dcollierphoto

No critique, I just really like the image. Great sky, great highlight on the mountains. Those Death Valley sand storms can be beautiful. Fantastic job!

 

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks Bela, I was there last month (Nov) and this image was taken at sunrise... 5:15 or so in the morning. It is an expensive trip so I hear you on that... Good luck and I hope you get there soon!

 

Take Care,

 

Dave

Thanks for viewing.

thanks for viewing.

Thanks for all the kind remarks.... I'm really happy to share such a beautiful moment in time.

 

Mark... right on, you know the spot. A group of Germans had hopped the rail and were drinking beers right behind me... I wasn't sure if I wanted to shoot or join them. Cheers.

 

-Dave

Thanks for viewing.

Incredible landscape; very well photographed. I really like this and some of your other panoramic landscapes as well. Very nice work.

 

Dave

Brian, I really love this image... a fabulous composition. Great job.

 

Dave

Very nice light, colors and composition. Well done.

Very well done composition. Congratulations.

Great location! A very pleasant scene. Nice work.

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks for viewing.

Thank you for all the kind words.

 

John: Thanks for your very in depth question. This was a single photograph taken with two graduated split ND filters: a .6 soft and a .9 hard. The only photoshop work done was a little added contrast as the original was a bit flat. Otherwise, the light is completely natural. The sun is setting behind and to my left and where I'm standing is already in shadow.

 

Hope that helps.

 

- David

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks for viewing.

Thanks for the comments...

 

Blending? Actually, all five shots in this panoramic are the same exposure. I exposed for the highlight and then just used a levels layer mask to lighten the foreground a little bit.

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

J Michael... I don't know about 'master' but thank you very much. There are many ways to shoot a panoramic well, and I've used a number of them. There are also a number of website that have tutorials for this specific thing.

 

In this particular case I was rushed and didn't even have time to set up a tripod (I was late for another photo shoot). I used a 50mm lens, manually exposed to maintain highlight detail on the clouds and set to manual focus. I handheld each exposure using the focus squares in the viewfinder as a guide on the horizon and swung my body from left to right overlapping by about half the frame. After shooting it's pretty easy to check accuracy by scrolling quickly through the images on the back of the camera. This is not a usual or favored method however. Normally I set up my tripod (most people would use a bubble level) but I tend to eyeball it and again swing the camera back and forth to level the horizon using the focus square in the viewfinder raising and lowering the legs until it looks pretty close. Without using a panoramic head (which finds the null point of the camera) I try not to shoot much wider than 'normal' which on a 35mm camera is a 50mm lens. The wider the lens, the more difficult it is to correct for any distortion and curvature. Also, having a wide lens makes it more important to level the camera. I don't use a panoramic tripod head, but they make all this much easier... I just try to travel as simple and with as little equipment as possible. There are also many programs that will put your panoramic together for you, but I do it all in PS using layer masks.

 

Very wordy, but I hope that helps a little.

 

For a much better description, tutorial and some of my favorite panoramic photography using this method check out Bruce Dale's website:

 

http://www.brucedale.com/tutorials/

 

He has some amazing photographs.

Trying this one again. Thanks for viewing.

Thanks for viewing.

Thank you very much for your kind words. I shot this image while driving around Washington's Olympic Peninsula.... which is an absolutely beautiful area. The wind on the coast this particular day was in the 40 mph range and frigid. I had on every jacket I brought with me and the wind cut through like I wasn't wearing any. I couldn't quite the right angle I wanted for this shot so I took my camera off the tripod and hand-held this exposure (something I rarely do). Nikon D70 1/30 @ F16.

Thank you all very much for the kind comments... I got really lucky with the amazing clouds that day and I was just happy to have the opportunity to capture them. This was taken at a lake near where I live. The water level was maybe 100 feet below normal.

 

Dave

I forgot... the exposure was achieved with a spot meter reading on the waterfall for a highlight, on the shadow in the lower left for shadow detail and an incident reading for general overall exposure.

 

Hope that helps.