Luwin1026

For all you cats that ride SGRT - as you ride the trail over Santa Fe Dam, you look down past the big enbankment of rocks, and after thinking to yourself what an ugly death that would be if a gust of crosswind took you and your bike over, you also ask yourself, "hmmmm . . . that park area looks kinda nice and relaxing . . . wonder what else is down there?"

Well, ask no more!! I took the liberty of taking a detour from my ride this afternoon to meet the wife and kid there, and asked her to bring my camera so I can take some pics to share with my BF brethren. I also made sure she packed some bread so I can attract the ducks and geese for some up close and personal interaction. With that said, may I present to you the lovely Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area as seen through my eyes on this warm, sunny Super Bowl Sunday . . .

tbrown524

Dude, You really captured the beauty of that area.. I've past by there so many times and never bothered to enjoy the view.

Luwin1026

And the gymnastics training begins . . .


Getting uuuuppppp . . .




Yay! I made it!!




What happens if I let go? Uh-oh!!




(Note: No children were harmed in the last three pictures. Parental supervision an support was provided. Do not try this at home.)

chimivee

mtblurkr

Awesome pics! Thanks.

jsigone

awesome pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

chimivee

And by , I meant WOW! Excellent stuff, Luwin!

roadfix

nice...

Mr. Beanz

Nice pix! Can you come down and make my hometown look beautiful too?

F = MA

wow! GREAT pics.

I rode SGR for the first time on Friday. Pretty "natury" ride compared to the SART that I'm used to. I got a bike map of the whole trail from the main office. It looks like the trail consists of 35 total miles from Morris Reservoir (north of azusa) all the way down to Long Beach/Seal Beach. I plan to do the whole thing soon, just to see what its like. If anyone want to join me, lmk

Mo'Phat

HOW DO YOU GET THAT COLOR!!?/

I'd love to have colors so vivid, and kids' pictures of that beauty to hang on the wall...but I know squat about cameras, so I'm doomed to bland shots.

Who knew there were such glorious views at the Santa Fe dam?

thomson

Very nice pictures, as always!!

merider1

+1 Breathtaking. You and James put my photo skills to shame! I love the colors in the photos and how you capture the light. And your daughter is a born model!

Tiffanie

Beautiful and incredible pics, as always, Luwin! Thanks for sharing.

jschen

Gorgeous as always. Thanks for sharing.

octico

I grew up fishing on that lake. Thanks Luwin for bringing back great memories!!

Neccros

Looks like a contrast filter on the lense

roadfix

A polarizing filter produces good color saturation. I used to use it quite a bit for scenic shots with film. I assume these filters are effective with digicams as well.

Luwin1026

Thanks for the comments, guys -

Mo - I use a UV and circular polarizing filter on my G5 - Fixer was on the right page in that it helps with saturation as there is less reflection - in my experience, particularly with darkening a light sky.

While I've heard from some Photoshop users that it's possible to simulate some effects of polarization during the post-processing stage, but I'm more conservative in that I don't like to rely heavily on altering/processing a shot, and generally like leaving it as close to the original capture as possible (adding borders notwithstanding).

And as chimivee had mentioned in his Haleakala thread - Canon cameras generally tend to have good color saturation, which is especially nice for nature/scenery shots.


My next project is to make the rest of SGRT look good . . .

Mo'Phat

...starts flipping through my Canon SD600 user manual...

chimivee

Don't bother. I already checked, and there's no "Luwin" setting.

Mo'Phat

Yeah...I noticed that.

Turns out I've had the 'Suck' button engaged this whole time.

roadfix

Yeah.....speaking of settings, I wish my camera had an 'Ansel Adams' setting...

Luwin1026

OH GOD. Cut it out, Mr. Pulitzer winner for the amazing coverage of Haleakakalalala . . .

It's all camera, I tell you. Speaking of, have you seen the new G7 that was just released? 10mp, retro styling - but then again, I'd rather step up and invest in an SLR if I were to upgrade. It's like going from an Allez to another, more current Allez - shoot, forget that . . . time to go Orbea!!

I think it'd be badass if there was some sort of sidecar for bikes (like the motorcycle ones), where someone can do the pedaling/riding while you sit and focus on shooting action shots of fellow riders. Then, to avoid missing out on the action, the sidecar actually has pedals like a recumbent . . . sorta like a side-by-side tandem . . . maybe James can draw up the design and work with Fixer in development and patent that sucker . . .

Mo'Phat

Just get a three-wheeler and toss James in the basket:


Or show up to a group ride with this bad boy: