Mini Challenge #126 - "Pan, baby...Pan!"

gecko0 · August 14, 2011

Well I never thought I would be starting one of the challenge threads... :barb

The theme will reflect my favorite type of photography: panoramic shots. Double bonus points for nighttime panoramas! Ok...just kidding...all panoramas are welcome.

Mini challenge rules are here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=168929

This challenge will run from 8/14 @ 8:45pm Central time to 8/28 @ 8:45pm.

A few shots to get things started:

1. Miami Skyline

2. Chicago Skyline from Millennium Park

3. Chicago Skyline from Hancock Observatory

GOOD LUCK!!!!

ghinson · August 14, 2011

First I thought this was going to be about the technique "panning." But this works...

Nice shots, by the way.

Here's mine:

1. Roll Cloud over Nantucket's North Shore

2. Sankaty Head

JAG · August 14, 2011

1. Matanuska River, Alaska (at midnight)

2. Hatcher's Pass, Alaska

3. Somewhere between Knick and Pt. Mckinsey, Alaska

gecko0 · August 15, 2011

Ghinson...that's true...sorry for the confusion with the title. I tend to call them pans, but then I call panning shots pans too...hahahaha.

kwickers · August 15, 2011

ummm, OK wow, you say panoramic and boom some great shots appear! I'm game to take a few for this challenge since I see none in my portfolio, any guidelines you can offer or tutorials. Should it be 180 degrees? How many images? Pixel x pixel size? Do you use photoshop to mend them together or are there better tools? Thanks Keith

ghinson · August 15, 2011

My panoramic advice is as follows. Others mileage may vary. I use a tripod, align the camera in portrait position, take 3-5 shots of a scene, using the rotating tripod head to keep the horizon aligned and horizontal. I think import them in to Lightroom, and select the images, right-click and Edit them with the Merge to Panoramic in Photoshop command. I typically leave the PH Merge command on Auto, because it gets it right most of the time. Once merged, I then crop the panos to either a 1x3 or a 1x2 ratio, because this is the standard ratio most printers will use. This is one of those features of PS that just blows my mind how good it is!

kwickers · August 15, 2011

I have never used the feature of PS yet. Thanks for the advice.

Cuong · August 16, 2011

1. View of Los Angeles Basin and Downtown from Griffith Observatory

2. Los Angeles Basin and SoCal winter sunset

3. Walnut Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains at dusk

Cuong

davev · August 16, 2011

1 Lighthouse in Maine.

2 12 shot pano of Glacier National park.

3 Geyser in Yellowstone.

gecko0 · August 16, 2011

kwickers wrote: »

ummm, OK wow, you say panoramic and boom some great shots appear! I'm game to take a few for this challenge since I see none in my portfolio, any guidelines you can offer or tutorials. Should it be 180 degrees? How many images? Pixel x pixel size? Do you use photoshop to mend them together or are there better tools? Thanks Keith

I do mine much the same way as ghinson listed. Many of mine are handheld too...it just depends on the type of shot. For nighttime panoramas, I use a tripod (except the one I posted above from the top of the Hancock building in Chicago...that is handheld due to them not allowing tripods).

I try to keep things as aligned as possible, with a bit of overlap on each frame, then let the software take over from there when stitching. PhotoShop ($$$$), Kolor Autopano ($$), Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) (free)...they are all good. MS ICE is free, so give that a try too. I don't think many people know about it, but it's good for basic things and you can't beat the price!

.02

ghinson · August 16, 2011

Yes, I should add, I do a lot of them handheld too (the top one was, obviously, since you can see I had left my tripod down by the Jeep when I ran up the dune for the big shot). Just further shows you how crazy good the software is.

kwickers · August 16, 2011

Hello, Went on a hike to find some PAN material. Used Microsoft Image Composite Editor since the 'Merge to PAN in PS' option in lightroom is greyed out

(PS CS5) !#? Anyway, Microsoft Image Composite Editor is easy and fun to use, works amazingly well. Handheld using wide angel lens.

On The Trail

Kings Pinnacle

Keith

sapphire73 · August 17, 2011

Would like to try true panoramic shots sometime but only have panoramic crops to share just now. Here are 2 variations on a sunrise taken on the island of Maui in the town of Hana.

1. Hana in the Morning

2. Sunrise in Hana

Hope it's OK to share these here!?

[Aug. 19 edit] Here is another pano crop from our trip to Hawaii.

3. Hint of a Rainbow on Mount Haleakala

Gretchen

senorjax · August 17, 2011

Holy cow, there are some wonderful shots here already! Great theme, I love panos. Even when I don't go super wide I love the crispness of a stitched photo and the aspect ratio is just so pleasing to my eye. Here's my feeble attempts.

Glover's Reef

Caineville Mesa

Great Salt Lake Wetlands