It's a stitch - Panoramic photos

Now that summer is winding down, I am slowly beginning to work my way through my photos that I have taken all summer. One of the things I focused on in my photos was panoramic shots. There were so many places we went that a panoramic was really the only way to capture the breadth of the scene.

A few tips and things that I've learned in trying to take photos to stitch together:

- Use manual mode on your camera. If you are shooting in a different mode, find the proper exposure you want and then set you camera to those settings in manual mode. This way you won't be changing aperture, shutter speed, or white balance across the different exposures.

- If you shoot holding your camera in portrait mode (vertical) it helps mitigate barrel distortion.

- You need about 25% overlap in each shot in order to help the automated processes in the various stitching software.

So here are a few examples from this summer:

Lake Cuicocha, near Otavalo, Ecuador




Imbrabura Volcano, near Otavalo, Ecuador




Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia:




Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia:




My program of choice for creating panoramas is Hugin, a freeware software program.

Details - Otavalan Market

I had been looking forward to getting back to Otavalo to take some pictures. As I was going through the market, I decided that I wanted to focus on details - not the usual broad shots of market stands, etc. Here they are:

Side shot of stacked blankets:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/13s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 33.0mm

Belts, a top view:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/20s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Alpaca blankets:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/10s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 46.0mm

Cinnamon sticks:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/10
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Anise seeds:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/25s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Spices:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/800s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Finger puppets:

EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/100s
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Perspective - Getting Low

So, what does the world look like laying on your belly?

While I was looking for photos to take in black and white (see previous post) I thought I'd give it a try. Despite Christy's comment ("Hey, why are you laying there taking a picture of concrete?), I got a couple of shots I liked.

I also liked this first one for the patterns and lines:

EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/15
Av( Aperture Value ): F20.0
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

And, of course, a shot of the kids:



EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/160
Av( Aperture Value ): F9.0
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

And a couple of kind of random shots to close it off ...



EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/20
Av( Aperture Value ): F22.0
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

 

EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/200
Av( Aperture Value ): F2.8
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Black and White - Textures and Pattern

I decided I wanted to try and look for photos with pattern and texture. In order to help myself out with this, I decided to shoot black and white so I would focus more on my themes, not worrying about the color. Both of the below shots were done in Aperture Priority mode, all natural light, and with an exposure compensation of -1 since I wanted to focus on the aperture and, since I was shooting black and white, to up the contrast a bit with darker shadows.

This first one, of a short wall in our front garden, you get both lines and texture. The light kind of rakes across the front of the rocks, accentuating the texture. The shallower depth of field (F6.3) works for this shot because the subject does not have much depth to it.

EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/640
Av( Aperture Value ): F6.3
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

This next shot has a couple of different patterns from the two kinds of wire fencing there. I wanted to anchor the shot with the post on the left, which gives the eye a starting place, "reading" the picture left to right. I also wanted to have most of the fence fairly in focus, with it just beginning to unsharpen at the far right of the picture, so chose the larger F-Stop of F22.

EXIF Data:
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/50
Av( Aperture Value ): F22.0
Exposure Compensation: -1
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 50.0mm

Capturing Motion

I've wanted to try some of these techniques out for a while and I finally got around to it! Overall this weekend has been a good one for photography - I got to take these motion-capturing photos, plus have had two great portrait sessions.

Anyway, I guess that the motion capture worked for me - I still get a bit dizzy looking at the photos ...

Panning

This is where you set a slower shutter speed and then try to move your camera in synch with your subject and take the photo at the same time. The goal is to have a sharp-ish subject with everything else blurring with the motion.



EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ): F14.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

Out of about 20 or 30 pictures I took, only a couple came out like this, with the subject in focus. Here's another example of panning:



EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ): F14.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

Synching with the Subject

The other option is that you move with the subject at the same time/rate by being on whatever is moving. While I wanted to try this, I was hesitant because I tend to get nauseous just thinking about spinning in circles, but I liked the results! No growth without sacrifice! And I managed NOT to get sick, which is an added bonus.

Here we're on a merry-go-round kind of thing; I had Christy push us for a second. I got a few shots and then had to rest for a bit while my head stopped spinning ...



EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ): F14.0
ISO Speed    100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

In this next shot, we were on the basket swing the girls are on above. Clara was the willing victim this time, pushing us.



EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ): F14.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

Stopping Motion

The next option is to use a higher shutter speed to stop motion. In the following examples I also used the high-speed rapid-fire feature of my camera. All you have to do is hold the shutter button down and it continues taking photos at a high rate. The only issue with the below photos is focal point - Clara is jumping off of the swing, traveling forward as she comes off and to her landing. However, the camera is firing rapidly enough that the focal point does not change, so by the time she gets to her landing, she's a bit out of focus.















EXIF Data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/500
Av( Aperture Value ): F6.3
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 26.0mm

Anyway, a fun time with the kids and learning something new at the same time!

Long Shutter Speeds

Today I wanted to put up a couple examples of longer shutter speeds. A longer shutter speeds necessitates stabilizing the camera in some form or fashion. For the first picture of the river, it was sitting on the railing of the bridge over the river; I used a tripod for the other two. Another tip - don't push the shutter button, but either use a trigger of some sort or the delay timer, plus use mirror lock up. All of these things together will help get sharper pictures when using longer shutter speeds.

Anyway, all of the below pictures are from our trip to the thermal hot springs in Papallacta, Ecuador. Can't wait to get back there! All photos are as they were from the camera, no additional post-processing on them.

This first example the shutter speed is 1/8s:

Here's the rest of the EXIF data on this first shot:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/8s
Av( Aperture Value ): F32.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 20.0mm

For this shot of the river, rather than freeze the motion of the river, I wanted it to blur together. The slower shutter speed allows the water flow to smooth out and appear cotton-like, rather than capturing every splash.


This next shot is with a shutter speed of 1.3s:

And the EXIF data from this one:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1.3s
Av( Aperture Value ): F20.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Canon EF70-200mm f/4L USM
Focal Length: 154.0mm

For this detail of the tree, I used my telephoto zoom lens to get in close for some details. It was a spot that was under a fair amount of shade, hence a long shutter speed to get the above exposure.

Even though I have a small aperture (F20), the background is still blurry; this is one of the characteristics of a telephoto lens. It tends to have more bokeh, even at smaller apertures. If I had the same shot with my wide angle at a F20, that three behind there would likely be pretty in focus. Contrast this photo with the last one below ...



This last one is with a shutter speed of 25s:

EXIF data:
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 25s
Av( Aperture Value ): F8.0
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 17.0mm

This last one is the classic night shot, in this case of one of the thermal pools right in front of our cabin.

Contrast the depth of field with the second picture - this is a much wider aperture and should yield a much shallower depth of field. However, the picture is fairly sharp from front to back. This is one of the characteristics of a wide-angle lens - you get more depth of field for your F-Stop. In this particular example you get some additional softness because of the steam rising off of the water.

Another 10 in 10

One of my goals has been to try and use all of my lenses more often and one way to do it is to try and take 10 photos within a 10 meter radius. In this case, I have been wanting to use my "nifty fifty" lens (Canon EF 50mm fixed focal length) a bit more. Since it is my fastest lens at F1.8, I figured I would open it all the way up and see what I could do with it.

At an f-stop of 1.8, the depth of field is very shallow - there is only a very shallow portion of the image that is in focus.



In the image above, the background becomes a colorful blend that is hard to distinguish what exactly it is. At the same time, the buds on this flower are fairly well in focus, but not all of them.



In this photo, you can get a better idea of the shallow depth of field - her head is turned slightly, but that throws the eye further from the focal point out of focus.



The above photo is of a painting, taken at a slight angle and not straight on. As a result, only a portion of the painting is in focus.

And now for the rest of the photos, all with the same F1.8:

Combining Photos for a "Time Lapse"

This past week we went to some great thermal hot springs here in Ecuador, Termas de Papallacta, I got some other shots I enjoyed and have been slowly working through them - check out my Flickr page for the ones that I have already posted.

Anyway, I got three shots of the daughter of our friends as she was jumping into one of the pools and I wanted to combine them into one shot.

Here are the three shots:










I decided to use the first image as my base image - only pieces of the other two would show up. I started by loaded the three images as layers in GIMP. This essentially means that they are stacked, one on top of the other, like cards. However, only the image on top shows.

The next step is to define what you want from the layer below to show through to the top. This is done by creating a layer mask. What this does is essentially makes a hole in the top layer for the layer below to show through.

I started on the bottom two layers - the mid-air and the splash. I added a layer mask and then used the paintbruch to outline my splash - this is the part I wanted to show through to the layer above. Once that was done, I added a gaussian blur to the layer mask - about 10 pixels. This makes sure I don't get any hard lines around my cut-out and it blends a bit better. Once I had the splash showing through, I used the airbrush tool to touch up parts and blend the edges a bit better. The airbrush tool works well because it is a soft effect tool - you can slowly blend things together, unlike the pencil or paintbrush, where you will get hard lines.

Having done this on the bottom two layers, I merged them, copied the layer mask into a mask for the top layer, and then just added the mid-air cut-out to my layer mask. Blend, touch up, then merge layers. Voila! You're done!

The only other thing I did was slightly shift the bottom two layers, otherwise the three stages - standing, mid-air, and splash, would all be pretty close to stacked on top of one another.

A good way to guide your mask-making and layer movement is to adjust the opacity of the layer above - slide it down so you can see the layer below.


And here is the final, with all three combined:

Yet Another Web Site!

I've been contemplating getting a storefront of some kind set up and finally did it this weekend. It's located at Zenfolio.

I'm still working on getting things ironed out, but take a look and let me know what you think. The goal of it is to use it to host my portrait sessions and to be a means for people to directly order prints they want. I've also stuck some other photos on there and made them available to order.

Hard Light and Portraits

Usually I try and use soft light in doing portraits, but I decided to try and use hard light, coming from either side, in conjunction with some soft light diffused through an umbrella from the front.

In all of these photos, the two side lights are at 1/4 power and the front light, which is also farther away, is at 1/4 power.

For the first and last one, the background light is coming from a skylight above and to the right of the picture. I kind of like how it looks, so the trick will be figuring out how to do it when it's totally overcast and I'll have to replicate it with a flash.

Camera Info:
ISO: 100
Aperture: 
Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Lens: Tamron 17-55mm
Focal Length: 25mm

Second photo, the glamour girl.

Camera Info:
ISO: 100
Aperture: F13
Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Lens: Tamron 17-55mm
Focal Length: 50mm

And the last photo - the Indian Princess.

Camera Info:
ISO: 100
Aperture: F13

Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Lens: Tamron 17-55mm
Focal Length: 31mm

If you look closely at the full size photos, one of the things you notice about the hard side light is that it really accentuates textures.