OK, so this thread is going to double as two things. First of all, it's to say that I'm going to be gone for the next couple of days (I'll come home late monday probably,) so if I don't reply to PMs, then know that this's why and that I'll get replies sent out ASAP when I get back.
On to the fun stuff! I'm going to be taking a trip with a couple of my friends (3 others is the count right now) to Death Valley. Here's the plan as it has been laid out for me thus far, I may get a change to add to it tomorrow with more detail (well, there couldn't be much less!):
Day 1 (Jan 12)
At 12:00 I'll set out to Jess's house where we'll be up to no good. Eventually we'll head on over to Costco and get provisions (one of my major goals this trip is to not die.) Hopefully during this time I'll get all of the details and I'll update this to give people a better idea of the sites we'll be seeing and what pictures can be expected.
I'll take this moment to explain what I'll be using in attempt to capture a small bit of the grandeur for the Death Valley area.
Camera: Konica-Minolta Dimage X1
Features: -8.0 Megapixels
-3x optical zoom (nonprotruding lense) and 4x digital (so 12x zoom total)
-Ultracompact (so I can take it out fast whcih is good because I'll probably be rushed)
-Video with audio, and just audio (for captions for pictures.)
-Antishake (works quite well)
-All the other little settings which should hopefully help me get decent landscape pictures
Besides not dying, I'd like to get some good, clear pictures of the things we see varying from big landscapes to small things (eg insects). My biggest problems will be:
-Shake: I'll probably be rushed and conditions will be less than optimal for photo taking.
-NOISE: The most unfortunate aspect of the X1 is the above average amount of noise to be found in the shots, particularly red (so let's hope for no beautiful sunsets!
) I'll try to set to the appropriate ISO, but any pictures that aren't shaky will probably suffer from a fair dose of noise.
Day 2 (Jan 13)
We'll leave Jess's (hopefully early in the morning!) and begin our ~460 mile journey from Aptos to The Death Valley. We will most definitly stop to eat every now and again, and we may take a detour or two for some scenery, so the number of miles given is an estimate.
Who knows what the weather conditions will be like! We're going to be going from Coastal to inland California and so we're liable to run in to any sort of weather. One of the best parts is, who knows if we'll even get there! This whole trip could end up a complete BOTCH and we get lost, of everything turns out bad, someone could get deathly sick and we wouldn't go at all. Speaking of sick, this approximate 8+ hour car drive will be an epic battle between man and nature: I'm going to TRY to not get car sick the whole time (
).
This day is Friday the 13th. And it's a full moon. Chances are that someone will get eaten by a werewolf or some other creature of the night (
). In any case, it sure sounds like a good time to take a place with the word "death" in it's name.
Days 3, 4 (Jan 14, 15)
This is where I need a bit more info! Hopefully this space will be filled with the names of some of the sites we expect to see and of which you can expect to see my attempted photos! Needless to say, we're going to be sleeping in tents and things will probably get pretty cold. Expect videos of shenanigans where the subject is asleep and going to be rudely awakened. lol A big thanks to Jimscott for reminding me to bring shaving cream!
Day 5 (Jan 16)
This's Monday and it's time to wrap things up. The next day will be school so we'll need to leave reasonably early so that we can come home with enough time to recuperate and sleep and finish up last things before our winter break is over. This will be a mournful day: I'll find out that all of my pictures look rancid, it'll be the last day of a very nice and LONG break, and I'll be grumpy. lol
So! That's all (as if it wasn't long enough!) I'll do my best to repay any poor sob who has bothered to read through this entire thing with some good pictures, and hopefully an update tomorrow of sites that we'll be visiting. Oh, and no worries; I'll try to keep my mug out of as many shots as possible.
Thanks to those who read all this!
--Edit of addition-- Since I've added the pictures, I can take this silly one down and save it for the future when it's more on topic!
On to the fun stuff! I'm going to be taking a trip with a couple of my friends (3 others is the count right now) to Death Valley. Here's the plan as it has been laid out for me thus far, I may get a change to add to it tomorrow with more detail (well, there couldn't be much less!):
Day 1 (Jan 12)
At 12:00 I'll set out to Jess's house where we'll be up to no good. Eventually we'll head on over to Costco and get provisions (one of my major goals this trip is to not die.) Hopefully during this time I'll get all of the details and I'll update this to give people a better idea of the sites we'll be seeing and what pictures can be expected.
I'll take this moment to explain what I'll be using in attempt to capture a small bit of the grandeur for the Death Valley area.
Camera: Konica-Minolta Dimage X1
Features: -8.0 Megapixels
-3x optical zoom (nonprotruding lense) and 4x digital (so 12x zoom total)
-Ultracompact (so I can take it out fast whcih is good because I'll probably be rushed)
-Video with audio, and just audio (for captions for pictures.)
-Antishake (works quite well)
-All the other little settings which should hopefully help me get decent landscape pictures
Besides not dying, I'd like to get some good, clear pictures of the things we see varying from big landscapes to small things (eg insects). My biggest problems will be:
-Shake: I'll probably be rushed and conditions will be less than optimal for photo taking.
-NOISE: The most unfortunate aspect of the X1 is the above average amount of noise to be found in the shots, particularly red (so let's hope for no beautiful sunsets!
Day 2 (Jan 13)
We'll leave Jess's (hopefully early in the morning!) and begin our ~460 mile journey from Aptos to The Death Valley. We will most definitly stop to eat every now and again, and we may take a detour or two for some scenery, so the number of miles given is an estimate.
Who knows what the weather conditions will be like! We're going to be going from Coastal to inland California and so we're liable to run in to any sort of weather. One of the best parts is, who knows if we'll even get there! This whole trip could end up a complete BOTCH and we get lost, of everything turns out bad, someone could get deathly sick and we wouldn't go at all. Speaking of sick, this approximate 8+ hour car drive will be an epic battle between man and nature: I'm going to TRY to not get car sick the whole time (
This day is Friday the 13th. And it's a full moon. Chances are that someone will get eaten by a werewolf or some other creature of the night (
Days 3, 4 (Jan 14, 15)
This is where I need a bit more info! Hopefully this space will be filled with the names of some of the sites we expect to see and of which you can expect to see my attempted photos! Needless to say, we're going to be sleeping in tents and things will probably get pretty cold. Expect videos of shenanigans where the subject is asleep and going to be rudely awakened. lol A big thanks to Jimscott for reminding me to bring shaving cream!
Day 5 (Jan 16)
This's Monday and it's time to wrap things up. The next day will be school so we'll need to leave reasonably early so that we can come home with enough time to recuperate and sleep and finish up last things before our winter break is over. This will be a mournful day: I'll find out that all of my pictures look rancid, it'll be the last day of a very nice and LONG break, and I'll be grumpy. lol
So! That's all (as if it wasn't long enough!) I'll do my best to repay any poor sob who has bothered to read through this entire thing with some good pictures, and hopefully an update tomorrow of sites that we'll be visiting. Oh, and no worries; I'll try to keep my mug out of as many shots as possible.
--Edit of addition-- Since I've added the pictures, I can take this silly one down and save it for the future when it's more on topic!