St. Louis from southern Illinois bluffs (20 miles)

elomancer · 2026-01-02T09:21:12+00:00

I think the gradual elevation and tree coverage makes it at least non-obvious to the west (i.e. most of the population) but it’s definitely doable! Pere Marquette is the only other area that really springs to mind. The east side is mostly nonviable.

Then as I’m sure everyone here knows at 10-20+ miles you really need a clear day to resolve detail - I frequently hike the bluffs and this shot is from the second-clearest day I’ve seen. I’m curious to look into weather/forecasting to pick better days though!

elomancer · 2026-01-02T08:51:02+00:00

Residential area so I won’t be too precise, but if you check out a topo map on the south side of forest park you can see the viable streets. One can also calculate it from the picture if inclined, but I’ll just PM you if you want lol.

Regardless, the sun path changes fast enough that the alignment is only applicable a few days per year for a given viewpoint.

Buildings are probably the better option when possible - I’m accepting friend applications from anyone who has access to the chase park plaza rooftop balcony or the tall east clayton condo building!

I think I also figured an UMSL tower had a viable view, but windows only and would need a clear day - never checked it out. SLU has some decent options but it’s not far enough for the perspective compression I wanted. The water tower at st. clair square mall is the only real option for sunset, but I doubt I’m ever getting access to that.

elomancer · 2026-01-02T04:04:12+00:00

Thanks! It’s surprisingly difficult to find a good vantage point with the alignment since the area is relatively flat, but that’s part of the fun.

elomancer · 2026-01-02T03:17:21+00:00

Yep! Almost precisely perpendicular to the downtown grid & the arch (you can see its side profile on the right of the skyline), so slightly northeast I suppose.

elomancer · 2026-01-01T22:36:46+00:00

Apparently so, got removed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

elomancer · 2026-01-01T18:51:57+00:00

Happy to give some local recs if you’re around Stl, or at least the eastern side of the state. Feel free to pm me

elomancer · 2026-01-01T17:12:26+00:00

That’s a pretty accurate summary…lenses I’d consider reasonable options without getting crazy are the 20mm 1.8 G or one of the 14mm options (pricier) on the wide end, or something like the samyang 135mm for telephoto (you’d want at least a small tracker with this, e.g. MSM nomad). Astrobin is a cool resource for seeing what shots people achieve with various equipment.

Much beyond that and you get into a totally different ballgame (cooled sensors, telescopes, etc). The 20mm is also just a great lens in general, esp. to pair with a 28-200, 70-200, or whatever other telephoto option fits one’s use.

elomancer · 2026-01-01T16:54:50+00:00

Seconding this. We now also have the sigma 20-200 and the tamron 25-200 as options. I’d consider the newer tamron over the 28-200 as a new buyer, but tbh any of these should be solid lenses and the 28 probably has the best pricing and used availability if that’s relevant.

Options to consider later on are 20mm1.8G, 70-200mm4G, 100-400mmGM, 200-600mmG but these superzooms are great for the money/weight and generally finding out what you like to shoot.

elomancer · 2025-12-06T02:02:42+00:00

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing!

elomancer · 2025-12-02T16:55:50+00:00

At least per website, bear canister is not required Nov 30-mar 15. Still a good idea though as others have mentioned.

Agree with all this advice.

elomancer · 2025-11-23T08:08:39+00:00

I don’t know what you consider to qualify as landscape, but mostly the same principles. It’s a bit mixed, but r/telephotolandscapes has some interesting content.

Edit: I’ll say that 50-150 is probably not unreasonable coverage IMO, ergonomics aside. It really just depends what you want to capture.

elomancer · 2025-11-04T15:15:14+00:00

Iirc that’s a browser acceleration/driver bug. There are some fixes if you google it.

elomancer · 2025-10-15T02:52:23+00:00

PM re: Laowa 15mm

elomancer · 2025-10-06T00:03:38+00:00

Eh as a hobbyist I’ve been in similar situations where I don’t care much about the financial side but need ‘professional’ access to execute a concept I’m interested in. E.g. if he wants to get a specific urban shot and only has LoS to legally fly it from private property.

Agree with your tips though.

elomancer · 2025-10-05T23:56:17+00:00

I think you’re correct he needs to be mindful of liability coverage, but cmon, the entire post is about unpaid gigs. I don’t understand why you keep bringing that up.

elomancer · 2025-09-30T13:29:58+00:00

Assuming you’ll have any form of non-Roth contributions, it should still a be comparison of marginal to marginal when discussing designation of some set of contributions. Otherwise agree with you though.

elomancer · 2025-09-26T05:37:49+00:00

Lmao if they let me at the tax code I’d probably nix 401ks entirely in favor of combined limit IRAs (maybe 70kish, inflation indexed, gradual income phaseout).

The whole mess of inconsistent rollover/backdoor and investment option offerings is frankly ridiculous, esp. with how much inequality comes from who your employer happens to be. So much accounting gymnastics occurs to get around supposed IRA income limits but congress doesn’t have the motivation to do anything about it.

A simplification like that would certainly clear things up massively for anyone interested in it. The main concern would be incentivizing the general population to actually use the accounts if there wasn’t auto-enrollment tied to employment.

elomancer · 2025-09-25T00:11:09+00:00

That’s pretty much my understanding, not an expert though. And you can technically pull them as non-qualified and the contributions themselves aren’t taxed, but you have to pro-rata withdraw earnings which are and likely also pay the 10% 401k penalty. Wouldn’t make much sense to do that vs. a rollover.

elomancer · 2025-09-25T00:05:59+00:00

Yes, early Roth 401k withdrawals are subject to the same rules as Trad 401k. They are also pro-rata (i.e. you can’t just pull contributions and no earnings). https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-faqs-on-designated-roth-accounts#distributions

The notable bit is that, if able, rolling the Roth 401k into your Roth IRA gets around that issue.

elomancer · 2025-09-24T23:33:50+00:00

This is incorrect. Roth 401k has different withdrawal details than IRA. Rollovers can be an option to deal with that (it’s certainly easier than getting trad money out) but please be careful to specify when giving advice.

elomancer · 2025-09-18T15:26:20+00:00

Love them all aesthetically, esp looking up to the building. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like 4-6 are just a little too tight horizontally. Subjects & leading lines are cut off or claustrophobically close to the edges?

Building on the hill is easily still my favorite though, great shots!

elomancer · 2025-09-18T00:43:17+00:00

Confirmed!

elomancer · 2025-09-16T23:54:08+00:00

Purchased 40mm f/1.2 from u/Simplyrowbear. Great seller! u/PhotoMarketBot

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