Sunday, July 5, 2009

Pikes Pink

A 10-shot panorama of sunset on the north face of pikes peak.

Some of our 4th of July plans got rained out yesterday. I still fired up the grill, but did so under an umbrella while dodging lightening. Regardless, it was a great day to spend time with the family.

Off to the art fest!

12 comments:

Sarah A. Galang, Ph.D. said...

what a pretty view. I remember the scene at the Sound of Music movie. I love it.
Thanks for sharing.

http://wwwbacolodandbeyond.blogspot.com

tapirgal said...

Ah, beautiful Colorado! Thanks for the scenic infusion!

ms toast burner said...

I guess those dark clouds in the flag photo below were very telling then!

Cindy said...

Beautiful photo and awesome view of the mountains. Your photos are all gorgeous.

kayerj said...

lovely shot, the mountains in Utah remained dry, and we had a perfect holiday

Gaelyn said...

Love that rosy color on the Pike. Colorado does have some eratic summer weather. Great capture. I so enjoy panos.

Photo Cache said...

Lovely panorama. Very pretty view. Sorry about the rain. Our fourth was sunny but breezy and cool.

Unknown said...

Russ - that's one of your best pano compositions to date. Awesome

VALKYRIEN said...

Gorgeous! Beautiful light on those mountains!

Bryan said...

I've never taken a panorama unless using one of those point & shoots that has the stitching software already in the camera, but everytime I see one of your excellent panoramas, I become more curious. How do you typically shoot these? This looks like a 5x2. Do you use a tripod with a head than pans? You also stitch very seamlessly - are you one of those crazy photoshop ninjas or do you use specific software?

Russ said...

Thanks everyone!

Bryan -

Software: Photoshop Elements -- excellent and VERY easy stitching included - does not take a ninja! I'm sure that there are others. The important thing is to take a good series of shots.

Here's my process:
1. Shoot portrait (for horizontal pano) - if you shoot landscape, you'll end up with a long skinny photo. With Portrait you'll need to take more shots, but they are "taller"

2. Take shots such that they overlap by 1/3. This gives the software (or the person) lots of data with witch to stitch.

3. I usually use a tripod, but, I also do them hand held (The Painter was hand held). This one was taken using a tripod. When using a tripod, you need to make sure that the tripod head itself is level. Otherwise, your pano will be tilted and you'll need to chop a lot.

4. Use manual mode - preset the focus and exposure. Especially the focus. You can't have the camera focusing on every shot - you may end up with wierd DOF -- although, that could be a cool creative effect. Hmmmm, may have to try that.

5. Have lots of memory. These suckers are big!! Theu really start to bring my poor system to its knees..

You should try some!

Bryan said...

Awesome! Thanks for the tips. I definitely would not have thought of using manual settings and would've ended up with the weird DOF. I will certainly try some.