Tag Archives: hike

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Nature

Alpine Valley, Bavaria

July 22, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Sun dappled alpine scenery in the Bavarian Alps above Königssee, Germany

We have been traveling. After a week in London, we spent two weeks in Germany, one of which was in the Königssee area of Bavaria, Germany, where we stayed in an old farm-house. I’ll have more to say about this trip as I post more photographs over the coming days and weeks, both landscape and distinctly urban photographs. But for now, something from the Bavarian Alps.

As some of you know, I’m a long-time “Sierra Nevada guy,” who is very accustomed to hiking long distances in somewhat undeveloped areas in order to do photography. The landscape here is no less spectacular, but the experience is in many ways quite different. Take this day’s hike for example… It began with a ride on the Jennerbahn (ski lift) up to a point high up in the mountains, with scenery that reminded me in some ways of parts of “my” Sierra, but even more of some places I have visited in the Pacific Northwest. From there we hiked downhill for a kilometers, first across the top of a high ridge and then dropping down into a beautiful alpine Valley – complete with the Mahlerian sound of a chorus of cowbells. Halfway down we stopped for (fellow Sierrans, eat your heart out!) a lunch of bier und käsebrot before continuing on down to where we began at the base of the lift. The light in this part of Bavaria, at least during our visit, was very different from the clarity that I often seen in the Sierra – here the atmosphere was often thick with moisture, creating a soft quality. On this day, this was enhanced to a gradual build-up of thunderclouds that led to a spectacular evening lightning show, which we enjoyed outdoors at a picnic table back at our lodgings.

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Equipment, Reader Questions, Technique

Reader Question: One Lens for Landscape and Wildflowers on Hikes?

May 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

From time to time blog readers email me questions about photography subjects. When possible I like to answer them here so that I can share the answer with others who might be interested. Here is a recent question:

“If you were going on a hike to capture landscape and wildflowers, and you could only take one lens, which one and why?”

In some ways that is a very simple question, but it other ways the answer can be quite involved. Since the question did begin with, “If you were…”, let me start out by literally saying a bit about my own photography – but reminding readers that my approach is individual and idiosyncratic and may not match up with your preferences at all.

If the goal was to cover as much ground as possible in a single lens, and accept some photographic limitations in exchange for carrying less gear, with my Canon full-frame DSLR system I would most likely use my Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L. On full-frame, the 24mm focal length covers a pretty decent wide angle range, and 105mm is long enough for many subjects. The lens also focuses reasonably close – though not macro-close – and the image stabilization feature is useful in situations where I might want to hand-hold the camera. On a week-long backpacking trip through a high and remote section of the Sierra a few years ago, I used only this lens (and tripod, remote release, a few filters, etc) and came back with good results. To extend the usefulness of the lens for close-up flower photography I sometimes carry an extension tube, though others might just bring along a close-up “filter” or two.

There are things that I would miss with this single-lens setup. A personal preference in my shooting is to work with longer focal lengths, so for me having nothing longer than 105mm would seem like a bit of a restriction. And while this lens plus the extension tube works pretty well, it won’t be as good as a dedicated macro lens.

Another alternative that I’ve thought about but have not yet tried (since I haven’t had the gear long enough just yet) would be to use my small Fujifilm X-E1 (seen”Fujifilm X-E1: From DSLR to Mirrorless“) with the 60mm macro and perhaps the fine little 18-55mm zoom. I know that is more than one lens, but the total kit size is smaller/lighter than my full-frame DSLR. You could go with just the excellent little zoom plus a close up filter or two as an alternative. I use this particular brand/model and like it a lot, but there are alternatives from other manufacturers that also have a lot of fans.

Moving on from what I might use, let’s briefly consider some other options that might appeal to other photographers.

If you are primarily interested in the wildflowers and are a very serious photographer, you might prefer to simply carry a dedicated macro lens of whatever focal length seems best for you. This will be your best bet for close-up wildflower photography and, accepting the limitations of having only a single focal length, will produce excellent image quality for non-macro subjects as well.

Another option that would work well for a lot of people is one of the entry-level DSLRs (like the Canon t1i-t5i series or alternatives) with the “kit” lens in the 18-55mm range plus one or more close-up filters. These can produce quite decent image quality and the package is small, light, versatile, and not too costly.

This begins to lead to the question of what your primary goals are in your hiking photography. Are you a very serious photographer who regularly produces large and high quality prints? Or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, are you a much more casual photographer who wants to bring back some beautiful records of your experience and share them with friends and family, perhaps mostly online? More than likely, you might have to determine where you fit between the extreme ends of this spectrum. How important is the weight/bulk of the equipment? Are you going to grab shots handheld or stop and use a tripod?

For some who are more concerned with the weight/bulk issues and perhaps not likely to make 20″ x 30″ prints, there are lots of smaller, lighter and often less expensive options that can be very good choices. These include some of the smaller and lighter mirrorless cameras such as the Fujifilm model I mentioned above (at the high end), and also some of the point and shoot cameras, many of which can produce excellent photographs.

Good luck with your choice… and with your photography!

Articles in the “reader questions” series:

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Beaver Pond, McGee Creek

October 17, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A beaver pond floods a low area of McGee Creek below the peaks at the edge of Pioneer Basin.

Unlike some so-called beaver ponds in the Sierra, this one really does appear to be the home of beavers. If you look closely near the far bank of the pond, just left of center, you can see the distinctive peaked beaver den.

This spot was a bit of a landmark on the trail up McGee Canyon on my mid-September backpack trip to Steelhead Lake. Before this the trail mostly crossed relatively dry and open terrain, but starting at this point there was more forest cover, and the valley gradually began to become more rocky and narrower. There is just a bit of early fall color in this photograph. The plants around the pond have obviously gone brown, and some of the aspens and other brush ascending the slopes of the canyon are just barely beginning to change – what I sometimes call the “lime green” stage where it starts to become clear that the real color change is not far away. The distant tall ridge marks the boundary between the McGee Creek drainage and Pioneer Basin. I’m not positive, but I think that the two high points on the ridge might be Mounts Stanford and Crocker, part of a group of four peaks ringing Pioneer Basin that are named after the four “railroad barons, the other two being Huntington and Hopkins.

Unlike most of my mountain photographs, this was essentially a handheld “snap” – though made with a good camera and lens. When I’m hiking I carry my camera and two lenses in a chest strap mounted front carrier so that I can make some photographs while on the move without having to remove my pack. This sort of shot, made at a time of less than optimum light, is an example of the sort of thing that I’ll occasionally shoot that way.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening Light on Shoreline Trees, Steelhead Lake

October 14, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light coming across the Sierra crest illuminates shoreline trees at Steelhead Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph was made during that quiet evening hour, about the time when dinner has been finished and food stowed for the night, sleeping bag set up in tent, and things slow down (from their already-slow pace!) as the golden hour light comes on. Typically, the afternoon wind decreases and the lake surface becomes smooth, more clearly revealing the fish rising for an evening meal.

This is another photograph made within a few feet of my bivy sack campsite on a peninsula rising above this lake in the McGee Creek drainage. As I had eaten dinner with my two backpacking partners, I had been keeping an eye on this little scene that I had checked out earlier in the afternoon, watching to see if the four small trees down near the water might catch the last light from the setting sun before the evening shadow came across the lake.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: hike

Alpine Valley, Bavaria

Reader Question: One Lens for Landscape and Wildflowers on Hikes?

Evening Light on Shoreline Trees, Steelhead Lake

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.