photoartflightDavidson’s Mill 50 Image Landscape Panorama
Posted on May 11, 2018
While I was photographing small birds in the tall trees at Davidson’s Mill Pond Park in Monmouth County NJ, I was waiting for some subject birds in the trees to photograph. I was using a 400mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter. There was a lull in bird activity so I thought I would try a multi-image panorama of the field and trees in the distance. I was wondering if I could hold the detail in the grasses and tree branches, so I took off the teleconverter to help hold detail in the trees and leaves. I was also using a tripod to help with the detail (camera shake) and to keep a level horizon. I first shot a line series of 25 shots in a row. I thought it was too long and needed more height. I decided to try 2 rows of 25 images per row to get more height. So with the 2 rows of 25 images each, I had 50 images to align, stack and blend. I selected my images and opened them in Adobe Camera Raw and adjusted my settings for sharpness, color, noise reduction, lens distortion, etc. Then I selected the option to open all the files in one layered Photoshop file. Once in Photoshop, I did an Auto-align images, then Auto Blend to combine everything. It automatically aligns and combines the sharpest areas (hopefully) in the files. There are multiple choices for blending modes, but with telephoto lenses Auto seems to work fairly well. If not, you can try one of the others. So I ended up with a 50 Image pano (25 images per row, 2 rows, 50 images total). Final image is 164 inches long. It was more a test to see how the telephoto pano would work, since most of my panos are more wide to normal focal lengths or macro panos and stacking, but that would be a future blog post. Other options in Photoshop are multiple images of the same subject to blend and increase sharpness and/or reduce noise in your image (since noise is random in each image) Or multiple images of the same scene crowded with people moving about, then removing the people automatically by blending the layers in a certain way. So it always fun to try new ways to photograph your subjects and you never know when it will come in handy to get the shot you want! After that I shot 15 horizontal shots for a vertical panorama of a single tree, Again with a 400mm lens.
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Longwood Gardens Fountain Panoramas
Posted on April 25, 2018
I enjoy doing multi-image panoramas. It is sort of a challenge and I am usually trying different techniques to see what comes out the best. These are all shot with a m43 Camera @ 14mm with a series of handheld images. I tried a few different versions, a series of images shot with horizontal images for the pano and another with vertical images for a taller horizontal panorama. Then I also tried different ways in Photoshop to blend the images. Some I tried “Auto” for blending the different layers which usually works well. Photoshop tries to do what it thinks best for the assembly. In addition I also did the series with “cylindrical” assembly. I think I liked the pano done with 11 Vertical images. It usually works pretty well as long as you try to overlap your images quite a bit and try to keep a level horizontal line as you shoot the series. When you combine the layers of your pano in Photoshop, I usually also click on the box for content-aware-fill. It does a pretty good job of filling in blank areas that happen when Photoshop aligns everything and might have open areas on the borders or edges. Also it seems a little trickier with the m43 format instead of a regular DSLR. The more panos you try the more you seem to know if it is going to work in the end. It takes trial and error to get a feel for doing these and be somewhat confident it will turn out. I started doing these because I wanted to “travel” lighter without carrying a lot of lenses with me, Plus they are fun to do. So give it a try and do not get discouraged. After a few tries it gets easier to do and more predictable.
11 vertical images @ 14mm, m43
9 horizontal images @ 14mm, m43
Gull Pond Panoramas
Posted on March 14, 2018
While at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, I shot a few panoramas along the Wildlife Drive at Gull Pond. The featured image was a 2 shot panorama. Shot at 24mm, with 2 horizontal images, combined in Photoshop. With the featured image I purposely included the empty tree branches on the right to add some interest and some depth. I tried to position the larger branches where there was an open sky with few clouds.
3 horizontal stacked images, vertical panorama, @ 24mm
4 horizontal images, stacked horizontally, @ 24mm
Early Morning Reflections
Posted on February 24, 2018
I liked the early morning light and the reflections of the trees and sky in the water. I was traveling light and only had a long lens for birds, so I shot a series of images and combined them in Photoshop. In some ways it is confusing and busy looking, but I still liked it anyway and thought it was interesting. Only needed a few touch ups to fine tune the image. It was a quiet day for the birds, but I enjoyed being out in the fresh air and seeing what else I could find.
More Firey Clouds At Sunset
Posted on February 19, 2018
These are more cloud images from the previous post. A couple are 2 shots combined, either stacked vertically or horizontally, combined in Photoshop. All shot with a 24-105mm at various focal lengths.
Weathered Feather Panorama
Posted on February 16, 2018
While taking a walk at the Audubon’s Plainsboro Preserve in NJ, I was looking for some photo opportunities. Plainsboro Preserve is almost 1,000 acres with a variety of trails and an almost 50 acre lake. Because it is a large area, most birds are distant, but you never know what you might find. It also seems to a have a lot of Beavers, so you see their handiwork (felled trees with their tooth marks) all around the areas near the water on the Preserve.
I found this weathered feather along the path and thought it looked interesting. I took 2 images, handheld with a 300mm f/4 IS lens with a 1.4X teleconverter. I like this Canon lens for an all purpose Walk Around lens. It is sharp, image stabilized, focuses fairly close on its own, very hand holdable, fairly lightweight and sharp. So I use this lens quite a bit for when I am just taking a walk with no idea of what I might photograph. If you carry extension tubes with you, you can even get closer for a very close, almost macro lens.
I used Photoshop to combine the two images, which most of the time works well! You just have to give enough of an overlap so it seems to be more accurate in lining the 2 images and automatically blending the final image. Every once in a while you might have to do a slight touch up.
Davidson’s Mill Pond Park HDR Vertical Panorama
Posted on January 20, 2018
We were going to go to a National Wildlife Refuge today but were not sure if it would be open because of the Government Shutdown. So we went to a local County Park to take a walk. It got up to 55 degrees here in NJ after weeks of very very cold weather, sometimes in single digits.
I did not find a lot of photo subjects, but by a smaller pond, the sun was high in the sky reflecting in the ice covering the pond. I thought it would be fun to try an HDR bracketed series of both exposures and images for the pano. I liked the reflections on the ice in the pond and stopped down to f/16 to get a nice starburst on the sun. Shooting multiple images vertically and horizontally with overlaps for both the panorama and Shutter speeds for the HDR effect.
Images shot @ 24mm, f/16, bracketed series of different shutter speeds for the HDR effect and series of compositions for the panorama.
More Panoramas
Posted on January 16, 2018
A series of multi-image panoramas photographed at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, NJ. Shot with a m43 camera @14mm. Featured image was 4 images, shot horizontally in sections, handheld, going from ground to the sky. Assembled in Photoshop. I find the m43 images take a little more care when assembling in Photoshop. Some need a little more “tweaking” or fine tuning than larger sensor cameras. But overall they are fun to use. A lot lighter to carry when you are wandering around looking for subjects to photograph. I still prefer my larger Canons, but sometimes it is nice to go “light”.
2 horizontal shots – stacked vertically in Photoshop. m43 format @14mm
A series of horizontal images, shot overlapping, from ground to sky. Assembled in Photoshop. m43 format @14mm
American White Pelican Panorama
Posted on January 10, 2018
Another Group of American White Pelicans photographed along the Wildlife Drive at the J.N. Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel Florida. This was a 5 image panorama, handheld, shot with a 300mm f/4 lens, with a 1.4X teleconverter. When doing a pano like this, do not use auto exposure, especially with white subjects, because the exposures can vary, giving you different exposures which are harder to blend together. You then have to try to balance all the exposures before assembling the pano. Most people use a tripod for doing Panos, but I tend to do more handheld. The Pelicans are still moving, even slightly, so I still have to go in to the layered Photoshop file and erase some of the moving overlaps before the final “blending. The auto features usually works fairly well for the final “flattening” of the layers in your file. The hardest part is choosing which “mode” of auto align to use in Photoshop for the initial lining up of the layers. You might have to try a few of the choices and see which one works best for your subjects. It has a lot to do on the angle you are to your subject and also the focal length of the lens you are using. In Photoshop, under EDIT, go to auto-align. Then you have a few choices. It is a trial and error to see which method works best for your image. Auto align usually works fairly well, but sometimes “Cylindrical” works well for what I shoot also. It really depends on the focal length of the lens you are using and the angle you are to your subjects. Then go to Auto Blend to “blend” them together. The other choice here is “Stack” which is used for combing a set of images you shot for more depth of field, for a sharper image across a wider area, in simple terms. Under Auto Blend also check on the Box – content aware fill transparent areas of your merged files. This fills in empty areas with what Photoshop thinks is missing, and works fairly well. This happens more with wider angle lenses because of the changing angle of horizons, skies and foregrounds have different perspectives as you are shooting from left to right. This comes in handy especially if you are hand holding your camera or shooting with a wide angle lens. Also Once you flatten your image, I sometimes crop from the top and bottom to make a better “composed” image. Sometimes shooting panos, you are shooting “Taller or Wider” than you want your final image. So cropping in helps the composition. The above is just a simple overview of shooting panoramas, you can find lots of info online.
Setting Sun Captiva Island, Florida
Posted on January 7, 2018
As I was walking back from the beach to our rental, I liked the colors in the sky and the backlit trees along the path. I had a 24-105mm zoom with me, but wanted a little wider view, so I did a two shot. I also positioned the starburst, from the setting sun to be somewhat centered for the final 2 shot pano. The trees on the left overlapped for quite a few trees, so I ended that side with the main single set. I liked the colors in the sky and waited till the sun was just starting to go below the distant tree line so it looked more dramatic, but was still above the horizon above the water to get the starburst. I was using a Canon body with a cropped sensor so I did a 2 shot handheld overlapping panorama and assembled it in Photoshop. 24mm @ f/11.
Another view further down the path, single image.
View from the entrance of the path
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