choice of 2 panos -piano grande, umbria, italy

PHOTOempt

the piano grande is a wonderful mountain meadow near norcia. i played amongst the wild narcissi and buttercups, with the town of castelluccio and snow covered mountains in the distance. then just as the light was going, discovered a hidden vantage point for view of the whole expanse. later, this whole area will all be covered with poppies and flowering lentils..... these 2 images are stitched, the first, a series of verticals aligned in auto, and the second, horizontals aligned in reposition mode, both then with some exposure and curves layers added. after all the work today, i can't decide which one i'm happier with. i shall certainly be returning, and make sure i'm up there earlier next time, but i would welcome thoughts on these. votes, crit, comments, please.

this is just to show how it looked down in the meadow:

cheers, and thanks for looking, sarah

cj99si

I like the last one the best, is it just a crop or an actual pano? The first 2 I keep wanting to walk to the left to see the rest.

PHOTOempt

cj99si wrote:

I like the last one the best, is it just a crop or an actual pano? The first 2 I keep wanting to walk to the left to see the rest.

hi, the last one is also a pano - 6 horizontals giving 180 degree view, although i didn't use much of the 6th, as i was really into the sun there. i knew that putting up the last one would distract from the first 2!! the light is not so good from above for those 2 shots, as the sun was setting behind the hills, and i was a bit rushed to grab before i lost it. actually there isn't much to the left, as there was just a break in the trees for that view of the meadow, but i see what you mean. if i had stepped forward, i would have lost my trees close up that give some depth, but i will certainly look some more next time, and see what i find for leading into the shot. will give myself more time to explore the options. thanks, sarah

Captured Exposure

PHOTOempt wrote:

hi, the last one is also a pano - 6 horizontals giving 180 degree view, although i didn't use much of the 6th, as i was really into the sun there. i knew that putting up the last one would distract from the first 2!! the light is not so good from above for those 2 shots, as the sun was setting behind the hills, and i was a bit rushed to grab before i lost it. actually there isn't much to the left, as there was just a break in the trees for that view of the meadow, but i see what you mean. if i had stepped forward, i would have lost my trees close up that give some depth, but i will certainly look some more next time, and see what i find for leading into the shot. will give myself more time to explore the options. thanks, sarah

Hi,

All nice photos, I like the last one the best as well. While the first 2 of the valley are still nice the last one with the flowers in the foreground add more interest for me and lead up to the snow covered mountains.

PHOTOempt

Captured Exposure wrote:

Hi,

All nice photos, I like the last one the best as well. While the first 2 of the valley are still nice the last one with the flowers in the foreground add more interest for me and lead up to the snow covered mountains.

i agree - i'm going to have to hope that some flowers come out on those near slopes, and perhaps with different lighting, different time of day, more swathes of colour in the valley, images from the top viewpoint might look very different. this was just a start and it turned into an academic exercise. thanks for looking, sarah

schmoo

Sarah, nice work!! Is this near your home? I am amazed at the loveliness of those mountains and the flowers are amazing. What does this spot look like around the sweet light hours?

PHOTOempt

schmoo wrote:

Sarah, nice work!! Is this near your home? I am amazed at the loveliness of those mountains and the flowers are amazing. What does this spot look like around the sweet light hours?

hi schmoo - about 2 hours away. yes, it is gorgeous, and the locals tell us we're 'too early', in that the lentils (swathes of yellow) and red poppies will be out in a week or two, and then it is quite different -difficult to know, as the climate there is completely different to here. sweet light is hard, as the sun goes down behind those hills long before magic hour, and quite often, the haze is such that there really isn't a golden light - but i keep trying. went back yesterday, and the choice of flowers was completely different - the sky was more dramatic, but again, a good 3+ hours before sunset, and the sun was going down before golden time. will post those soon, and more trips planned!!

Marc Muench

I believe this has the most potential. Just get yourself out beyond the bush and tree on the right. Maybe not all the way past?

This method offers good depth in the valley below, keeping from bending the FG as the Pano does.

Your post work is better in this one as well but think a darker sky would help. Best would be storm clouds with light poking through

You must go back here and shoot this scene! Or I'm going to have to:D

PHOTOempt

Marc Muench wrote:

I believe this has the most potential. Just get yourself out beyond the bush and tree on the right. Maybe not all the way past?

This method offers good depth in the valley below, keeping from bending the FG as the Pano does.

Your post work is better in this one as well but think a darker sky would help. Best would be storm clouds with light poking through

hi marc - thanks for your comments. will work on this some more. went back yesterday, but with guests, so couldn't really get stuck in - sadly the clouds were much more interesting, but did mentally scout out where to set up for next time. did a quick (for me!) set with the t/s in the valley (will post in the next day or two). there's a massive storm right now, but we're 2 hours away, and have had guests....

You must go back here and shoot this scene! Or I'm going to have to:D

yeah -so come on over! umbrian workshop......????

PHOTOempt

thanks for your advice marc - sky darkened -also wiped out a bit of haze at the north end of the valley, redid the mask with more care to edge, so that the foliage on the right side is better lit