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GoodGrim
11-24-2005, 12:03
I am curious about how many photos in total and per day people take on the trail. I have had my digital camera a year, and I am still totally in love with it. I can easily fill up the card (more than 200 pictures) in two days, if I am somewhere even marginally photogenic. But I can see that unless I am willing to carry my PC to download each night as I do at home, this won't work.

So how many pictures do you take and did you find the number increased or decreased as the hike progressed.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I can take 7 photos of a rusty hinge, hoping to capture the essence of rusty hingeness. I take few pictures of people, and most of those by stealth.

Eleanor

Cuffs
11-24-2005, 12:13
I am the same way with my digital camera (Canon Powershot Pro) I plan on getting a smaller camera for my thru.

I too am a photo-taking junkie. Old barns, scenic vistas, flora & fauna. Very few people pics.

The best idea I ran across is to find a camera that has removable media (SD, CF...) cards. (I think all of them do now)

I have stocked up on several 512 and 1G cards (really inexpensive on ebay & at Tiger Direct) Fill up a card, send it home. It will either be there when you get back or if you have someone available, they can upload them for you...

As you know, the cards are very light, so they wont be a burden to take on the trail.

One word of warning. Keep all receipts for your cards. I checked with the post office, and if you send one home and it gets lost, you have to have proof of purchase (value) to make a claim.

My .02, hope you find something useful!!

Happy Hiking!

Shutterbug
11-24-2005, 12:35
Eleanor

I also take multiple pictures of wildlife, but usually take only one or two of people. They tend to get restless if I try to take more.

I usually ask before taking a person's picture. I have had a few that said "No." I didn't want a picture of them anyway. I also usually mention that I will be putting them on my web site. Again, some have requested that their picture not be posted on the web. I honor their request.

I average between 30 and 40 pictures a day when the sun is shining and less than 10 when it is raining.

Porter
11-24-2005, 13:34
I took 1,700 pictures over the course of six months. Coulda taken alot more. Between losing a memory card in the mail and having my camera out of comission for a month, there's lots of gaps in my album. I would say, though, I took more pictures within the first 500 miles and the last 500 miles. I'm a sucker for scenery.

Extra memory is the key. I had a couple 512M memory cards and a 1G card that got mailed back and forth to and from home. Another word of warning: don't mail memory cards in the regular letter envelopes, use a box or padded mailer. Letter sorters shuck those cards right out with ease. Learned that the hard way.

Kerosene
11-24-2005, 13:51
A consistent theme that I hear from former thru-hikers is that they wish that they had taken more pictures of the people they encountered along the way. In fact, when you read most journals (www.trailjournals.com (http://www.trailjournals.com)) you find that after the first month or so hikers spend more words on the people around them than they do the scenery or hiking. If you've got enough memory, you might as well include them.

Jack Tarlin
11-24-2005, 16:07
I second Kerosene's suggestion that you take more photos of the people you meet, hike with, and stay with.

Also, keep some sort of photo log so you know who you're photographing, and more important, WHERE your photos were taken. I have dozens of really pretty photos that I get all sorts of compliments on, and when people ask "Where's that sunset?" or "What's that mountain?" my answer is usually ""Gee, it's somewhere in central Virginia."

I'd keep a simple log, maybe in your journal, of where you were each day, what you took pictures of, as well as who. In later years, you'll be glad you kept these records, especially if you plan to return to some of your favorite places.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-25-2005, 07:30
I'm a section hiker so what I'm about to say may not work for thru hikers.

I have a 1G card in a 3.2MP Olympus Stylus 300. The card will hold nearly 2,000 pics at the camera's highest resolution. When I want to be sure I can identify a pic later, I change the camera to its macro (up-close and personal) setting and photograph the place name in my trail guide or a map with an arrow made of twigs pointing to the spot. I have been known to write down and then photograph notations for some pics (ususally names of people in pics). I also photograph trail signs along the way to help identify where shots were taken.

I echo the thought that I wish I had taken more pics of the wonderful people I have met in the trail community.

Cuffs
12-28-2005, 22:05
I have a 1G card in a 3.2MP Olympus Stylus 300. The card will hold nearly 2,000 pics at the camera's highest resolution. When I want to be sure I can identify a pic later, I change the camera to its macro (up-close and personal) setting and photograph the place name in my trail guide or a map with an arrow made of twigs pointing to the spot. I have been known to write down and then photograph notations for some pics (ususally names of people in pics). I also photograph trail signs along the way to help identify where shots were taken.

I echo the thought that I wish I had taken more pics of the wonderful people I have met in the trail community.


Love the idea of just taking the pic of the guide or map!! Was wondering myself how to notate the location for each pic as I didnt want to ever not be able to identify one!

Youre lucky you get that many pics on your card... My 8 MP Canon PowerShot Pro only gets about 300 on a 512mb card... But I will most likely get a smaller camera come hike time in '07, as the Canon is wayyy to heavy. But have to find one that is small and still has 7-9MP capability...

Keep on clicking those photos!!

Chickety
12-28-2005, 23:14
May sound like a pain, but each night........I would look at the photos taken that day on my camera, then on a piece of paper I wrote down the photo number and a quick description

(32. chickety by balance rock)

It really helped when I got home and had NO idea what picture was what, I also wrote in my journal every night, so I made this photo description thing part of my little nightly ritual.

cutman11
12-28-2005, 23:15
I've been sectioning for the last 5 years, using a cheap light reloadable camera from the local drug store. I found I have averaged one photo per mile( sometimes six pix in one spot, then none the next six miles), and have taken less the further I have gone ( great views are one thing, but after you have so many photos of them, they start to run together). I have tried to keep writing the location on the back of each photo. Some of the best ones are the unique places along the trail,( long creek falls, the waslik poplar, the tree at Bly Gap, fontana lake from shuckstack tower, dragons tooth, mcafee knob, etc,etc) rather than just "the view from x mtn". So, I would say if you plan on 2000 photos +/-, you should about cover it. Since I have been old school about photos, I dont know if the digital stuff would make you take more or less. If I were to go digital, how many memory cards would I need to do 1000 photos (the amount of trail I have left to do)?

Askus3
12-29-2005, 11:35
The thing I do so I know what photos I am taking later on when I am ready to label them is place a time in the guidebook or scrap paper of a particular jct or landmark. Like 3:00 Sages Ravine, 3:25 Bear Mt., 3:45 Jct with Paradise Lane, etc. Then I look at the time the photos were taken and I have a good idea where the photo was taken.