photoartflightColorful Fall Handheld Panoramas From Davidsons Mill Pond
Posted on October 21, 2020
We went to Davidsons Mill Pond Park to photograph the Fall colors. I was only using my Canon R with a 24-105mm lens & my iPhone 11 Pro. All panorama images here are with the 24-105mm @ various focal lengths. I purposely made a series of panoramas at different focal lengths (as listed below images) and different numbers of images per panorama. I was trying to show how sometimes it is better to use more images per panorama in the beginning & once you get used to doing them you can use less images and still get the image that you wanted. Also by shooting more images than you need, you get used to how the process works and get the feel for how many you will need in the future. In Photoshop you just load all images into one layered Photoshop file. Select layers and chose Auto-Align, then Auto-Blend. Comes in handy for the times you want a wider image or taller image and have the wrong lens to accomplish your vision. If needed I can post a more step by step process blog.
Steamtown National Historic Site (part 3)
Posted on July 27, 2020
This should be the last post on the Steamtown National Historic Site. Again concentrating on the Railyard where the rusting trains are stored. This area has live tracks with active trains going around the tracks with the relics off to the side. Which seems strange to allow people to wander around. It also seems odd because the museum is pristine and this area is completely opposite! But it Very interesting to see & photograph!
Trains on active tracks
Above images are images of rusting old snow removal engines. Cannot image these going down the tracks. One is a snow plow, the other a massive snow thrower. The Snow Thrower blades were HUGE.
In the middle of all the rusting trains was this huge elevated walkway to take you to the “Mall at Steamtown” which seemed a little strange in the middle of all the rusting trains. But it had an interesting Strange geometric look in all the rust & decay! Reminds me of a metal bug with legs!
Steamtown National Historic Site (part 2)
Posted on July 26, 2020
Another post on Steamtown National Historic Site. This one is concentrating on the Railyard with Trains & Rail Cars in storage, waiting to be restored or maybe for parts. This area was actually more interesting to see and photograph. A lot textures and rust! And a lot of photo subjects.
Steamtown Map showing facilities
I put this image in again to explain how I did this multi-image Handheld panorama. This was different because I was very close to my large subject. Usually my Panorama subjects or landscapes are way off in the distance. I just shoot a series of images, shooting from a somewhat center position, panning left to right. But because I was so close and not a lot of room to back up, I did a Foot Pano. I just shot an image at certain overlapping sections as I walked down the length of the long tender. This way I would not get more distortions on the ends of the pano from shooting with a wide angle lens shooting centered to the tender.
Steamtown National Historic Site (part 1)
Posted on July 25, 2020
I was going through backup hard drives looking for an image an old client needed and I came across these images taken many years ago when a friend took me to Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA. I thought it would be interesting since it is hard to travel far for interesting destinations to photograph at the moment. Steamtown National Historic Site is a railroad museum and heritage railroad located on 62.48 acres in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the site of the former Scranton yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. In non Covid times you can actually book trips on some of these to select destinations hours away. I was not really interested in trains (they don’t have wings!), but he convinced me it would be a great day. And it was! It is an amazing place to photograph. Talk about Heavy Metal! I did not know what to expect so I brought a few lenses, but he laughed at me when I included a 70-300mm lens. In the end I only used a 24-105mm zoom. Probably should have included the 12-24mm, but with these huge subjects wide angle distortion would have looked strange. But it was definitely a fun day to Explore & Photograph! There were interesting subjects, details and trains all over the site. But my favorites were the rusting hulks in the storage train track areas waiting to be restored or maybe there for parts. But you have to be aware & careful because off in the rusting hulks there are active train tracks. In this post I will concentrate mostly on restored ones, but I will put in a few rusting ones! Tomorrow I will feature the rusting ones!
Description of Featured train above – Union Pacific #4012
Front of Baldwin Engine 8
Drive wheel detail
759 in restoration area
Rusting “Old Passenger Car” on Storage Tracks
Train Tracks out in Storage Area- sepia-toned
Head-on split image – Newer & Old Comparison Engines
Lackawanna Diesel – Restored
Turntable track to bays
Restored Diesel – 902 Reading Lines
Wider view #8 Engine
Restored Train in Roundhouse
7 images @24mm panorama – Rusting Tender out in holding storage area
Bay Tracks to Storage Bays
Restored Old Mail Car
Vermont Cloudscape Panorama
Posted on June 19, 2020
This is a 4 image Cloudscape Panorama from a previous trip to Vermont. Images were shot @ 47mm with a Canon 24-105mm lens. I did not want to shoot wider because of buildings below & blank sky above which distracted from the main cloud formations.
Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge Panoramas
Posted on March 1, 2020
I am going through old files that I have not had a chance to work on before. These are from a visit years ago to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. The clouds were amazing on this visit so it was fun to do some panoramas. I photographed a series of handheld panorama landscapes but only worked on 1 of them back then. So here are a few more from that visit. Bombay Hook NWR is great for photographing multi-image landscapes because of the landscapes you see along the Wildlife Drive. On all the visits there we always saw amazing cloud formations. All images were taken with a 24-105mm lens @ 24mm, but the number of frames per panorama are varied. When shooting handheld panoramas you try to overlap somewhat equally, but it is better to shoot more than you think you need just to be safe. This way you have more frames to choose from when assembling the panorama. Once you get used to doing them you usually require fewer frames. The featured one is my original I posted then. The one below is a landscape made from 3 images, so there is more overlapping on each image.
3 images @24mm, but less overlapping of images and finished more to the right
Cloudscape Panorama across from entrance – 6 image panorama @ 24mm
Cloudscape Panorama across from entrance – 9 images @ 24mm
6 images (vertical) @ 24mm panorama to get more sky & clouds
Blackwater NWR Sunset
Posted on August 14, 2018
We got to where we wanted on the Wildlife Drive to photograph the setting sun, but it was not as dramatic as we had hoped for. It was still fun to photograph and got a few good images. Then we moved a little closer, around the bend towards the straightaway to the exit. These are combinations of exposure blends for darks & lights for shadow detail and bright detail along with multi-images for size. I was using 2 cameras, one with a 24-105mm, the other with a 12-24mm. The featured image is at 105mm (5 images, blended). If you see any specks in the sky, they are birds flying through. After the sun went below the horizon we then headed back to the motel to rest up for sunrise the next day.
Series of 5 images blended in Photoshop, 24mm
Three image blend @105mm
Four image blend @24mm
4 img blend @88mm
3 image blend – Sundown @24mm
Blackwater River Panorama Landscapes Near Sundown
Posted on August 12, 2018
When we were going to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, we planned for the first day to include the sunset and the second day to be there for the sunrise. Usually they are very dramatic and colorful at Blackwater NWR. Normall we go to the end of the Wildlife Drive for sunsets and the beginning of the Wildlife Drive for sunrise. The sunrises are better on the Little Blackwater River. While the sunsets are better by the Blackwater River. While we were on the Wildlife Drive heading for the far end, we noticed and liked the colorful clouds on the Blackwater River so we stopped and shot a few panoramas as the sun was getting lower. Even with 12mm or 24mm lenses, it still did not give me all I wanted in my shots. So I shot a series of images handheld, to blend together to get the view I wanted. The featured image was a series of shots in a vertical format to blend together. I wanted to include more sky and reflections in the water. The image below was a series of images shot horizontally to blend together. With 12mm or 24mm lenses it seems like you have to shoot the images with a lot more overlap on each image than with longer lenses. Also instead of using Photoshop to automatically align and blend the images, they come out better to manually align each image manually and make soft edge masks to blend together for the final image. Photoshop tends to really distort the few images on each end and distort the edges badly, especially the extreme images on each end. The clouds and reflections then look really distorted and warped.
Cloud Panoramas From Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge
Posted on July 31, 2018
We went to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge outside of Cambridge, Maryland to see what subjects we could find to photograph. These images were taken along the Wildlife Drive. The Eagles were scarce, only saw a few in the distance, but we kind of expected that. But in the Winter months Blackwater has one of the highest numbers of Eagles in the Northeast. So we were concentrating on Dragonflies, other birds, panoramas and sunrises & sunsets. The featured image was 4 Horizontal shots @24mm, assembled in Photoshop. With wide angle lenses for panoramas, I tend to overlap more than when using long telephoto lenses. The wider the focal length the more overlapping shots I do. These images were shot on or near the long Observation Platform along the 4 mile Wildlife Drive. The above featured image was 4 horizontal shots @ 24mm. On the right side of the featured image you can see part of the Observation Platform. These images were taken with the Canon 24-105mm lens or the Sigma 12-24mm lens. The Blackwater NWR includes more than 28,000 acres of tidal marsh, mixed hardwood and loblolly pine forests, managed freshwater wetlands and croplands. The Blackwater & Little Blackwater Rivers flow through the refuge so I guess that is where they got the name Blackwater NWR.
3 Horizontal Images @ 24mm
3 Vertical Images Combined For Horizontal Image @ 24mm
4 Vertical Images Combined For Horizontal Final Image @24mm
3 Vertical Images Combined for Horizontal Final Image @ 24mm
4 Vertical Images Combined For Vertical Image @ 12mm
Pre-Sunrise Clouds – 24 Shot Panorama @ 400mm
Posted on June 18, 2018
I like going to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland for their colorful Sunrises and Sunsets. (Also for Eagles & Ospreys and…) On this day the clouds were very interesting so I was shooting a few different versions, compositions, focal lengths and Camera/lens combos. Then I noticed a thin long length of colorful clouds above the trees but below the main larger clouds. So I tried a 400mm with a 1.4X Teleconverter pano version. I shot 24 images with that combo, with large overlaps on each shot, all handheld. This is the Featured Image above. I used a lot of overlapping images because it usually lines up better, especially when the camera is handheld. If I do not need them I can just use a few instead. Below are more versions with different camera and lens combinations. Also some eagles that flew by in the colorful sky adding some interest and a subject in the colorful sky. In the featured image about 2/3rds over to the right there is a small dot below the clouds. That was another Bald Eagle flying through and I decided to leave it and not clone it out.
Blackwater NWR PreSunrise @ 24mm (2 image blend for foreground detail)
Blackwater NWR Sunrise, 2 Image pano @ 24mm
Blackwater NWR Sunrise @ 400mm, Canon 400mm DO lens
Blackwater NWR Sunrise @ 400mm, Canon 400mm DO lens w/ Canon 1.4X Teleconverter
Immature Bald Eagle Soaring in the Sunrise, Canon 400mm DO w/ 1.4X Teleconverter
Closer Bald Eagle Flying in the Sunrise, Canon 400mm DO w/ 1.4X Teleconverter
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