Posted by Jack Brauer on August 2, 2014 at 12:03 PM
The wildflowers are going OFF in the San Juans right now! Last week my wife and I did a 5-day trek through the rolling tundra mountains west of Silverton. Flowers were just about everywhere, including vast fields of paintbrush that were so thick they made the slopes look pink from afar. I took advantage of the conditions to create this 180º pano from within the paintbrush.
Tech specs for the pano: Sony A7R + 17mm Canon TS-E lens. Ten shots to make: 5 frames with 2 shots per frame for (manual) exposure blending for the flowers and sky, then stitched together in Autopano Pro, resulting in an 80mp final image. There was only a small sun-width gap on the horizon for the sun to poke through, so I only had one chance to get this pano quickly. Fortunately it worked! Also worth noting is that when I make panos with such a wide lens, I overlap each frame by half.
Superb, Jack. You managed to keep the trees on the horizon vertical and combined with the sweet, sweeping, dipping foreground you've created a real masterpiece here! Not to mention controlling any flare from the sun!
Posted by Scott Fricke on August 2, 2014 at 1:26 PM
Gorgeous Jack! Almost feels like you could be sitting there in the field watching the sun come up, especially if you printed it large. I love the warm light on flowers and grass and how the hill frames the sun.
Jack, That's huge HUGE advice shooting panos with a wide. Certainly overlap by half. For those getting into panoramic photography mark Jack's essential advice down now. This image is spectacular, however I think its a bit too wide for my eye but man! do you have a lot to work with. I would crop this monster at about an inch on each side.
Don't ya love handblending panos? Tricky thing eh? After a few years I think I've got it down.
I really respect your post processing style Jack, and you have stayed true over the years, which means you new who you wanted to be as an artist years ago and have never migrated from that vision. Your imagery is a perfect example of utilizing hand blends to create a real world scenes.
BTW see more of Jacks trip here...http://www.mountainphotographer.com/
Posted by Jack Brauer on August 2, 2014 at 6:18 PM
Thanks all for your comments!
Kane - Yes, this is much wider than my usual taste as well, though in this case I think it's part of what makes the image special - being totally surrounded and almost overwhelmed by so many wildflowers! Unfortunately panos this wide just don't work well on the web; a wall sized print of this would be something to see. Thanks for your comments about the processing too... I try to keep it real, but with my own touch!
Btw Jack are these images tilted? If so what f stop?
Posted by Jack Brauer on August 2, 2014 at 10:35 PM
Hey Kane, yes, each frame had the same downward shift and downward tilt, shot at f/14. Interestingly, I've found that Autopano Pro doesn't seem to mind stitching downward-shifted/tilted images; in fact it works quite well. I suspect that's due to the fact that the downward-shifted images naturally make the foreground more prominent in the frame, something that would have to happen anyways during the stitching warping process. In other words, if I had shot the pano straight with no shift, the foreground parts of the frames would have to be stretched much more to fit together during the stitching process. With the downward shift of the lens, that's happening optically instead, making it easier for the stitching software. At least that's my theory!
Posted by Bob Falcone on August 3, 2014 at 1:28 PM
HOLY COW! That is gorgeous. The work done in capturing the scene and in the post-processing speaks volumes about your commitment to get such a great shot. Kudos!
Posted by Bob Miller on August 5, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Discussion
11 repliesSEE IT BIGGER HERE: http://www.mountainphotography.com/photo/paintbrush-sunrise-panorama/ (Click the "larger view" link on that page to see it at 1600px).
Tech specs for the pano: Sony A7R + 17mm Canon TS-E lens. Ten shots to make: 5 frames with 2 shots per frame for (manual) exposure blending for the flowers and sky, then stitched together in Autopano Pro, resulting in an 80mp final image. There was only a small sun-width gap on the horizon for the sun to poke through, so I only had one chance to get this pano quickly. Fortunately it worked! Also worth noting is that when I make panos with such a wide lens, I overlap each frame by half.
Don't ya love handblending panos? Tricky thing eh? After a few years I think I've got it down.
I really respect your post processing style Jack, and you have stayed true over the years, which means you new who you wanted to be as an artist years ago and have never migrated from that vision. Your imagery is a perfect example of utilizing hand blends to create a real world scenes.
BTW see more of Jacks trip here...http://www.mountainphotographer.com/
Kane - Yes, this is much wider than my usual taste as well, though in this case I think it's part of what makes the image special - being totally surrounded and almost overwhelmed by so many wildflowers! Unfortunately panos this wide just don't work well on the web; a wall sized print of this would be something to see. Thanks for your comments about the processing too... I try to keep it real, but with my own touch!