Love the lighting in this one, the green on the moss really pops out :)
If you don't mind the extra question: How are you carrying your stuff on a trip like this? Where's your camera? Is it in the backpack all the time, or do you have a quick-access solution? Do you always have your tripod with you? If so: Where is it?
I just began to like the symbiosis of hiking and photography and did my first "longer" hike two days ago (~ 14km, 500m ascend - yes, that's already "longer" for me :P ) and
a) Did not like my camera bouncing around on my shoulder strap at all, and
b) Are people really carrying around 1.5 extra kilograms for the tripod all the time? I'm pretty sure my spine would just break apart then.
I still hope that it's a matter of bad equipment and not bad fitness, as an equipment problem is probably easier fixed :)
I hate hiking with a camera bouncing in front of you; it gives you neck pain when you have a load on your back as well. For a short hike like this (and almost all the time for general photography) I use a camera backpack with side opening pouch so I can swing it around onto one strap and access the camera. If I am doing a longer hike where I am camping; I put my camera and lenses individually packed into a dry sack which I keep at the top of my hiking backpack which is a top opening rucksack type. This requires you to put the 24kg pack down on the ground to get your camera out; but its almost always a welcome excuse for a rest. The exception to this is if I think there are animals about I hike with the overnight backpack on and the 100-400 lense on the camera. This is a heavy combination and I hold it in my hands rather then let my neck take the weight.
Thanks for your feedback :)
With the tripod I (almost) always carry it with me. Just in its own container with a shoulder strap or strapped to the side of my overnight hiking backpack. I just have a standard aluminum tripod rather than a carbon fiber one. Its costs about $100 per 120g in terms of weight saving (360g saving might cost $300 more for carbon fiber). I often hike with 22-24kg and would prefer to simply loose 360g from my body weight the week before the hike and have $300 in my pocket! The only possible exception to this I see is up here in the far north Aluminum tripods get very very cold in winter. So cold that if your out shooting and have your gloves off briefly your hands can stick to them if its -30C (-22F). Carbon fiber is a poor conductor of heat so it does not feel cold in the same way and it would be a luxury. If I am just doing a casual hike in the middle of the day I may not carry it. I use a Canon 16-35 f4 L IS for wide angle landscape which has 4 stop image stabilization and gives quite sharp results without tripod even at 26MP.
Damn - it really does look like a fitness issue then :) Your 25kg backpack weights almost half of myself.
I currently own a Sirui tripod which I'm very satisfied with - while it is Aluminum, the middle of the legs are covered in foam, so you won't burn your hands in winter by holding them. It just doesn't fit comfortably inside my current backpack.
My standard 24-105 f/4 L IS also got the stabilization that I'm pretty happy with - the tripod would be used mostly for those sweet water shots like you're showing here. This just doesn't work without it :)
Intersting that you're mentioning the 16-35 f/4 btw, I was considering this one to complement my 24-105 for landscape shots...increasingly missing some good framings as 24mm are just too long.
Again, thanks for your insights - really appreciated.
As a rule of thumb with a western backpack to be comfortable on long hikes you should not carry more than a third of your body weight. That is assuming you are in the normal BMI range for your height. That said male porters in Nepal carry about 90% of their body weight, but using a Doko strapped to their head so the weight goes down their neck rather than on their shoulders.
Damn, the amount of information I'm getting here is insane :)
I'm probably a little underweight but always had issues with my back - guess that's almost inevitable as a software developer, bent above the keyboard the whole week :)
This is sadly accurate.
Also:
For example the Manfroto Befree tripods are 1.1 kg in Carbon and 1.4kg Alu and a quick google has price in Australian dollars going up from ~$192 to $399 or $207 extra for a 300g weight saving. That's 69 AUD or 54 USD per 100g of weight saved. Not quite as bad as I thought above but not great value for money either in my opinion. That said lots of people have the spare cash and love to spend it on gear so best of luck to them. I try not to judge other peoples situations as people have different circumstances and see value in different ways to each other.
Yepp you're absolutely right. My idea was to get one of those Gorillapods, as I'd use the tripod mostly for lower ground water shots - seems like they're mostly toys, though, and not really durable.
You can always just rest the camera on some rocks. I took this photo below like that as I stupidly flew to a remote south pacific island with no shops to watch a volcano erupt and left my tripod in the car back in Australia. A gorillapod or similar would help when using a light lens. I have also used duct tape and a walking pole as a temporary monopod. Manfroto sell walking sticks with camera mounts on the top (search for MMOFFROADB ) . There is always a way to get the shot ;-)
Haha that's a great story. Shows that planning is good, but being able to improvise is always better...traits you're learning when travelling, it seems :)