Owbow Bend HDR pano

[Fabs Forns]

This is a 10 image stitched pano, formed from 3 image HDRs. Batch processed and tonne mapped in Photomatix and edited in CS4 with Nik Color Efex Complete. A total of 30 images, full file at 209 MGs
Going to have it printed. Shame on the weather and fire conditions we had.

Nikon D3, 24-70/2.8 (Thanks again Hugh)
Captured as vertical 3 frame HDRs at f/22, 1/30, ISO 250
no pano head, cable release.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Fabs,
Another stuner! Great colors and flawless stitching. Excellent job on the HDR. How do you feel about a super Pano?....I prefer this with less sky(1/2 inch above cloud on right)...even if it is close to a mirror image.....the FG on the right does break it up and leads nicely to the Tetons. Either way, very well done and must look great huge!

[Joe Senzatimore]

STUNNING!!!!!!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Fabs, Wonderful lighting and the technicals handled beautifully. Taken at a great time of year with the colors popping. Agree with Roman regarding the small crop from the top. I feel it will strengthen an already beautiful image...

[Ed Cordes]

Outstanding! Looks like you had great fall colors. The pano works very well and the HDR looks really natural. Am I correct is saying there is less snow on Mt Moran than in the past?

[Fabs Forns]

Outstanding! Looks like you had great fall colors. The pano works very well and the HDR looks really natural. Am I correct is saying there is less snow on Mt Moran than in the past?

Thanks Ed, the following week it was all white :(

Thanks everyone!

[Carl Gandolfo]

Fabs, gorgeous!!

Just curious - why are you shooting at f/22? I see that a lot with your landscapes from your Teton trip.

Thanks.

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs, gorgeous!!

Just curious - why are you shooting at f/22? I see that a lot with your landscapes from your Teton trip.

Thanks.

Thanks, Carl. I am trying to maximize depth of field, focusing 1/3 into the scene. It works for me.
If you are into DOF and use Windows, there's a cool program (free) for perfect DOF, according to your lens, you download the chart, pick your focal lenght, and the chart will give you the aperture and feet at which it would be best. You focus on something at the given feet, lock focus (go manual) and take your scene:
http://www.dofmaster.com/charts.html

[Morkel Erasmus]

fabulous scene Fabs - lovely stitching and amazing colours. did you do the stitching first and then the blending or vice versa?

[Carl Gandolfo]

Thanks.

I'd be more worried about diffraction at those very small apertures than DOF. The sweet spot of most lenses is somewhere between f/8 and f/13 and tend to sacrifice a little sharpness as you close down beyond the sweet spot. I was always in the camp of "if the lens closes down to f/22, then shoot at f/22". But I have done comparisons for most apertures and have noticed a drop off in sharpness when closed all of the way down. Just because it goes to f/22 doesn't mean you should use it.

I'm more surprised too only because of the focal length you were shooting with. Typically at 50 mm (just about dead center of your 24-70 lens), f/13 is plenty closed down enough to capture sharp detail from foreground to background, especially since your foreground element (the tall grass) was a good distance away.

But there are different camps to this philosophy - ask 7 people and you'll get 7 different answers. :) You use what works for you.

Thanks for reading this. :)

[Robert O'Toole]

Very nice Fabs, the contrast and colors really pop.

Only 209 MBs? I have seen files up over 1GB. I think PS max file size is 4GB, thats 30000 x 30000 px.

[Carl Gandolfo]

Oh, btw - thanks for the link to the DOF calculator!!

[Fabs Forns]

fabulous scene Fabs - lovely stitching and amazing colours. did you do the stitching first and then the blending or vice versa?

Morkel, I batch processed the HDRs first and tonne mapped them at the same time, very conservative on the settings, then stitched them, then post process like contrast, dust bunnies etc.

Carl, f/22 worked for me, so I'm not taking any chances unless I use the hyperfocal chart I gave you the link to.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Wow Fabs great image!! You're hard work on this image really paid off. Thanks for sharing

[Grace Scalzo]

Beautiful, Fabs!