This was the first backpacking trip that I brought my mini tripod with me, which extends up to about four feet high. It weighs about a pound and a half, which is kind of a lot on a trip like this, but it was totally worth it - I'll never leave it home again! I knew that I'd be in a lot of low light situations under the forest canopy, so I knew I'd need it to get sharp photos. I've had my camera (Panasonic FZ20) for well over a year, and this was basically the first time I've used it as anything other than a point and shoot. I left it in manual mode most of the time, and basically went by trial and error with the aperture & shutter speed. I'm still getting a feel for how to get the right photo in each situation, and I have a long way to go before I'll truly be satisfied with my photos, but I'm excited about how these came out.

I got a lot of shots like this: random trail shots attempting in vain to capture the overhwhelming richness of the greenery that I was surrounded by. This was hiking in on the Gabes Mountain Trail. Lots of rhododendrons.


Another shot from farther along the same trail, right before I got to camp.


Hen Wallow Falls. I literally took about 40 photos here, deleting most of them and trying to figure out what worked. This one is still too dark for my liking, even after messing with it in Picasa.


This was on day two, beginning the hike up to Maddron Bald through the Albright Grove of old-growth forest. This is one of the few shots I took that actually captured what the intensity of the colors was like.


Maddron Bald. A lot of ridgetops in the Smokies have wide areas with no trees, and many blooming azaleas and other wildflowers. There is debate about whether or not these areas are natural.


This was a trail junction, early in the morning. All of the little white blossoms everywhere are from Carolina silverbell trees, which apparently prefer to grow in old growth forest areas, and as such are increasingly rare. The blossoms littered the trail, and the entire forest beneath the silverbell trees, which (like everything else) grew to enormous size.


Another trail surrounded by wildflowers. I believe these were mayflowers.


Violets and fringe phacelia along the Swallow Fork Trail.


Big Creek, which I camped along on my third night out. This was at about 8:30 PM, with a long exposure, I think somewhere between 4 and 8 seconds.


I can't wait to go back! This was my favorite place that I've ever hiked, and I do this a lot. Great excuse to make the thousand-mile drive back to the Dragon!

And just so this is MINI-related, here's a photo of the group photo, taken from the top of Fontana Dam. The full size one is way too wide to post, but here's a thumbnail:

 

My three favorites. The last one stands out for me, but then again, I'm a fan of the long duration moving water shots. The other two work nicely as well. I'm not sure how much post processing you did, but the color is very pleasing.

 

Thanks! I did very little mucking about with these; basically just loaded them into Picasa and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, which adjusts brightness and contrast. In addition to wanting to actually take better photos, I also want to get a real editing program and learn how to use it.

 

chris, the pics are amazing!! this one is definitely my favorite.

 

Thanks!

Here was home:


And here's my food hanging up to protect it from the bears (note the Trader Joe's bag). It's about ten feet up in the air, and ten feet from the trees on either side. Unfortunately, it turns out that mice have no problem defeating this arrangement.

 

Great shots and thank you for sharing. Love them! I want to go hiking!

 

Beautiful pictures of a beautiful place...wow!! My favorites are the water pix...

Donna

 

The Big Creek shot is just perfect. I love the way you captured the moving water. Very nice.

I got a question for you... While backpacking (because I do some myself), where do you carry your camera? I find that it's difficult to carry my dRebel in a convenient spot so I don't have to put my pack down every time I want to take a shot.

 

Chris, this is a superb shot. You need to blow that baby up and hang it up on the wall!

Excellent

 

A.)oooh I'm sooo jealous!!! that looks like such a great trip.
B.) Seee I told you little tripods are the best $ ever spent!
C.) The water shots are my favorites!!!! especially the one you think is too dark, I think it's perfect.
D.) Glad to meet you at the brew swap (but I think you knew that already)

 

Thanks Emily, I was psyched to meet you, too. It was very funny to describe my collapsible mini-tripod to you and have you pull one out of your back pocket that was half the size.

 

Hey, it's not the size of the tripod it's.......oh nevermind

 

I have a LowePro camera bag that I carry around my neck and over one shoulder. My camera definitely bumps around in front of me, but I think it suffers less jarring jolts than when I strap the case onto my frame pack's hip belt. It's sort of a pain in the *** arrangement comfort-wise, but I take photos so frequently when I'm hiking that it's worth it.

My mini tripod actually slips nicely into one of the straps in front of my shoulder and stays put, so that it's ready to go anytime. Since I was taking so many photos on this trip, I actually timed myself to see how long it took to stop, set up the tripod, take the camera out and mount it, set up the shot, take the photo (or five), and pack everything up to go again. It was around 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, and no need to drop my pack.

 

Cool, sounds good. It seems like there's no real easy solution to carrying a whole rig backpacking.

 

Wow, those pictures are amazing. Thanks for sharing.