Pierce by Crawford Path, 10-25-3010

[Mohamed Ellozy]

I took a late start on a day with lots of low clouds south of Franconia Notch. Crossing the notch I was greeted with a lighter environment, with high clouds but no low level mist. The mountains were nicely visible, and passing the photo spot near the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods I planned to stop there on the way back (first time for me!).

The trail was wet, with a very few patches of ice below the Mizpah Cutoff. Above it they became more frequent, but were easily bypassed at first. Around 3,800 feet I found a long stretch of ice, and decided to put on my microspikes. Good idea, as there were several more icy stretches, though there was far more bare rock than ice. Given how wet the trail is, expect lots of ice after a cold night!

Warm day, started off with fleece top and hat, both went off at the end of the Connector. Shortly after the lond sleeves of the polypro top were rolled up; they got rolled down again a bit before the summit.

Nice views on the summit, but strange light conditions ... bright sky and snowy summits, very dark wooded slopes. None of the pictures worth keeping

I saw no Grey Jays at the Mizpah Cutoff junction, but there was one at the summit, waiting for me:

On the way down I took a couple of shots of Gibbs Falls with a long exposure (1/20 sec, no tripod but lens has image stabilization and I was leaning on a tree):

Also took a long exposure (1/15 sec) of the water flowing over the dam:

On the way home I stopped, as planned, to take some pictures of the hotel with the mountains in the background ... rather disappointed with the result but here is one:

 

[Kevin Judy and Emma]

Nice!

Yes, somedays the light can really mess with your pictures, but I'd say you had a great recovery with those shots of the falls! I'm a little astonished that you had never stopped at "The White Mountains Greatest Photo-Op" before. It's usually too crowded for us to stop, but well worth it for the view. Glad you finally became a tourist and stopped there! 8 )

KDT

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

I'm a little astonished that you had never stopped at "The White Mountains Greatest Photo-Op" before.

I stopped at The Mountain Wanderer on my way home, and Steve made exactly the same comment

Nice views on the summit, but strange light conditions ... bright sky and snowy summits, very dark wooded slopes. None of the pictures worth keeping

What the heck, here is one, with Eisenhower, Monroe and Washington clearly visible, and Adams (??) hidden in the deep background:

 

[DougPaul]

On the way home I stopped, as planned, to take some pictures of the hotel with the mountains in the background ... rather disappointed with the result but here is one:

Looks like you needed another tree to lean against... IIRC there aren't any at that viewpoint. Another trick is to roll the car window down and rest the camera on the widow sill. The pros use a beanbag to pad the window sill--a jacket, hat, or glove might do in a pinch.

Yet another trick is to use your poles as 2 legs of a tripod. Hold the handles together, put the camera on top of the handles, use your body as the 3rd leg, and hold your breath as you press the button. I've successfully pulled this off at 1 sec (eFL 27mm).

BTW, the east end of the motel parking lot (Mt Washington Motel?) just across the road from the viewpoint also has a nice view from a bit higher up.

Doug

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Looks like you needed another tree to lean against...

Even better, I have a Gorillapod on order!

Faster shutter with larger aperture would have helped ... I used f/8.0 for depth of field, low light led to 1/40 sec.

 

[DougPaul]

Even better, I have a Gorillapod on order!

Another alternative is a mini-tripod. eg: http://www.rei.com/product/777249

Faster shutter with larger aperture would have helped ... I used f/8.0 for depth of field, low light led to 1/40 sec.

Small cameras have larger depth of field than larger ones. Given the scene, you should have been able to shoot wide open without difficulty. The auto modes on small cameras tend to choose large apertures to minimize the lens diffraction caused loss of resolution--many will not go smaller than f/8, even in manual modes. (The smaller the sensor, the greater the effect of diffraction.)

According to the EXIF, the eFL was 101mm. 1/40 sec should be doable with IS.

If you are aware that camera motion might be an issue, take several identical shots and pick the best after-the-fact. We are subject to occasional tremors when hand-holding a camera, so taking several shots gives you a better chance of getting a good one.

Many people also hand hold a small camera with their finger tips and away from their faces--all of which makes it harder to stabilize the camera. (If I do this, I find the right side of the camera tends to go down as I press the shutter button.) The Panasonic DMC-FZ28 has a viewfinder which would allow you to hold it against your face. You can also hold the camera by forming an "L" (the loser sign...) with thumb and forefinger of your left hand, pushing the corner of the camera body into the webbing between the thumb and forefinger, and perhaps pressing the tip of the forefinger down on the top of the camera. You might also be able to do the same thing with the right hand or squeeze the right side of the body between the 2nd joint of the thumb and the side of the middle finger. And last, but not least, hold your breath and stabilize your body while hitting the button. (Small cameras also have a delay of up to ~1/2 sec before taking the picture, so hold the stable position until after the camera is done.)

35mm cameras are generally easier to hold steady because of the better grip and their greater weight (moment of intertia).

Doug

 

[nartreb]

Adams would be well out of frame to the left, and might not be visible at all depending how high up Pierce you were standing. From the summit of Pierce, Adams (or maybe Adams 4?) barely peeks out to the left of Clay.

http://www.davidalbeck.com/photos/july_4_2008/i25.jpg

 

[Mike P.]

Nice pictures, they lost a lot of snow up high in just a couple of days. Ike was all white Saturday

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Given how warm today was, even more snow must be gone.