Great Wall of China Images

[Telecorder]

have now been posted at my newly created Galleries at -- http://telecorder.smugmug.com/

I toook over 37-GBs/5,000+ separate D50 & FZ30 images (> 10,000 RAW+JPG files) during our whirlwind 9-Day bus tour to Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Left LAX at Sat 1:30AM and arrived to snow in Beijing Sun 6:30-AM -- 12-hour flight through 16-time zones. Rest of the tour saw pretty good - great weather except for haze/fog/some drizzle in Shanghai for the last full day/nite in China (of course, that's when we went to the Bund waterfront; next morning was a glorious blue sky!).

I've spent the last three days uploading, organizing and doing quick Picasa2 post processing of the initial images taken from the Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall. I've posted these low resolution, quickly processed images on my new Smugmug account for those who wish to view.

It looks like it'll be a bunch more days of sorting/processing and posting to get all of the images addressed.

All in all it was an experience of a lifetime for someone who's never been further out of the US than Ensenada.... As I go through the rest of the images and get them grouped, I'll post additional galleries covering the individual venues we went through plus some galleries of my 'shoot-from-the-hip and 'through-the-bus-windows' images of the passing streets/scenery/people, as well.

Since we received a coupon for a free photo book when we got our passports, I plan on using the following image on the title page to show through the cover's opening... quite apropo I believe...



--
Telecorder (Dave)
FZee5/FZee30+RD-S+OlyTC1.7X
Dee50+Nikon 35mm F2.0D-AF+Nikkor18-70DX+Tam70-300L+BIGMA 50-500 EX HSM
My Image Gallery --

http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121399&password=

 

[B_Algood]

I know this must have been the trip of a lifetime Dave, and you've captured the moments well. Really enjoyed viewing the galleries, some great shots in there..I for one will be waiting for the next installment..Great Job!..Bill ~
--
'Always be good' * Current camera and lens set-up in profile...

img src=



Panasonic Lumix DMC- L1
Panasonic Lumix DMC LC1
Canon Powershot G7
Voightlander R3M RF
My Gallery-- http://doogla.smugmug.com/

 

[pkong]

Nice of you to share. The last time I was where you had been was in the 1980s and 1990s. China has changed a lot since then. I'll be in Chengdu, Sichuan Province and the 3 Gorges next month to see for myself the tremendous change that has taken place. Enjoy your pics of the Great Wall, Temple of the Heaven and esp the Jade factory- I love jade carvings but they're very expensive!
--
pkong
http://www.pbase.com/virtualink

 

[Telecorder]

pkong wrote:
Nice of you to share. The last time I was where you had been was in
the 1980s and 1990s. China has changed a lot since then. I'll be in
Chengdu, Sichuan Province and the 3 Gorges next month to see for
myself the tremendous change that has taken place. Enjoy your pics
of the Great Wall, Temple of the Heaven

From the rate and amount of new construction going on, and the commentary and discussion with the

I envy your upcoming trip. Ours was a 14-day venue tour crammed into 6 days so we were usually a bit rushed by the guide to stay on schedule for making it to the next venue. Of course, the Lingering Garden and the Buddah Statues at West Lake had most all of us tarrying behind...
;-}

I hope to post those images in a few days.

With > 5,000 images, I'm only able to use Picasa2 and do basic post processing of the Basic jpg images so I can get them up faster for the other tour members. I plan on going back and using the NEF/RAW images for those select images that deserve the extra effort...

esp the Jade factory- I
love jade carvings but they're very expensive!

Then you'll probably like to view my recent post on the images taken at the Jade factory -- most were taken with my Pany FZ30...
http://Telecorder.smugmug.com/gallery/2586833/1/136315840
--
Telecorder (Dave)
FZee5/FZee30+RD-S+OlyTC1.7X
Dee50+Nikon 35mm F2.0D-AF+Nikkor18-70DX+Tam70-300L+BIGMA 50-500 EX HSM
My Image Galleries --

http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121399&password=

http://Telecorder.smugmug.com/

 

[Telecorder]

pkong wrote:
I love jade carvings but they're very expensive!
--

Thought that I'd share one that's offered at only $48,102 USD



--
Telecorder (Dave)
FZee5/FZee30+RD-S+OlyTC1.7X
Dee50+Nikon 35mm F2.0D-AF+Nikkor18-70DX+Tam70-300L+BIGMA 50-500 EX HSM
My Image Galleries --

http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121399&password=

http://Telecorder.smugmug.com/

 

[pkong]

Hi Dave,

This one is so expensive because this single huge chunk of jade had different shades of colour in it and the artist/artists had to plan beforehand so that the colour conforms to what he/they want to carve out of it. The earth are in brown and the flowers are in red. Needs lots of planning and months to do it.
--
pkong
http://www.pbase.com/virtualink

 

[seknsak]

Hi Dave,

Good to see you made it back safely! Now you have me really envious with your crystal clear day on the wall. Nice shots and I look forward to your gallery.

Did my recommendations and tips help?

Steve

 

[rafinmelb]

I may never see these sights. Seeing your gallery makes up for it (a little). Looks like you had a terrific trip and have brought back some great memory joggers.
--
cheers
Rafael (FZ30)
http://rafael.zenfolio.com/ (referral code on my page)

 

[Telecorder]

Hi Dave,

Good to see you made it back safely! Now you have me really
envious with your crystal clear day on the wall. Nice shots and I
look forward to your gallery.

Did my recommendations and tips help?

Actually, Steve, they did... I plan on finishing my image processing/posting and then will write up a review guide of what I anticipated and what reality determined... especially with the probability of a lot of forum members possibly going to the 2008 Beijing Olympics next year.

One great item I came across and used with good success is the New Zealand developed 'No-Jet-Lag' tablets... two 12-hour flights across 16-time zones going West then East -- w/very minimal - no jet lag on either end.

We really lucked out with the weather as the forecasted day of arrival rains was really snow. Didn't really help for taking images at the Temple of Heaven but I still was able to get a few. The front blew through overnight so the rest of the week was almost perfect for photos with little to minimal haze at most all sites during the entire 7-days in country.

As others had commented, the 18-70 DX lens was used predominately. A few times I wish I had something a bit wider. Since we were rushed through 5-7 venues each day, there wasn't a lot of time to set up and take images, much less change lenses. I was able to use the 70-300 Tamron at the West Lake to good use. I also used my 35 f/2 a couple of times.

All in all, though, the 18-70 DX Nikon was my bread winner with good results. The SB-600 also earned its fare at a number of sites. The 18-200 VR lens would probably be the way to go if I were to go again on this type of fast-paced 'highlight' tour. I had to revert back to my birding mentality of going with Auto-Program and letting the camera set the settings for me in most cases. My one big regret was overlooking setting Auto-ISO, or maybe 400-ISO for the night time Bund Waterfront images... I missed a lot of great money-shots due to using manual handheld at 1/15-seconds and f/3.5.



The FZ30 with its OIS did pretty good when used and really great for the movies of the acrobat performance in the low-light theater...





I just finished post processing about the first 1,000 of the 6,000 images I took and posted tham on my Smugmug Account at--
http://telecorder.smugmug.com/Travel/296874

These cover departure on Sat 3/3 until arrival in Shanghai on 3/7 AM. Interestingly, I posted the first images on Monday, 3/12 and, as of today, my site has 35,782 individual image views with the Great Wall sub-gallery getting > 19,000 individual views...

Its back to work on Monday so I'll have to apportion my time to post process the remaining images. I may just run them through on a batch processing to see how Picasa2 does. For the most part, Picasa2's Auto Contrast and Auto Color seems to do a fair job... I have a lot of images from the flight back starting over Russia's Kamchatka Penisula - Bering Straits - SW Alaska that really are interesting that I may have to post earlier. Of course, though, the West Lake rock-carved Buddahs and the Temples/shrines and Tiger Hill & Lingering Gardens have some really great scenes/images in their own right...

tsk, tsk, so much to do and so little time to do them...
;-}

--
Telecorder (Dave)
FZee5/FZee30+RD-S+OlyTC1.7X
Dee50+Nikon 35mm F2.0D-AF+Nikkor18-70DX+Tam70-300L+BIGMA 50-500 EX HSM
My Image Galleries --

http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121399&password=

http://Telecorder.smugmug.com/

 

[seknsak]

Dave - Looking forward to your China do's and don'ts. I like the picture in the post above of the girls in the low-light theater. Although soft, the composition and the purple haze surrounding the girls really works for me.

I have been going through your gallery and you really lucked out with the clear weather. You also have me hungry for Peking Duck - I never thought to get into the kitchen. Very interesting!

Steve

 

[Telecorder]

Dave - Looking forward to your China do's and don'ts.

I'll try to work on them and post an assortment of what worked and what didn't this weekend. After being off of work since March 1rst, and just returning Mar 19th, I have a lot of catching up to do... Not to mention the remaining 4K of images to go through/work on.

I like the
picture in the post above of the girls in the low-light theater.
Although soft, the composition and the purple haze surrounding the
girls really works for me.

Yea, the FZ30's movie mode surprised me with its OIS, zoom and IQ -- especially in the above low light performance

I have been going through your gallery and you really lucked out
with the clear weather.

Did we ever, by Wednesday - when we flew to Shanghai, the weather was warm enough that we only had light jackets on. The rest of the trip couldn't have been better except for the Saturday visit to the Bund during the day - a bit hazy and foggy. The night boat trip on the river for the Bund waterfront was, likewise, not the best but the front blew through and we had perfect weather for our last day and trip home.

I did some bulk Picasa2 processing of a few images from the flight home that I've posted. One of DPR's members was able to confirm an image of our flyover of Seward, AK.



Another great FZ30 aerial turned out pretty good -- such that I'm considering having a 20 x 30 blow up of it...

You also have me hungry for Peking Duck - I
never thought to get into the kitchen. Very interesting!

I had a couple of photog buds in our group that really made the experience enjoyable. We were always calling out for photo opportunities for each other and were 'co-conspirators' looking for unique locales as time permitted. One was the roof of the restaurant while one side door I popped through found me in an office of a busy travel agency... LOL

--
Telecorder (Dave)
FZee5/FZee30+RD-S+OlyTC1.7X
Dee50+Nikon 35mm F2.0D-AF+Nikkor18-70DX+Tam70-300L+BIGMA 50-500 EX HSM
My Image Galleries --

http://www.nikonians-images.com/galleries/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=121399&password=

http://Telecorder.smugmug.com/