Comments on: Panoramic Photography Part I: Simple Basics

By: Steve Sieren

Steve Sieren — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:27:03 +0000

Kurt, the low oxygen can make you do funny things. I fell asleep in the dirt on the side of the trail up at White Mountain once. Someone woke me up and gave me some Gu, how nice! Anyway those 2 items are very important to keep in mind. Another item to watch for is your shutter speed if you’re hand holding from a moving boat or kayak. Take advantage of your image stabilizer if you have it and push your ISO up if need to keep a faster shutter speed. Low light panoramic photography from a water craft is some of the hardest but be the most rewarding!

I just got my Whitney permit in the mail earlier this week. It’s going to be Christina’s first time up, it’s be an experience guiding her up there, can’t wait!

By: Kurt Lawson

Kurt Lawson — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:11:16 +0000

Manual exposure and locked, manual focus are critical! Last year on Mount Whitney I shot off over half a dozen panoramas. All of them were ruined because I didn’t lock focus in particular (I blame the low oxygen levels, heh). Small exposure differences can be correctable, but when one part of a mountain suddenly goes out of focus, you’re SOL. I was able to capture some great panoramas in dramatically changing light at sunset this year only because I’ve hammered it into my brain to set manual focus and exposure. Without that I’m sure those would have been ruined too (since AF likes to focus on whatever it likes to focus on).

So, heed this fine advice. Panoramas are a lot of fun but following Steve’s advice here will save you frustration and disappointment later on.

By: Steve Sieren

Steve Sieren — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:30:03 +0000

Jerome, that’s an extemely different way to create a pano. I would love to try that!

By: Jerome Mungapen

Jerome Mungapen — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:45:23 +0000

Steve, I love your work, I particulalry like the sandstorm image in death valley. On average how much of the scene do you include?

By: Steve Sieren

Steve Sieren — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:50:31 +0000

John, it really depends if your chosen scene can fool the camera. If all light is the same and doesn’t change your camera’s meter reading then it won’t be a problem. If part of your scene is covered in shade and the rest is in sunlight your meter adjust for the change. You can manually overide the settings in your RAW processing but then that’s creating more work later.

Kostas, part of creative freedom is doing what you want to do with out limitations. You can print any custom size these days. Printers just charge per sqaure foot and most home printers are capable of using rolled paper. If you go custom you will have to become more creative with ideas of how to do things.

By: Kostas Petrakis

Kostas Petrakis — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:05:56 +0000

I don’t do much pano, but I am curious (regarding other photographers) do you strict yourself to a usual format? (like 1:2,5) or you don’t mind, if you don’t how do you compensate for the print? (borders?)

By: John Wall

John Wall — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:59:46 +0000

I’ve never had a problem leaving AWB on, but maybe I’ve just been lucky. Is it really likely to shift from one exposure to another?

By: steve sieren

steve sieren — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 01:53:08 +0000

Dan, rules, there are no rules.

Roteague, You’ve got it made but you can still shoot another shot if you’re feeling cramped at the top or bottom. That would double your size.

Richard, I use a 24 TSE lens, the panos come out as a square if you’re just shifting but if you replace your ball head you can get even more out of the lens.

By: Derrick

Derrick — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:23:53 +0000

Good tips and a wonderful image!

By: Greg Russell

Greg Russell — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:03:42 +0000

Thanks, Steve. Nope, not an engineer, but rather a biologist with a long history of making my own stuff. But, thanks for noticing.