Great shots, taking full advantage of that rare (twice in ten years) opportunity.

Just don't get over-confident if a snake is stretched out (not coiled). They don't have to be in order to strike. You probably also know they don't necessarily rattle first, too.

I live in Tucson. I've never seen one in my yard, but fully expect to have an encounter every time I hike. I don't of course; maybe 3 or 4 in some years; fewer in others. I'm convinced they all have their own personalities. This year, I came upon another hiker who had encountered a black-tailed rattler on the trail, and I watched for about five minutes as he moved the snake around with his hiking stick in order to get a better photo. Lifted the snake completely off the ground and he never rattled. (I had just seen a Gila monster; only time I've seen both on the same hike.) Just a few days later, there was a diamondback stretched out on the trail a few yards ahead; he's obviously eaten recently. He'd start rattling any time I got within about ten feet of him... even after he moved off the trail and slithered into some prickly pear where I couldn't even see him. I had to take a wide, off-trail detour to get around him. Like I said, they all have their own personalities.

The first photo is of the guy who re-positioned the black-tail, and the second of course is the Gila monster..

(Download)

Nice photos. I recently spent four days in Zion... but not enough! I could have easily stayed for a week.

I need a new charger for my D7100. This one will also work with other batteries with the purchase of a cheap ($1.99) plate for that battery.

http://www.adorama.com/gxch1enel15.html

Interesting concept, but it's obviously not a Nikon product. Any thoughts?

There were lots of comments on flickr's help forum just a few days ago about video difficulties. Staff admitted to a problem but ultimately reported it was fixed. I uploaded a video a day or two ago and, other than it seemingly taking a long time, once it was processed it played fine.

IMO, Capitol Reef NP is way underrated. For a quick (steep at first; easy thereafter) 2-3 hour hike that will provide a good overview and wonderful photographic opportunities, try the Cohab Canyon trail. Trailhead is directly opposite the Fruita Campground, just south of the visitor center, near the start of the Scenic Drive, which is another "must-do" in Capitol Reef.

Really nice job with both of those photos. I'm sure you're right; practice, practice, practice. Your work is a lot better than I was ever able to do in LR. I definitely agree with those that have praised the content aware in PS. I've used that enough now so that I'm usually pretty pleased with the results. I'm not really steady with the brush so I work in pretty short segments. Figure it probably takes a minute or so to remove a telephone line that stretches across the photo.

My refurbed D7100 from Adorama only had four clicks. And I did get the English manual. But the language didn't matter much to me at the time, as it was all Greek to me.

Not against the rules at all; many (myself included) have done so. I've found some really great photos by following the link to their flickr photostream.

I bought that Seagate drive... twice. I returned the first after my computer didn't recognize it a couple of times. No such problem (yet) with the replacement.

There are plenty of Seagate detractors here and all over the internet, but I haven't had any worse results with them than WD. I think that Costco deal is a good one. I'd advise against using Seagate's software (I think it's called "Dashboard"); I found it worthless on my first drive. That's pretty standard advice with any drive, I guess.

In my opinion, the "fun" part is largely determined by the distance of the carry!

That's the best $10 anybody will ever spend when they qualify; if not, your entrance fee is valid for seven days, not just day of, so you won't pay a separate fee each time you enter as long as you save your receipt.

We finished our Alaska cruise and land tour (did that part on our own) almost exactly one year ago. Not all of my photos were exactly as I remembered the scene, either. But it was close to the trip of a lifetime for us as well, and I still like looking through even the imperfect ones, because they remind me of what we did & what a great trip it was. My suggestion is to get them organized and put them in a physical or online album so you can enjoy them whenever you want. The memories are more important than anything else, and you'll retain those memories better from your photographic record than any other way. Glad you had a great trip!

Calling someone who likes a product you don't "incapable" and "blinded" seems pretty condescending to me.

Reasonable, polite responses work a lot better than insults.

When you go, a visit to Guadalupe NP is easily combined with Carlsbad Caverns NP in New Mexico. They're only about 35 miles apart.

I found it very pleasant to hike Guadalupe in the morning, and then go inside Carlsbad that same afternoon; did that two separate days on my last visit. Carlsbad is a great place to cool off!

Nope. Just click on download & decide where you want the ebook saved on your computer. If I can do it, I suspect you can!