1680px Pano - Eagle Fishing Capture at 6fps

NorthernFocus

For quite a while I've been wanting to stitch together a sequence of an eagle fishing. Always ended up with one or two frames OOF, background too varied, etc. I finally captured a sequence that lent itself to the task The images are a continuous sequence captured at 6fps. I stitched it together manually by matching up features in the background. Since the bird was in the center of the frame on each of the individual shots, I had to do some cloning in upper right and lower left to get enough verticle frame to make it work. I still need to refine it a bit as there are a few artifacts of the stitching but I'm tired of working on it for now so decided to go ahead and post as-is. My apologies for anyone who doesn't have a widescreen monitor :dunno

(Note: edited 7/6/09, reposted mirror image of original to facilitate view/scroll from left to right)

Bud1880

articblooms wrote:

My apologies for anyone who doesn't have a widescreen monitor

You should. rofl

Seriously, you did a wonderful job of stitching. I don't see any artifacts and the sequence is just beautiful. Very, very nice job Dan. I don't have to cursor over too far on a 19" LCD.

Bud

bhowdy

Very cool pano .... Much enjoyed

rookieshooter

that is amazing. Never seen anything like it!

Ric Grupe

Cool...for sure!

Maybe restricting it to four birds over the same distance might give it a less busy look and more sense of motion.

I did this once with a deer walking across a snowy frozen marsh...which was easier to stitch but harder to match exposures.

Maestro

The cool factor is way up here! Very nice pano!

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, folks. Ric, before this one I did try a version with just four of the images. Problem is that to include the better frames, some are adjacent to each other. Putting more space between them requires moving things out of their natural position. I just didn't have the energy. Much easier simply do a stitch job with everything where it belongs

imagesofhim

Outstanding series! Just today I took my first set of shots I want to try to stitch... never done it and have been reading about it, so... Of course, I have nothing as gorgeous as this set, but seeing it gives me the courage to go ahead and try to stitch!!!

GREAT series and thank you for sharing!!

dlplumer

Dan, this is tremendous. Outstanding work

Dan

Ric Grupe

articblooms wrote:

Thanks for the comments, folks. Ric, before this one I did try a version with just four of the images. Problem is that to include the better frames, some are adjacent to each other. Putting more space between them requires moving things out of their natural position. I just didn't have the energy. Much easier simply do a stitch job with everything where it belongs

I hear ya!

You did well as it is.

Another possibility would be to take the best frame of the background and cut out all the other birds and place them exactly where you want them. Really not all that hard. Time consuming though.

raptorcaptor

Cool!

Gary752

All I can say is: "Amazing!!!" I've been waiting for you to post a shot of an Eagle plucking a fish from the water, and finally got it! Now, when you have rested your weary eyes, could you post a larger photo of the 3rd image from the right? If you would, I'd be eternally gratefull!

GaryB

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, everyone. It's funny the way things work out sometimes. The angle was bad on that particular bird and I ended up with some of the best frames (i.e. right after grabbing the fish) with the bird facing slightly away from the camera. Nearly canned those shots when I realized it was a full set of a sequence like I'd been looking for

GaryB, we aim to please. Here's a quick edit of the frame you wanted to see. You'll notice that even at 1/1000s which is fast enough to freeze the wing motion, the feet are a little blurry. That's one reason it's rare to get that exact frame. The motion is so quick it only lasts a split second.

Gary752

articblooms wrote:

GaryB, we aim to please. Here's a quick edit of the frame you wanted to see. You'll notice that even at 1/1000s which is fast enough to freeze the wing motion, the feet are a little blurry. That's one reason it's rare to get that exact frame. The motion is so quick it only lasts a split second.

I like the way the eagles beak is slightly open as if he's saying: "Hey Kid's, it's dinner time!" Or the eyes are saying: "Gottcha!" Even though the feet are slightly blurred, I think this is still an awesome shot!

GaryB

IraRunyan

Congrats..... You have created an outstanding image.

NorthernFocus

Thanks, GaryB and Ira. I may try printing this thing now. I've got an Epson 1280 printer that'll do 13x19 prints. Just gotta find the time...

Ric Grupe

articblooms wrote:

Just gotta find the time...

Keep shooting! You can find the time all too soon with your long winter.

NorthernFocus

Ric Grupe wrote:

Keep shooting! You can find the time all too soon with your long winter.

Amen to that

coscorrosa

That is awesome! Wow!

NorthernFocus

Thanks, Ron. I edited the OP and convereted the pano to a mirror image of the original. Since it's a pano format I figured I'd make it flow with the natural (at least for western cultures) view/scroll format of left to right. What can I say, I'm a conformist...

GSPeP

Great job thumb

I had a look at it on my 24" widescreen monitor so I don't have to scroll. Looks great.

IntrepidBerkeleyExplorer

This sequence, more than anything else I've found on line, leads me to appreciate the fact that I do have a new, wide-screen monitor, apparently designed with your eagle in mind.

Daver2112

Wow! What can I say that has'nt been said already. Just an amazing series.

NorthernFocus

Thanks for the comments, folks. Glad ya'll enjoyed looking. 'Cause I definately enjoyed the capture