Expressing distance in a photo

[Don Lovel]

The flat San Luis Valley and length of this section of the Sangre De Cristo, really "BIG COUNTRY"

 

[RolandDeschain]

Love your pics Don.

And this topic reminds of something I think about whenever I see them, which is "how far away are those mountains"? Or like in the one pic, what was the relative distance to the sand dunes and the mountains, and then their relation to each other?

Living in the wide open spaces like you do, you probably take that stuff for granted, but its always a source of interest for me, not being used to seeing that type of country.

Thanks again for posting.

 

[Fox Mike]

Reminds me of traveling across West Texas. Midland and Odessa could be seen forever and never seemed to get any closer, even though I was driving like a madman.

 

[Jim Puke]

That does appear to be BIG country.

I am certainly enjoying all of these pics you are posting...keep it up.

 

[Don Lovel]

As the crow flies, it is probably about 8 miles from where I am standing to the base of the mountains straight East of where I am standing when taking that pic of the length of the range. It is about 30 miles from Poncha Pass to Crestone, another 50 miles from Crestone to Alamosa, but out here, there is an optical illusion where on some days, like the day when I took the pic of the snow on the Dunes, I was probably close to 20 miles from the edge of the dunes closest to me, but for whatever atmospheric reasons, it gives a magnified view. I had the zoom about 50%, but all that did was give me a bit smaller side to side pic, but really what I saw in the viewfinder is not that much different from the view your eyes have. Distance is real hard to guess here some days.

 

[RolandDeschain]

As the crow flies, it is probably about 8 miles from where I am standing to the base of the mountains straight East of where I am standing when taking that pic of the length of the range. It is about 30 miles from Poncha Pass to Crestone, another 50 miles from Crestone to Alamosa, but out here, there is an optical illusion where on some days, like the day when I took the pic of the snow on the Dunes, I was probably close to 20 miles from the edge of the dunes closest to me, but for whatever atmospheric reasons, it gives a magnified view. I had the zoom about 50%, but all that did was give me a bit smaller side to side pic, but really what I saw in the viewfinder is not that much different from the view your eyes have. Distance is real hard to guess here some days.

Wow - I would have guessed in this pic that the mountains were about 20 miles away. And in the sand dune pic, they look like they are only a mile or 2 away. I would get lost for sure in your neck of the woods. :lol:

 

[Don Lovel]

Yeah Roland, that is what I was talking about, judging distance here, really different. When I was sighting in my .243 the other day, I sat the target at what I thought was 200yds from where I had parked my Jeep, I walked back there, got ready to shoot and when I adjusted the objective lens on my 12x scope, it said the target was actually about 325yds away.
Some days you can top over Poncha Pass and see the Great Sand Dunes, they are a good 50 miles from Poncha Pass, but they gather light better I guess, because you can really see a bunch of detail in the wind blown erosion on the dunes, and the real confusing one is when you are out on the flats of the valley, say 15 miles away from the dunes, the highest dunes, hard to believe that the tops of them are around 9000ft+

 

[doccash]

In another time frame, 100's of thousands of years ago the prevailing wind here was from the north west instead of from the southwest like it is now. They say that all of the sand in and around Muleshoe Texas came from the dunes in Colorado. :shock: Dr.C

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Don,
The Folks in South Fork, where we spent the summer and close to you, say that the San Luis Valley is one of the coldest places in CO. Since this is your first winter in the area will be interesting on your take on that. Sure looks like it could get windy and cold.

Great pictures. If I remember a 50MM lens is what your eye sees.
We really like the area West of there around Crede and South Fork. Have you made it to that area yet? From South Fork to Durango is a great drive in summer.

 

[Tensaw]

Reminds me of traveling across West Texas. Midland and Odessa could be seen forever and never seemed to get any closer, even though I was driving like a madman.

I spent a week one day crossing West Texas. :lol:

 

[HAWKEYE#28]

Reminds me of traveling across West Texas. Midland and Odessa could be seen forever and never seemed to get any closer, even though I was driving like a madman.

I spent a week one day crossing West Texas. :lol:

I RECALL "PLACES" like that in Western North Dakota and the eastern half of Montana.............. :roll: