Enjoying the great outdoors and coming home with a few great pictures are two of my greatest passions. My father introduced me to hiking at an early age, taking me on my first multi-day backpacking trip in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness area at age 11. He also introduced me to photography, starting first with cheap 1970’s Instamatic's, graduating to his Minolta SLR during my teen years, and then finally purchasing my own Minolta XG-M SLR in my early 20’s.
I took many good pictures over the years, but often only by accident and/or happening to be at the right place at the right time. Although I technically knew how to operate cameras I had little knowledge of such things as the importance of composition, good light, foreground objects, etc.
That all started to change a few years ago. I began reading photography books, blogs, and web pages. I searched Instagram and 500px to see how others photographed landscapes, specifically locations that were in my area. I improved my knowledge and use of post processing software. I also upgraded my camera gear, not spending a fortune, but still a significant step up from what I previously had been using.
I also started doing crazy things like planning specific photo-shoots, sometimes several months in advance. Getting up at 4AM just for the hope of getting a descent sunrise shot, or stay up half the night taking pictures of the Milky Way. I had always taken a camera backpacking, but now I also pack extra lenses, filters, and a tri-pod. Now, if I don’t come home from every photo shoot without at least a couple quality pictures I’m disappointed.
It’s all still work-in-progress, and of course it always will be. But I’m loving it, and I hope you enjoy the pictures in this gallery.
David Schmidt
Portland, Oregon
My Equipment
Sony A6600 - 24 mega-pixel mirrorless APC
Sony E 16–55mm F2.8 G - My primary lens, best quality zoom lens I have ever owned
Tamron 11-20mm F2.8 - Ultra-wide zoom, excellent for both landscape and astrophotography
Sony E 70–350 mm F4.5–6.3 G OSS - Medium to long telephoto zoom lens
Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN | C - Astrophotography and Landscape lens
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA – Landscapes, astrophotography , and low-light indoor shots
Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS – Astrophotography timelapse lens
Various Hoya ProND Neutral Density Filters
Hoya EVO Antistatic Circular Polarizer Filter
Three Legged Thing Equinox Albert Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod with AirHead 360 Ball Head
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA – Landscapes, astrophotography , and low-light indoor shots
Rokinon 12mm F2.0 NCS CS – Astrophotography timelapse lens
Various Hoya ProND Neutral Density Filters
Hoya EVO Antistatic Circular Polarizer Filter
Three Legged Thing Equinox Albert Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod with AirHead 360 Ball Head
Post Processing Software
Adobe Lightroom CC - All basic RAW editing, cataloging, etc.
Adobe Photoshop CC - Additional post-processing steps
Nik Collection by DXO - Primarily Color Efex Pro
Topaz Labs - Denoise AI, Sharpen AI, and Gigapixel AI
Starry Landscape Stacker and Sequator - Astrophotography image stacking
Siril - Deep Space image processing
My Adobe Lightroom Collection Links
Links to my "Best of" collections, containing many more pictures that did not make it onto this web page.