In my last post (only 11 days ago for those of you who are counting), I introduced my exploration into panoramic images. To me, a panorama (or pano) is an image that is much wider than it is longer. Panos show the world in a little different way. They can be made from any image – it’s just a matter of cropping to create the pano. I prefer to make a number of overlapping images, and then use the magic of Photoshop to merge them together to create a pano. A quick note on panos – they are best suited to stationary subjects! I don’t think I can make a pano of a band of wild horses walking to the water tanks. With that said, let’s see some new panos!
This pano was made by combining 8 images together. The subject is a stretch of U.S. Highway 50 from Echo Summit (on the left) to Meyers CA (to the right), and was shot from a turnout on CA Highway 89. I love driving this piece of road towards Meyers because the view of Lake Tahoe is superb. My lovely bride, however, doesn’t like this road because of the dropoff. The text was an experiment, as my photo challenge last week was text overlay. After making the pano, I tried a new editing workflow to make the colors ‘pop’ more. I like the new workflow, and am adjusting it to my processing.
This is the same stretch of highway, but I used 10 images to create this one. This pano has more content on the left side, and is the image I submitted for my challenge. I used the word ‘Journey’ in this image. Remember that I am on a ‘Journey in Creative Photography.’ It seemed appropriate.
This view of Jobs Peak (on the left) and the Sierra Nevada Mountains was made from 10 images, and was shot from the Dangberg Home Ranch. The clouds and the sky cooperated – I can hardly wait for snow on the mountains!
Our sunsets have been amazing this past week, so I got out the tripod and camera to see what I could do. I like the results! All the sunsets were made from my backyard, but I may have to see what other views of the mountains and sunsets I can find!
Makes you want to live here – or at least come to visit!
I made this pano to see how it would look in black and white (or monochrome – mono), but I kept it in color.
And so, we come to the ‘mono’ portion of the post. After reading several articles on black and white images in one of the photo magazines recently, I thought I’d give it a try.
This is a composite made from 6 images. I was going to make a pano, but I would have lost too much texture from the clouds. It was early for the sunset (the sunsets above were shot a few minutes later) and not much color, but I like the texture of the clouds. A little desaturation and other tweaking, and voila!
Painted Hills, Central Oregon, last July.
Same image in black and white. I need to work on my technique, but there’s definitely potential.
Same location, different view.
And still a fun technique. Of course, the colors in the Painted Hills just can’t be improved upon.
And if you think trying new shooting and editing techniques isn’t enough fun, you missed a great show at the Dangberg Home Ranch (www.dangberghomeranch.org) last Saturday. The Nevada Gunfighters put on a great show. Here’s a couple images – please go to my Nevada Gunfighters page for more pictures.
As I recall, Miss Emma – she runs an escort service, of sorts…
Miss Strawberry Tart. Former School Teacher and now escort, of sorts…
There you have it! Panos and monos and a whole lotta’ fun! The raptors are slowly coming back to the Carson Valley, and it’s just about bear time at Taylor Creek. I won’t forget to visit the wild horses, too – I promise! I hope you had as much fun looking at my pictures as I did making them. Until next time – Enjoy! PHOTOROGR
The PHOTOROGR Project 