I was thinking about how people might do that and realized that it probably has something to do with what I've been thinking about for a few weeks. That is, driving requires unbroken concentration on a single task for as long as you're on the road. Generally speaking, people are not good at that, especially if the task is boring or there are distractions. Anyway, I felt like I needed to say that because all those people that I made fun of for driving off cliffs probably don't deserve it, and if I drive off a cliff some day I don't want people making fun of me. I'm sure I'll have a very good excuse. OK, back to the rim.
Sunday was a beautiful day for a road trip. Once we got a few miles north of the valley, there were puffy little clouds all around, and a few somewhat ominous clouds here and there. We stopped for lunch at Pizza Hut in Payson. I've been feeling burned out on pizza lately, but that was a good pizza. It was in the low 60's in Payson.
It was another 30 mile drive to get up on the rim. Of course, I had to stop at the first scenic overlook and get a few pictures. It was windy up there, and in the mid 50's. It didn't take long for my fingers to get too stiff to put the lens cap back on. I didn't bring anything warm to wear. Silly me. Anyway, remember the clouds? I used to gripe about them to Richard. If you exposed a picture for the landscape, the clouds would be blindingly white blobs. If you tried to make the clouds look good, the landscape was almost black. Richard kept sending me info about high dynamic range images until I finally tried some software that solves this cloud problem and eventually bought it. If it hadn't been for Richard sending that info, I wouldn't have gotten any good pictures on Sunday, and I would have complained about it all week. Well, some people still might say I didn't get any good pictures, but I like them. Thanks, Richard. I'm going to illustrate, one more time, what I'm talking about. Here's the best me and Canon could do without Photomatix.
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| From 2008_10_05 |
Yucko. Here's what Canon, Photomatix, and I can do.
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| From 2008_10_05 |
Hey, you can see everything! I like that, at least for pictures like this. I took pictures at a couple or three scenic overlooks before we got to the turnoff for Woods Canyon Lake. There we found a few aspens.
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| From 2008_10_05 |
I took a few pictures of the lake, also. The pictures wouldn't be nearly as interesting without the clouds, and I couldn't have included the clouds without Photomatix. I suppose the people add some interest, also. They are also troublesome, though. In order to use Photomatix, I need to take exposure bracketed pictures. That's three pictures taken in quick succession. The Rebel is pretty fast and it takes those three pictures in less than a second, but people can move a lot in a second. I had to watch all the people in the picture and wait until they looked like they were going to be still for a second and then take the picture(s). Not easy, especially with kids. I got a few pictures in which the people aren't too blurred, though. I think this is my favorite.
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| From 2008_10_05 |
I was planning to drive further down the rim road, but it turned to dirt and it was a little too rough for the minivan (I didn't want to bounce off a cliff ;-) ), so we headed back. Of course, I had to stop at the scenic overlooks again. Suzanne got out at one of those to peek over the edge. She made me very nervous. I don't think I get that close to the edge. This picture turned out pretty good even though it isn't HDR.
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| From 2008_10_05 |
Click below to go to the album to see all of the pictures (or just watch the tiny slide show).
Hoo ha! I just noticed something funny in the HTML for that slide show. You'd probably have to be a nerd to appreciate it, though. Or a middle school student.
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