photoartflightCloudBurst At Blackwater
Posted on August 20, 2018
I liked these clouds by the lookout platform at Blackwater NWR. It reminded me of a starburst, but with clouds. I decided to leave the top of a small tree as a center point for a visual center to draw your eye. Three images @24mm, combined in Photoshop with layered masks for blending the three images.
Panoramas Are Not Just For Landscapes
Posted on February 17, 2018
Sometimes when I am walking around with just one camera with one lens, I come upon an image that is too wide for the lens I have with me. Or I see an image that is perfect for a panorama, but I invision a longer thin crop without a lot of extra image that detracts from what I want. I also do not want to crop my panorama from my regular file because I want a large image, either for a double page spread or maybe a large print, and want to hold the detail with all the added pixels. Most often I make panoramas with my 300 or 400mm telephoto, 24-105mm or one of my macro lenses for a macro panorama. I have not had great success with my 12-24mm zoom. Usually for simple panos I shoot 2 or 3 images for combining, but have gone up to 60 for very long or a series of multi-exposures for different rows of stacked panos for one image. I use Photoshop to render my panoramas and after practice you can get predictable results most of the time.
Opening in the Clouds Panorama
Great Egret Panorama
Cloud Reflections In Water Panorama
Thunderhead Cloud Panorama
More Cloudscapes From Davidson Mill Pond
Posted on June 11, 2017
Here are a few more panoramas from our outing to Davidsons Mill Pond Park. Some are regular panoramas, and some are stacked multi-row panoramas, like the featured image.
5 image panorama, 14mm, m43 camera
4 image stacked pano, 2 img x 2 img
6 img multi stack pano @14mm, m43 camera
4 img multi stack pano, horizontal, combined in 2 rows of 2 @14mm, m43 camera
4 img pano @14mm, m43 camera
3 images, horizontal, stacked vertically, @14mm, m43 camera
2 images, horizontal format, stacked vertically, 14mm, m43 camera
2 images, horizontal format, stacked vertically, 14mm, m43 camera
A Big Y In The Sky – Or A Large Thanksgiving Turkey Wishbone
Posted on November 25, 2016
When we got home Thanksgiving Eve, we saw this huge “Y” cloud in the sky. I never saw a cloud shaped like this before so I shot quite a few shots as it was moving by above me. I only had my iPhone with me, so I shot multiple shots and spent about 15-20 minutes shooting as it drifted overhead. As it got more directly over me, it was harder to get shots because even shooting multiple sections, with the wide angle of view on the iPhone, it was starting to distort the shape making it harder to combine into a multiple image panorama on the ends. I settled on using this series. I combined them as best I could from the series that I shot farther away. 5 horizontal images, overlapped and combined. I am learning combining iPhone images are a challenge because of the wide angle of view and the distortion differences between images. I tried shooting a panorama on the iPhone as it was overhead, but that really distorted the ends of the pano. Even the the problems this is one of my favorite cloud images!
Cloudscapes
Posted on August 22, 2016
Another one of my favorite subjects are what I call Cloudscapes, instead of landscapes I look up. Fluffy clouds and bright colors make interesting subjects. Sunrises and sunsets help add another color dimension. They can also have an Artsy Abstract look and feel. A lot of my Cloudscapes I shoot with my iPhone using the app ProCamera. It gives you +&- exposure control, a nice HDR feature and a variety of low light shooting features.
iPhone Sky Panorama
Posted on March 5, 2016
This is a two shot panorama shot with an iPhone. Then I assembled the images in Photoshop.
Cloudscape Panorama
Posted on November 15, 2015
When the clouds or sky look interesting, it is fun to do a multi-shot cloud or sky panorama. This was multiple handheld images shot with a zoom lens @70mm. This was image combined in Photoshop using Auto-Align and then Auto-Blend. Sometimes I combine them manually for more control of what I want. Final Image is 98″ x 21″.
Blackwater NWR Morning Clouds at Sunrise Panorama
Posted on October 12, 2014
I found this series of morning cloud images from a previous visit to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge Maryland. I was photographing Eagles in the morning with the warm light when I noticed this cloud formation. I was using a Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO telephoto lens with a Canon Series III 1.4X teleconverter. I just shot a series of 23 images handheld along the length of the cloud formation. For this image I assembled the 23 images in Photoshop with soft edge masks between each image. The final image came out to be 196″ x 13″ at 240 ppi. I do not know what I am going to do with it, but it was fun to put together. I might try printing it just for the fun of it. Also a group of other photos from the same day at Blackwater NWR.
Bald Eagle on Snag. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, w/ Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/14 @ 1/800 sec, +1 exposure compensation, ISO 1250.
Sunrise at Blackwater. Canon EOS 1D MkIII, Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS @ 105mm, f/16 @ 1/125 sec, ISO 400.
Sunrise at Blackwater. Canon EOS 1D MkIII, Canon 24-105 f/4 L IS @ 105mm, f/16 @ 1/60 sec, ISO 400.
Bald Eagle in Flight. Canon EOS 1D MkIV w/ Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11 @ 1/800 sec, + 0.33 exposure compensation, ISO 800
Immature Bald Eagle in Flight. Canon EOS 1D MkIV w/ Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens, Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/11 @ 1/640 sec, + 1.33 exposure compensation, ISO 800
Morning at Blackwater. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, w/ Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/13 @ 1/1250 sec., -0.67 exposure compensation, ISO 800.
Morning at Blackwater. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, w/ Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/13 @ 1/2000 sec., -1 exposure compensation, ISO 800.
Sun Shinning Through Clouds. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, w/ Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/14 @ 1/1250 sec., -1 exposure compensation, ISO 1250.
Bald Eagle on Snag at Sunrise. Canon EOS 1D MkIV, Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO, w/ Canon Series III 1.4X Teleconverter, f/14 @ 1/250 sec, +1 exposure compensation, ISO 800.
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