Solitary Geyser is located along the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. I photographed it during my recent trip there. My wide-angle lens was not wide enough to capture the entire scene so I decided to photograph a three-image panorama using my Kirk Long Rail as a Nodal Slide. A Nodal Slide eliminates any parallax Errors. These errors occur when the camera rotates and the nearby images do not align properly. To simulate this, put a pencil in front of your face and close your left eye. Then switch and close your right eye. Do you see how different the point of view is? The Nodal Slide will keep the same vantage point as it rotates to capture multiple images.
Originally, Solitary Geyser was a hot spring known as Solitary Spring which did not erupt. Eruptions begin when the water levels lowered due to water being diverted from the spring. The water levels have risen and the eruptions continue. The eruptions last about a minute and are four to eight minutes apart. Most eruptions are less than six feet in height. You can see that the eruption that I captured is very small. The geyser is accessible via the Observation Point loop trail behind Old Faithful.
This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 16-35mm f/4 Lens set on 24mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/20, shutter speed at 1/8th of a second and the ISO set at 100. I used a tripod for stability. I captured 6 images and stitched the panorama together using Lightroom. I then finalized in Photoshop using Nik Color Efex Pro.
You can access my Yellowstone/Grand Teton collection by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography
You can also follow my work on Google+ or Facebook.
PS: Please don’t respond to this message as it will not reach me. Either post a comment or forward your response to my email address (terry@tkahler.com).
