Community Forums

Scottybdivin · 12-04-2014, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dancogan

Scotty, do you mind explaining this a bit? My bike is street legal, but I guess I'm pretty ignorant of the off road requirements of NP's. Thanks.

When I was in Big Bend NP, I had planned to load an ice chest, the dogs, and the wife in my Mule and tour some of the many miles of 4WD trails in the park. I wanted to re-visit a lot of places where I frequented in the 60's and 70's. I was told that I could not drive it on the "4WD only" trails because they are considered park roads and my Mule is not licensed. OHV's can not be licensed in Texas. You will have no issues with your bike as long as it is licensed.

dancogan · 12-04-2014, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scottybdivin

When I was in Big Bend NP, I had planned to load an ice chest, the dogs, and the wife in my Mule and tour some of the many miles of 4WD trails in the park. I wanted to re-visit a lot of places where I frequented in the 60's and 70's. I was told that I could not drive it on the "4WD only" trails because they are considered park roads and my Mule is not licensed. OHV's can not be licensed in Texas. You will have no issues with your bike as long as it is licensed.

Thanks.

sknight · 12-04-2014, 07:56 AM

Primary reason for tagged vehicles only is they want to cut down on excessive use and prevent it being turned into a motocross track, whatever the area. Makes me miss my tagged WR450 all the more.

Scottybdivin · 12-04-2014, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sknight

Primary reason for tagged vehicles only is they want to cut down on excessive use and prevent it being turned into a motocross track, whatever the area. Makes me miss my tagged WR450 all the more.

Hey, I'm all for protecting the sensitive Cryptobiotic Crust, but these are designated jeep trails that have been in the park since i was 1st there in the 60's. The reason I was given was that due to budget cuts, they have no way to enforce that people stay on the designated trails. The truth of the matter is, if you were so inclined, you could do more damage with the legally licensed dual sports dirt bike than you could with my Mule or a golf cart that tops out at 25 mph.

Sorry, back to photography. Here are a few shots inside the Grand Canyon. I carried the Canon G9 in it's proprietary waterproof housing, strapped to my chest with an OP Tech harness. I used the same harness with a holster for the hiking.

ArmandV · 05-11-2015, 03:48 AM

I bought a Canon Rebel T5i EOS SLR camera with 18-55mm lens back in March. It will be getting its big "workout" next month in Yellowstone.

These two were taken in Japan last year with my old Canon Powershot:

John S. · 05-11-2015, 05:54 AM

You are probably going to want a telephoto lens too. Work the heck out of the new camera now to learn its ins and outs and how it meters and how to bracket.

Birddogman · 05-13-2015, 05:48 AM

Nothing special; just a few B&W's from this spring because I haven't posted here in a long time.

My buddy, Chase, watching the ice break up on the little mountain lake by my house:

Joy afield on a training day at about 7 months old. She's turned into an awesome hunter/predator afield and a cuddle at home.

Joy pointing a bird, Chase honoring the point:

Chase with the retrieve:

Typical local 18th Century farmstead:

A late spring shot of the old park bench I dragged up to one of my little high meadows under a fruit that I use for a deer "hunting" stand ("hunting" in quotes because it is more like "shopping") in the fall and as a place to quietly contemplate the world the rest of the time.

A topless spring run on one of the many narrow windy mountain roads where I live - just to feel the wind and hear the pipes sing:

dancogan · 05-13-2015, 06:06 AM

Birddogman - those pictures are lovely. I especially like the shots of the dog(s) in the field done in B&W. Gives an old time feel to them. Very nice. And you live in a beautiful "neighborhood".

sknight · 05-13-2015, 08:51 AM

Great shots and excellent clarity!

KarenS144 · 05-14-2015, 07:16 AM

Here are a few taken with my now deceased Olly.

This is from the "point" at Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah.

Water fall at Zion:

and our pups at Lake McDonald in Glacier:

Here is another from a Panasonic P&S (I think). My hubby was ahead of me on a local river.

I enjoy taking pics and wish I knew more about photography.

Birddogman · 05-14-2015, 07:30 AM

Thank you for the kind thoughts! A B&W from yesterday - Chase following the sun in the uplands.

KarenS144 · 05-14-2015, 08:31 AM

Birddogman,

Great photos! I love the b&w. Did you shoot in b&w? I need to experiment more with my camera.

Birddogman · 05-14-2015, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenS144

Birddogman,

Great photos! I love the b&w. Did you shoot in b&w? I need to experiment more with my camera.

Thank you!

Karen, I always shoot in color because that gives me much more latitude with the B&W conversation, by working on converting one color group at a time, for example. If I shot in B&W (which can be done with my camera), I'd be stuck with the camera's pre-fab conversion algorithms and I'd lose a great deal of digital "information" that becomes very valuable when doing the conversion later.

For example, here is the base color image of Chase hunting in a blizzard:

that I used to make this B&W:

I lightened the red channel a bit in post-processing to bring up the texture in his dark fur. You can't do that it you start out with a B&W file. Hope this helps.

Regards,

Greg

KarenS144 · 05-14-2015, 07:00 PM

Thanks for posting the "before" and "after" pic of Chase. I love what you did with it. I wondered how you got the detail and appreciate the explanation. I've got a lot to learn!