[Tobers]

...are coming soon. Just got back this evening after a 1-day 700 mile 13.5 hour ride back from Briancon in the middle of the French Alps. On a KTM 950 Supermoto for those who are interested. Knackered isn't the word.

Great trip by the way. Amazing locations. Just took the camera, 2 lenses and a tripod, plus a couple of filters to ensure I could pack light. I reckon an AVForums trip there could be cheaper than the Skye meet. I'll have a think about organising something.

Anyway, pics on here as they come in, just thought I'd announce my return. And I have a "reflections" picture too .

Tobers

[Tobers]

Still downloading from the card, but here's the first one (and probably last for the night).

#1 This is near the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer (Col of the Iron Cross). I got up at 05:00 to ride 1.5 hours to this valley which me and the guys had ridden through 3 days earlier. I marked a bunch of locations on the GPS as I was riding around, and knew this one would look good with early light shining from the top of the valley down the line of the river. A truly superb location - so much to photograph up the the valley and over the top of the col...

ISO200 | 20mm on 17-40F4L | f/20 | 1/2 sec | Hoya circular polariser & Lee 0.9 ND

[ryart]

Col de la Croix de Fer is one of my favourite passes. Opens out to wide vistas as you go up; something you've captured well. It took us half a day to get to the top, but we were on push bikes.

[onefivenine]

Nice, look forward to seing more.

I'm curious though. At 20mm, why f/20 and ISO200? Why not f/16 and ISO100? Kind of into the realms of lens deterioration, no? There's only about 5 inches difference in the near focus point between f/16 and f/20, and it doesn't look like your close enough to the ground for that to make a difference.

[allymac123]

Bag is packed. When do we leave? Seriously that's a meet I would be well and truly up for!!!

Looking forward to a thread full of delights Tobers. I'm sure you wont dissapoint. The water in that shot is very lovely and the backdrop aint too bad either!

[Tobers]

Originally Posted by onefivenine

Nice, look forward to seing more.

I'm curious though. At 20mm, why f/20 and ISO200? Why not f/16 and ISO100? Kind of into the realms of lens deterioration, no? There's only about 5 inches difference in the near focus point between f/16 and f/20, and it doesn't look like your close enough to the ground for that to make a difference.

Ah - good question. I had highlight tone priority on which sets minimum ISO to 200 in order to "stretch" the dynamic range a tad. I turned it off about 30 mins later and set ISO to 50 instead. The 17-40 is great at f/20 and I didn't have a DOF calculator to hand so wanted to "play safe" nor do I know the DOF stats for my lenses well enough. However, your point on setting the aperture too small is a good one. I've found my 24-105 at f/22 does give problems, and I ended up mainly at f/16 or f/18 for most of the time.

Originally Posted by allymac123

Bag is packed. When do we leave? Seriously that's a meet I would be well and truly up for!!!

Looking forward to a thread full of delights Tobers. I'm sure you wont dissapoint. The water in that shot is very lovely and the backdrop aint too bad either!

Ta Ally - its a bit like Skye on steroids. I reckon a cheapo flight to Grenoble, then a shared hire car, and a stay in a ski chalet (cheap off season) should be fairly econimical. Likely to be next year before I go again though, but worth waiting for. I only scratched the surface.

[smashie]

lovely mate, just lovely, I've spent many a happy holiday in Tignes and Val d'isere and Val Claret, never made it there in the summer though. These are the kind of shots that make me think i should.. Well done you!

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Really looking forward to seeing what you got up to!


Nice start!

[onefivenine]

Ah, right, ISO2oo, that explains it.

I see the comparison with the Highlands, the meandering foreground creek with the Buachaille in the background. It's a bit of a done-to-death shot. Same shot - different hill. Buachaille Etive Mor is much prettier though.

What else you got?!

[Tobers]

Originally Posted by ryart

Col de la Croix de Fer is one of my favourite passes. Opens out to wide vistas as you go up; something you've captured well. It took us half a day to get to the top, but we were on push bikes.

I'm hugely impressed! Anyone who can cycle up there deserves a medal. There were beaucoup cyclists all around the Briancon area doing all the cols, and wow it looked like hard work. As a one-time racing cyclist myself I was terrified just watching them.

Originally Posted by onefivenine

Ah, right, ISO2oo, that explains it.

I see the comparison with the Highlands, the meandering foreground creek with the Buachaille in the background. It's a bit of a done-to-death shot. Same shot - different hill. Buachaille Etive Mor is much prettier though.

What else you got?!

Darn - I've gots lots of meandering creeks and waterfalls. Oh well . Here's a couple without foreground flowing water...

#2 This is also on the way up to the Col de la Croix de Fer. Some abandoned shepherd huts on the far side of the valley. The sun had just snuck over the top of the col to my left and was giving a very nice skimming light all the way down the valley. Intriguingly, just after taking this I wandered down to the river and came across a bloke having a w**k!!! This was the second wierd incident of this early morning, after earlier surprising someone having a crap. I guess strange stuff happens in the mountains at dawn .

ISO4oo (handheld) | 60mm on 24-105 | f/14 | 1/13th | circular polariser

#3 The light in the Alps can be very harsh during the day, but beautiful at dawn and sunset. As I was with 2 other guys and the main mission of the trip was hooning around mountain roads on motorbikes, I was a bit limited how often I could get out and take pics. However, just near Briancon where we were staying is the supendous Col d'Izoard which I decided to go up for sunset. Aside from having a phenomenal road up it, probably one of the best in the Alps, it has some super scenery at the summit. This one is looking across a number of ridges just catching the light as the sun sets. Lovely gentle pink and blue tones.

ISO2oo | 105mm on 24-105 | f/18 | 1/5th | circular polariser | tripod

#4 And facing the opposite direction, I really liked the way this curve was highlighted by the light just glancing off the top, warming the foreground against the rather cold forbidding mountainside behind.

ISO5oo (handheld) | 40mm on 17-40 | f/14 | 1/13th | circular polariser

More to come - possibly waterfalls

[stevegreen]

You came across some bloke having a w**k??........I would have been running in the other direction!!!

Looks like a lovely place

[drb5]

Originally Posted by allymac123

Bag is packed. When do we leave? Seriously that's a meet I would be well and truly up for!!!

Looking forward to a thread full of delights Tobers. I'm sure you wont dissapoint. The water in that shot is very lovely and the backdrop aint too bad either!

Hear hear!!

My trouble is fitness, but going by your pics Tobers, it would be worth all the puffing and panting and falling over with exhaustion.

[Tobers]

LOL! He tried to pretend he had just been sitting there, then wandered off. Must have come from an RV that was parked about a mile away. What a laugh. Worse to come though...

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by Tobers

Worse to come though...

And you are suggesting a meet here??

[ryart]

Originally Posted by Tobers

LOL! He tried to pretend he had just been sitting there, then wandered off. Must have come from an RV that was parked about a mile away. What a laugh. Worse to come though...

So you weren't tempted to do the full flea bitten journalistic thing and take a shot... . Your comment on my cycling prowess is most kind but to put it into perspective we climbed Alpe d'Huez the next day and I took over four times as long Pantani , and I suspect he didn't mumble, grumble and generally curse quite as much as me. Two wheels is definitely a good way to get about; you can stop anywhere to take a picture.

"Worse to come".... mind boggles .

By the way, lovely shots - really capturing the rhythms of the landscape well.

[Tobers]

So it did get very wierd that morning. I wanted to photograph a small lake on the other side of the Col de la Croix de Fer to get my "Reflections" comp shot done. As I got down to the lake, it was clear that I wasnt the only thing going down on the mountain. In the lake were two blokes, Italian by the number plate on their car, doing "stuff" with each other . They noticed me as I got closer and pretended to be having a swim or a wash or something, but the damage was done.

I mean, what does a photographer have to do to find a quiet spot these days?

Anyway, they cleared off after a bit leaving me wondering if I was on Brokeback Mountain instead of in the Alps.

#5 Here's a gratuitous shot of my bike at the spot after they had gone. The comp shot is in the competition section. This is just a context-setting snap for you.

ISO200 | f/16 | 1/50th | 58mm on 24-105 | CPL

Weird morning.

[ryart]

Originally Posted by Tobers

In the lake were two blokes, Italian by the number plate on their car, doing "stuff" with each other .

The Alps seem to be going downhill.

[dazza74]

Originally Posted by Tobers

So it did get very wierd that morning. I wanted to photograph a small lake on the other side of the Col de la Croix de Fer to get my "Reflections" comp shot done. As I got down to the lake, it was clear that I wasnt the only thing going down on the mountain. In the lake were two blokes, Italian by the number plate on their car, doing "stuff" with each other . They noticed me as I got closer and pretended to be having a swim or a wash or something, but the damage was done.

I mean, what does a photographer have to do to find a quiet spot these days?

Anyway, they cleared off after a bit leaving me wondering if I was on Brokeback Mountain instead of in the Alps.

That's just taking the piste

You won't catch me buying "Evian" anymore

[bodoman]

Looks like you was at Humpback Mountain

[Tobers]

Originally Posted by stevegreen

And you are suggesting a meet here??

We could meet down by the lake. I know a popular spot

[Tobers]

#6 Another competition candidate - A different view of the lake, with a couple of not-too-delapidated buildings on the hillside. Nice skimming light again especially on the folds in the distance. Random buildings in various states of disrepair dot the mountains. I imagine they are used for shepherds etc to live in during the summer when they move their cows/sheep up the mountain to graze.

1/8th | f/16 | ISO200 | 40mm on 17-40 | CPL

[Gordon @ Convergent AV]

Is it just me? I can't see any images in these posts!

[drb5]

Nor can i...

[Tobers]

Hmmm...hopefully fixed now. User error.

[stevegreen]

Originally Posted by Tobers

We could meet down by the lake. I know a popular spot

I bet you do sweetheart

[dazza74]

pick of the bunch for me so far #6, really do like the composition and the reflections so clear, very nice.

[ryart]

Going by what you saw going on outside, I dread to think what's happening inside those huts... . Another great pic BTW.

[Tobers]

Originally Posted by ryart

Going by what you saw going on outside, I dread to think what's happening inside those huts... . Another great pic BTW.

Eeeeuuuwww!

#7 Snapped this with my TZ3. I like the sense of space and freedom in this one, and the fact that it just happened to be a red car made my day. No doubt some camera club judge will say the car has been cloned in . It's a BMW Z1 by the way - not many of those around. Top down, twisty mountain road - nice. The location is the west end of the Col d'Izoard which is rather nice scenery wise with some wierd rock formations that you can see in the mid distance. Attempts to capture these glowing at sunset proved elusive.

[jonnypb]

nice photos, looks a very nice place to visit

[Triggaaar]

Very nice pics Tobers, well earned. I can't help wishing the BM would go back and have another run, so you could get him entering the shot rather than leaving.