I never stopped loving big machines. Cranes, bulldozers, all that. One of the first words I ever heard my toddler nephew say was “excavator”, so I guess it isn’t just me. Seattle actually has a pretty sizable industrial area, so getting a view of cranes, trains, etc, isn’t that hard. Doing it without a fence in your way however, can be more of a challenge.
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Canon PowerShot S90 (Canon) & 6.0-22.5 mm |
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1/500 s |
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2010:04:01 00:21:34 |
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f/6.3 |
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Ari Brown |
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200 |
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N/A |
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12.8 mm |
I just stumbled on this “park” the other day. The Port loves providing public access in a way that is so unfriendly and hard to see that you’d never know it was there. This spot is hidden behind a huge stack of shipping containers, but you get a great view of the Duwamish river and the goings on.
I shot this with my little S90, hand held of course. If you want to know the difference between a point and shoot (a very good one, but still) and a real DSLR with L-series lens and a tripod, compare it to this one. I don’t know if you can tell at this resolution, but the fine detail is really incomparable between the two. Even so, I had my point and shoot – I didn’t have my DSLR. You can’t take anything if you don’t have your camera.
Tags: barges, cranes, duwamish, industry, panorama, river
Posted in Photos | 1 Comment »
I suppose it is only fair that if my last post was the stereotypical Seattle photo, this is the stereotypical Seattle panorama. You get the same Space Needle and Mt. Rainier, but this way you get Elliott Bay and West Seattle as well. Everyone wins, right?
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Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM |
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1/4 s |
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2010:02:04 08:26:01 |
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f/4.0 |
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Ari Brown |
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100 |
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Aperture priority |
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100 mm |
This panorama came from the same shoot as the last post and was stitched together from 6 shots. One of my main problems with panoramas is that things get very wide very fast and they are really hard to view. To get a little more height, I usually shoot them with my camera in the vertical position to make things a bit taller. You could shoot them in two rows and stitch them all back together, but that increases the difficulty a good bit. I also like to use a decent amount of zoom or a longer-length lens. Wide angle is fun and can be necessary if you are very close to your subject, but the edges of the frame are often distorted, which matters when you’re joining a lot of shots together. Click for the larger image. I used the regular size that I always post here – no larger than 1024 pixels wide, but the original is over 17,000 pixels wide! If anyone is really interested in seeing a higher-quality version, leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can do.
UPDATE: 2010.03.11 – these panoramas really require a larger view than my standard pics do. Click the image above to see the updated, 250% larger version!
Tags: elliottbay, kerrypark, mtrainier, panorama, rainier, spaceneedle, sunrise, westseattle
Posted in Photos | 2 Comments »
Panoramic photography is a lot of fun. There is nothing like the viewpoint you can get by stitching together a bunch of shots into a broad sweeping view. I first posted instructions on how to shoot a panorama back here. We then had a couple posts in a row alternately described as Panoramania and Panorama-orama. Lots of fun. All the instructions for how to actually capture the pictures are still fairly valid but I want to tell you there is a better way. Behold!
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Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM |
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1/200 s |
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2009:10:13 11:23:45 |
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f/10.0 |
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Ari Brown |
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100 |
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Normal program |
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24 mm |
See that shot? Not too bad, right? The real magic however, is twofold. First off, I shot that hand-held. Yes, it was in fairly bright sun so the exposure was easy, but it includes a beach scene and rolling waves are just about the hardest thing to put in a panorama. The real beauty behind it all is Adobe Photoshop CS4. Whereas before I told you to use Panorama Factory or Autostitch, which are still fine, I just need to spread the word that the built-in panorama creation tool in CS4 beats them all. In fully auto mode, it stitched together 6 individual shots to create this without any manual intervention. Without much if any moire, and without totally barfing when it came to the water. The original shot is 10,000 and some pixels wide and I think it’s beautiful. If anyone is really interested, I can post a larger version too.
The moral of the story is this: go shoot some panoramas. Certainly a tripod and level will help and for night shots it might be the only way, but don’t limit yourself! Software is constantly improving and even if you don’t have Photoshop CS4 right now, you might get it down the road (or you might get this feature in something free or low cost in 6 months). Things change! The only thing you can’t change is the fact that you might not take pictures today. I’ve certainly regretted the things I’ve not captured. Do yourself a favor. Digital is cheap. Go take pictures.
Tags: beach, cs4, OB, oceanbeach, panorama, photoshop, pier, sandiego, surf
Posted in Photos, Technique | 1 Comment »
Everyone who comes to Seattle goes up the Space Needle. Yeah, there’s Pike Place Market, the Fremont Troll, the first Starbucks, and various and sundry salmon-related doo-dads, but the Space Needle is the only thing that *everyone* has done. Well I’m here today to tell you it’s a waste of time.
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Canon EOS REBEL T1i (Canon) & EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM |
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1/400 s |
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2009:09:05 14:00:47 |
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f/14.0 |
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Ari Brown |
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400 |
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Normal program |
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28 mm |
This here is just one side of the view from the 35th story of Smith Tower. Even if the Space Needle wasn’t 300% more expensive, Smith Tower gets you some history (pre-1960), almost no crowds, and is actually *in* the Pioneer Square / Downtown core, where the Space Needle is actually off to the side. On a day with anything but pristine clear views, from the Space Needle, you see the side of a few buildings and some water. From Smith Tower, you get it all.
Only took me 7 years to figure that out.
Tags: cranes, duwamish, highway99, panorama, qwestfield, smithtower, sodo, stadium, viaduct, waterfront
Posted in Photos | 5 Comments »
When you see the fields of tulips in the Skagit Valley, it’s hard to translate the feeling into a picture. The beauty is there, but the sweeping view disappears. Of course it was cold and of course there were too many people and of course I didn’t put in the effort to be diligent and bring a tripod, but I decided to pull together some panorama action anyway. Sure it’s lumpy, but what do you think?
Also, I’m going to try something a little different here. Thanks to the wonderful features of Photoshop CS4, there is a built-in flash-based panorama generator. Want to see it, click the link.
(more…)
Tags: flowers, panorama, skagitvalley, tulips
Posted in Photos | 4 Comments »
Here is the last panorama for a while. I went out to take these for fun but next time I do it, I might actually attempt something of more artistic merit rather than a technical demonstration. This is the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. I’ve always loved the crazy Art Deco flourishes which seem fairly out of place for an Asian Art Museum. If the city is listening, it would be very much in character to repurpose it as some sort of Batman/Gotham City Museum. Paul Allen maybe? Anyway, great building. This shot is composed of only 3 or 4 source images, so the distortion is a lot lower. I’ve been experimenting with removing the distortion from the edges (stretchy Subaru, anyone?) but the tradeoff is distortion in the middle. It’s just like the projection on a map – if you want everything to be the right size, you get a globe (or in this case, some really rounded lines in the middle). If you want the lines straight in the middle, you get some stretching at the edges. Since the focal point here is in the middle, I kept the lines straight. What do you think?
Tags: asianartmuseum, panorama, volunteerpark
Posted in Photos | No Comments »
With the best intentions, sometimes things can go wrong. You wanna hear about them? You know how to leave if you don’t. In any case, this is a larger panorama strung together from about 7 images. The camera was angled down a little bit which introduced some extra curve, which the stitching program wanted to take out. See those warpy cars? That kind of thing happens. I had to spend some time punching up the blue in the sky since the sun was almost directly opposite the camera – never a great time to shoot, but hey – life gets in the way. At the end of the day I still like this shot. Being able to see so much detail is what this is all about. With an original over 17,000 pixels wide, there is a lot to see.
Tags: interstate5, lakeunion, panorama
Posted in Photos | 2 Comments »
There is something really cool about panoramic photography. All the extra visual information makes things seem much more immersive and true to life. Taking panoramic shots with your camera is pretty straightforward too, but there are a few tips – read on for more.
You don’t need any special gear to shoot a panorama, but there are a few things that will drastically improve your results and make your life easy. If you don’t want your life to be easy, you’re all set. If you do, you need a tripod. Having a level, like this fun little guy that attaches to the camera hot shoe is really nice too, but optional. Whatever you do or don’t have, follow these steps:
- Set your camera to manual exposure, if you’ve got it. Look at your meter reading in the lighter and darker areas of a scene and find a setting that will work for both. If you don’t do this and leave your camera on auto, some of the pictures will most likely be significantly lighter or darker than the rest. Looks kinda funny.
- Attach your camera to the tripod and make sure you have the right knobs cranked so that you can pan smoothly across the scene. I like using mine in vertical orientation to get a little more height in each frame. While you’re at it, make sure things are level. If your horizon isn’t straight, your pictures look funny. You can fix this later, but you’ll end up cropping a bunch of your shot.
- Start taking pictures from one side or the other. Pay attention to where the edges of the shot are. You want to make sure each picture overlaps by about 25% – it will make putting them together much easier later. Swivel the tripod or your body as smoothly as you can between shots.
- Once you have all the pictures on your computer, you’ll need to stitch them together. I use The Panorama Factory (which works pretty well if you have a tripod, but in manual mode can be pretty fussy). I’ve heard very good things about Autostitch, especially if you didn’t align things carefully. Some cameras (the Canon Powershots, for example) come with a mode that helps you take and align panoramic pictures, but it only works when the camera is held horizontally. Canon and possibly others also include photo stitching software but I wouldn’t recommend using it – the results from Panorama Factory are far better and I assume Autostitch would also give you a better final product.
Panoramas really only come into their own when you can display them at or nearly full size. They make great prints for that reason. If you’re looking for a picture with extra impact, panoramas might do the job.
Tags: panorama, skyline, volunteerpark
Posted in Photos, Technique | 3 Comments »
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