Los Crestones

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Hello everybody.

I am new to this pano business but I love it.
This image was made in one of the most magic places in Costa Rica, yes, this is the Chirripo National Park, I had to walk up hill for 7 hours carrying almost 40 pounds! :confused: there's no other way to get to Chirripo, unless you are rich and can hire a helicopter, this place is famous for its high altitudes and paramo forests.

Most people believe that my country is just another tropical destination, but, we have a good variety of places where you can go. This is a good example.
This place in the picture was formed about 40 million years ago, it used to be under the ocean, when Central America was just an island ark. Those rock formations you see here are about 12,000 feet above the see level.

I used photomerge in PS to stitch the pictures, a total of 7.
The rocks are called ''Crestones''.

Canon 30D
Canon 35-350@350mm
ISO 100
f/10
1/125sec.
AV
0 compensation.
Tripod

Even though the light seems harsh, it was pretty late, around 5:30 Costa Rican time.

As always, all help is most welcome.

[Robert Amoruso]

Juan,

I actually like rocky landscapes in strong light and this one is no exception. Even though you stitching looks perfect, I would suggest that crop off the left just left of the peaks's shadow is the way to go this this image.

The reason I suggest this is that you have a nice diagonal slope on the right leading up the the peaks and a strong shadow on the left of the peaks. But as you go left from the peak, it is just not as interesting as the peak and right. The eye starts to wander.

I would also suggest that a bit more room at the bottom would have been good for making the peak's base not appear cramped (caveat: in the small jpg this may be true but in a full size version not true - your call here).

Nice work and looking forward to seeing more of your images.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Juan,
Your story brought back memories of my backpacking days and I vividly remember carrying all my gear to places such as this..............the light seems a bit harsh.......but not too bad. I wish for all your efforts you had a few clouds.....but you did well minimizing the sky. Overall I agree with Robert.....a bit more room at the base of the pinacle and a crop off the left.....as the formation starts to lose a bit of interest.
Are you allowed to camp out there/stay overnight?? Once my passion for photography got serious.....I used to spend a few nights in the area in order to capture the more dramatic early morning or late afternoon light.
Looking forward to more of your endeavors.