I have not posted a panorama in some time so I thought I would post a Pedernales Falls Sunset Panorama that I captured during my trip to the Pedernales Falls State Park last week. I really enjoy taking panoramas. I not only enjoy the technical challenge but I also really like the added detail that comes along with stitching together multiple high-resolution photographs to form a very high resolution final result.
I posted some tips on taking panorama photographs last August. I thought it would be a good idea to summarize some of these tips given that I have a number of new subscribers. Here are some important things to consider when photographing a panorama image:
Tripod: A heavy-duty tripod is the foundation of a good photograph and it is a must when shooting panoramas.
Panorama Head: Shooting panoramas with a standard tripod head is very hard to do. A panorama head on your tripod is a big plus. A panorama head has a leveling eye and rotates above the tripod leveling so that the rotation is level notwithstanding an unleveled tripod.
Portrait Orientation: Many people shoot panoramas in landscape mode and end up with a very thin strip. Turn your camera to portrait mode and you’ll have a taller panorama. That’s what I did in the photo below.
Lens: I prefer to use a medium range lens for these type of shots. I find that somewhere between 70mm and 200mm is a good focal distance. It just depends on how far your subject is. I broke this rule with this photograph as I wanted to capture a much wider view.
Metering: Once you’ve got your camera set up, meter the entire scene and find a good exposure balance then set your camera on manual mode and key in the appropriate settings (aperture, shutter speed & ISO). Also, make sure the white balance is set to something other than Auto so that it’s consistent across all the images.
Overlap: I use a 50% overlap when I’m shooting. This gives the software more data from which to decipher the stitching process. Most photographers recommend 30%.
Remote: I always use a wired or wireless remote to trigger the shutter. It eliminates any unnecessary camera shake and you get sharper images.
Pedernales Falls Sunset Panorama
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 Lens set on 16 mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/22, shutter speed at 1/3 and the ISO set at 100. This is a series of seven images stitched together into a single panorama image in Lightroom. Final processing was done in Photoshop. I also used Nik Color Efex Pro.
You can see other landscape photographs like this one by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography
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