

Your type of photography is what I'm trying to learn to shoot, not
there yet. Any help you can give me is much appreciated.

TIA

George Adams
--
Happy shooter...

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--
Being the amateur I am, I just love photography

My G3 pictures: http://www.pbase.com/pt_vd

My X-drive's battery failed me also. And I do get an error message sometimes when transfering pics to the computer but when I tried again a couple of times it finally sent the pics over. And I transfer the CF card twice to X-drive just to be sure. I hope you read my other post. John

Pieter Van Damme said:

All things considered, I think it is quite possible to do the
six-month trip with one CF card (big enough to store at least 100
pictures in highest resolution, which is not hard to find nowadays)
and a storage device. The X-drive is not too bad: it's been on VERY
shaky rides and never 'crashed', BUT transferring pictures from CF
card to X-drive can produce the odd error (so some pictures are
lost, but not too many).

Groetjes,

Pieter

Robert Jan said:

ps. What kind of storage did you use? I can imagine that there
isn't a computer around the corner in the places where you went. So
did you bring lots of flashcards?

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--

Being the amateur I am, I just love photography

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--
JWP

nice compositions
saturated colours

were the photos made in JPEG or in RAW ?

JWP said:

Pieter Van Damme said:

All things considered, I think it is quite possible to do the
six-month trip with one CF card (big enough to store at least 100
pictures in highest resolution, which is not hard to find nowadays)
and a storage device. The X-drive is not too bad: it's been on VERY
shaky rides and never 'crashed', BUT transferring pictures from CF
card to X-drive can produce the odd error (so some pictures are
lost, but not too many).

Groetjes,

Pieter

Robert Jan said:

ps. What kind of storage did you use? I can imagine that there
isn't a computer around the corner in the places where you went. So
did you bring lots of flashcards?

Click to expand...

--

Being the amateur I am, I just love photography

Click to expand...

--
JWP

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I only had positive expierences with my 20 GB Image tank. I made some (bumpy) trips but never had any problem so far.

Btw I enyoyed very much your gallery.Great pictures!

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Gtwo pictures: http://www.pbase.com \ivdongen

Pieter,

thanks for sharing this great gallery and for bringing back memories from my one-year backpacking trip in South America. I visited most of the places you did and seeing these photos certainly sent me down the memory lane!

Most pics are stunning. You had better luck with the weather than I did! And you have a great eye.

Keep up the good work!

--
Ana

My feeble attempts at photography
http://www.pbase.com/anapogacar

[I] Peter said:

nice compositions
saturated colours

were the photos made in JPEG or in RAW ?

Click to expand...

--
Being the amateur I am, I just love photography

My G3 pictures: http://www.pbase.com/pt_vd [/I]