Tips and Tricks to Get That Cracking Panorama

A panorama image can loosely be described as an image with an aspect ratio of greater than 1:2 (ie its longest side is double or greater the length of its shortest side).

 Prior to the dawning of the digital world, quality panoramas were almost exclusively reserved for those with the beautifully crafted medium and large format panorama cameras such as the Hasselblad X-Pan or the Fuji G617. And while the quality was simply breathtaking, unfortunately so was the price for the kit!

The onset of digital changed all that...

With powerful computing and advanced software packages, suddenly the everyday photographer had the option of stringing multiple images together to create a single, panoramic image. This process was coined "stitching".

But is it as simple as blazing away across a scene and hitting "GO"?

Well no, it isn't. There are quite a number of factors that you must keep in mind right from the planning stage through to execution.

The Lens Can Make It, or Break It...

Normally, when you're planning an image that is to have a wide angle of view, you immediately go for your widest lens. These wide angle lenses allow you to fit a whole lot more of your scene onto the sensor and hence, into your image. But there are trade offs with cramming a whole lot into a single scene and for panoramas, the important one is distortion. 

Due to some pretty complex physics, a wide-angle lens will tend to distort horizontal and vertical lines, shapes and figures; the degree of the distortion depends on the distance of the object from the camera and the object's location in the frame: the closer it is to the edges the greater the distortion.

As you would well imagine, for a landscape, cityscape or interior, you have objects at all sorts of distances from the camera and plenty of straight lines! The issue then becomes one of misaligned elements at the boundaries of each individual image.

To combat this, use as long a focal length as is practicable as the longer the focal length, the less the distortion. If you must use a wider lens, then shoot in portrait orientation as this will minimise distortion of the horizon; arguably the most important element in a landscape. Actually, use a portrait orientation all the time!

Lock Your Settings

Even if you shoot in the more advanced shutter or aperture priority modes, there is still every chance that your exposure will change as you move through the scene. This will result in an obvious darkening or lightening of sections of your panorama. Locking the aperture will also maintain a uniform depth of field through the image. 

As you setup your panorama, take a few test images throughout the scene to determine the best overall exposure. Remember to always shoot with a bias toward the highlights as these are what you want to protect. Shadows are much more readily recovered and are no where near as ugly in a photo as blown highlights.

As well as locking the exposure, use either a custom white balance or one of the presets. It doesn't really matter either way; the main thing is that auto white balance is turned off for the same reason as you lock your exposure.

Don't forget your autofocus! Nothing will ruin a good panorama faster for the viewer than for the focal plane to vary through the image. Before you begin shooting your panorama, choose your point of focus and, with autofocus turned on, half-depress your shutter button to engage the autofocus. Once you are satisfied your focus is correct switch it to manual and begin shooting.

The presence of a polarising filter darkens the sky in the
center of the shot considerably, when compared to the
same image below, shot without a polarising filter.

Mount Your Camera, Take Off Your Filters  and Go!!!

Unfortunately it isn't enough to align one frame, you have to make sure your camera is level in both directions (imagine left to right and front to back). If you don't trust your eye, you can pick up a hotshoe bubble level pretty cheap and this will allow you to get the camera pretty close to dead level.

These two panoramas were shot at quite a short focal
length (20mm - 32mm in 35mm format) and this is particularly
evident in the distorted appearance of the fence on the left.

If you haven't already discovered how wonderfully deep blue a polarising filter can make a sky go out and buy one now! But make sure you take it off before you take your panorama as this effect varies with the angle from the sun. At 90 degrees (make a 'gun' with your thumb and index finger, point your index finger at the sun and your thumb will point roughly at 90 degrees) the effect of a polarising filter is at its greatest and this effect reduces as you move closer toward the sun. The result of this is a glaringly obvious graduation in the colour of the sky as you move through your panorama.

I'd love to hear any feedback you may have and it would be great if you shared your pano's with us. As always, you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook.

- Will

How to Shoot a Waterfall

The silky blur of moving water is mesmerising. Giving
the water an opportunity flow through your image.

On thinking about an image of a waterfall, I imagine most people would immediately conjure an image of silky smooth water, deep vivid colours and an overall feeling of tranquility or peacefulness.

But how do photographers get that silky smooth water?

Well it is really quite simple.

Everyone, I'm sure, has taken a photo that has ended up with blurred streaks across the image. This image would have undoubtedly ended up in the bin, but the mechanics that led to such an image are the key to capturing flowing water.

Essentially, when we photograph waterfalls with the aim of getting this smooth texture, we want the water to blur across the sensor while everything else in the scene remains sharp.

How do we do this?

Again, it's quite simple! As the water is moving quite quickly, we really only have to make sure that either a) our shutter speed is fast enough to eliminate camera shake, whilst at the same time being slow enough to capture the blur of the water, or (and this is really the only way in most situations) b) we use a tripod and a longer exposure. To help out with eliminating camera shake, we can use a remote - this will minimise the vibrations through the camera from depressing the shutter button.

The rich colours of the sandy/rocky
bottom of the pool is brought through
by the use of a polarising filter

Is that it?

Well that's the basics. But if you want to create a quality image, read on.

The time of day counts.

As with most landscape images, the time of day will really impact on your image. Ideally you want to be shooting either early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The low light levels will allow you to slow down the shutter to capture the movement of the water. The pre-dawn or post-dusk light will provide a pretty even, soft light which will help to even out your exposures. Overcast conditions will also provide you with a much softer light source and a much more even quality of light.

Keep in mind that most waterfalls will be located in low light locations anyway. Deep canyons and dense rainforest canopies will naturally lead to slower shutter speeds.

 Use a polarising filter!

One thing you may notice about waterfall - and water images generally - is that there tends to be a lot more colour and a lot less reflection from wet surfaces.

This quality can be attributed to the simple, yet indespensible, polarising filter!

The polariser only allows light with a certain orientation through. As reflected light is scattered, a lot of the reflection is blocked out, allowing the wonderful rich colours of rocky and sandy bottoms to shine through.

Be prepared to get your feet wet!

Staying dry is simply not an option! (And you miss out on half the fun) To properly explore a scene you cannot be bound to dry land. But be careful when wading around the creek! All it takes is one slip and you can just about say goodbye to your gear, or - in the worst case - get into serious trouble yourself. Never underestimate how slippery rocks can be and how much force swiftly flowing or deep water has. Half a metre of swiftly flowing water can quite easily knock an adult off their feet and once you've lost your footing it is very, very difficult to regain it.

If you're setting up your tripod in the stream/creek/river, keep in mind that water moving around the legs of the tripod will cause vibrations. To minimise this, try to set up in slow moving water and keep the length of the tripod's legs to an absolute minimum.

Allow for flow through your composition.

It is always best to give the water somewhere to go; for it to flow through the image. The obvious, and most natural is top to bottom, but experiment with diagonal flows and cross-image.

Is this only applicable to waterfalls?

Of course not! Where ever water is moving through a scene you can apply what you've learnt above. The most obvious is the ocean. And the best thing about the ocean is that it never stops!  

Apply the principles of good waterfall captures
to the ocean.

I really hope you take something away from this to improve your images. If you have, why not share you endeavors over on my Facebook page or keep in touch on Twitter. I would also love to hear any feedback you might have, so why not leave a comment?!

Cheers,
Will

How to Shoot a Sunrise and Sunset

Sunsets and sunrises are, without a doubt, some of the most photographed natural events across the world which really isn't all that surprising given that every morning/night, somewhere in the world there is a stunning, vibrantly lit sky, bathing the landscape in wonderful colours as the sun first rises over and then sinks below the horizon.

But they are also one of the most challenging scenes to capture well; the contrast is enormous, the shutter speeds can be quite slow and surprisingly often the sunset or sunrise on its own just doesn't cut the mustard.

It all starts with the sky...

An HDR sunset. Although there are clouds low in the
atmosphere, they are not widespread and there are higher
clouds present to reflect the light of the sunset.

The most important thing is to plan it. The colours sweep across the sky so quickly, that often, by the time you realise it's a great sunset, it is gone in the time it takes you to get your camera ready and find a good location. And ever worse, who wants to get up before dawn, only to be met with a boring dull sky?

So how do we know when a good sunrise or sunset is on its way? Well the key is to look to the sky and take note of the clouds, what they look like and where they are in the sky they are.

The clouds we're looking for are high up in the atmosphere (if you're into geek-speak we're looking for cirrus and alto level clouds!). These are characteristically thin, whispy clouds with little vertical development or depth. Because they're thin and high up in the atmosphere they tend not to kill a sunrise or sunset like clouds lower in the atmosphere do and the colours also tend to last longer and spread over more of the sky.

We also want to have a relatively clear horizon to allow all that wonderful light to percolate through the atmosphere and light up our clouds.

Find a good location...

An interesting foreground - in this case the silhouettes of
dawn anglers - can provide interest to a scene and really
set off, in this case, a sunrise.

As stunning as the colours may be, often they aren't enough to hold their own in a photograph. To overcome this, we still want to find interesting, complementary foregrounds.

The classic foreground is one that works well silhouetted against the sky. To work well as a silhouette, shape is the key. Think about things like a lonely dead tree on the landscape, an old bit of machinery or perhaps an interesting, identifiable cityscape.

But don't only go for the silhouette. Think outside the square and search out other foregrounds that will provide interest and depth to the image such as a water body - either reflecting the sunset or seeing through onto the bottom.

Be prepared!

The wonderful thing about a sunrise/sunset is that it is dynamic. The colours, tones and shapes change every minute of the sun's journey across the sky and you don't want to miss a second of it.

In the case of a sunrise, scope the area in the days before you plan to head out. If you wait until the morning of your planned shoot it will most likely be the case that you are still frantically searching for a good vantage point as the first rays of the day crest the horizon. 

For a sunset, get there with plenty of time to spare. The last thing you want to worry about is scurrying around in the dark trying to find a good vantage point. This can not only put a dent in your shoot, but can also pose a danger to your safety if you're in unfamiliar country.

Getting there with plenty of time will also allow you to scope out your area for the best vantage point and foreground interest. Take the time to walk around with your camera, frame potential shots and get to know your scene.

Control the exposure...

As I briefly alluded to in the opening, the dynamic contrast present in a typical sunrise/sunset scene is quite enormous, so large that you may think your only choice is either a well exposed sunset and a black foreground or a well exposed foreground and a blown out sky.

But there are a couple of things you can to avoid this...

You don't always have to shoot directly into the sun!
This image is looking almost 90 degrees from the sun,
however it still captures the soft pastel hues of the sunset
while still having a good exposure on the foreground and
through the landscape.

First up is to avoid shooting directly into the sunset. You would be surprised at how quickly the light levels drop off as you move around the horizon away from the sun. Try and find a balance between brightness and colour/interest in the sky.

If you're ready to take the plunge into more serious digital editing, you can try taking a series of exposures of the same scene and later create a high dynamic range (HDR) image. This process takes information from a number of different exposures and blends the well exposed areas into a single image. Be warned though, if not done well results can be sickeningly tacky and simply look wrong!

Another option is to invest in some special filters called graduated neutral density filters. Essentially these  are like sunglasses for your camera except that they are clear at the bottom and gradually get darker across the filter to the top. This has the effect of darkening the sky whilst maintaining the light levels of the foreground and in doing so, evening out the exposure. The filters are generally available in range from 1 stop through to 3 stop.

It is generally good practice, regardless of the method you choose, to expose with a bias towards the highlights. When we look at a sunset with our naked eye, we expect to see dark areas of shadow; we don't expect to see a blown out sky with weak colours. The same is true for a photograph!

Have the right gear...

Good gear doesn't necessarily equate to a good image; this is especially true if the person using it doesn't know how to utilise it to their advantage. But it is often difficult to get a good image without good gear.

At the very least you're going to want a sturdy tripod, a wide lens (anything from 16mm-40mm @35mm format equivalent) and a cable release. To go that bit extra invest in some graduated neutral density filters (as above), a remote shutter release and some good HDR software if you want to go down that path.

Go forth and shoot the sun!

I hope you have enjoyed my return to the more informative "how-to" type blogs and that you have gleaned some gems from it.

If you have, please share your results with me either here on my Facebook Page you can also follow me on Twitter

In this case the pre-dawn light has resulted in fairly even
tones across the scene whilst still creating some beautiful,
soft pastel colours in the sky and across the rocks. A long
exposure has caught the tumultuous motion of the ocean too