Shuttleworth Panoramic

Taken this afternoon, using a Nikon D300, Nikon 85mm PC-E lens and Nodal Ninja 5 panoramic tripod head. Original stitched image was 80 megapixels, but this crop brought it down to a mere 42......

Same Tree, Different Sunrise...

...and a different vantage point, technique and orientation.

This time I decided to get much closer to the tree and use a wide angle lens (a 30 year old, battered 20mm f/2.8 Ai-S). Unfortunately the lovely mottled pre-dawn sky cleared before the sun hit it, due to the strong wind, so I switched to 'Plan B'. On went the much younger 24mm tilt/shift lens, cue panoramic format using the shift function.

Lessons learned from recent morning trips: I ditched the wellies, favouring Fox Arctic boots instead... toasty toes means one less distraction from photos! Single gloves were replaced by a pair of thin grippy gloves (shame Lowepro have discontinued their 'Photographers Gloves'), with an oversized pair of Buffalo mitts over the top. I can forgive the giant comedy Kenny Everett hands for the warmth!

Overall, very pleased with the results from this shoot. Again though, may be should have gone for a lower view point to emphasis the tree. Wonder if my current enthusiasm for sunrises will continue as the temperature drops...

That Tree Again

I was looking for a better vantage point for a sunrise picture of this tree, when I noticed a large stone in the field, which just happened to mark the exact spot I was looking for.

This set me thinking about an entirely different picture: a vertical panoramic with the stone as foreground interest. I knew that I would need a telephoto lens to compress the perspective (i.e. bring the stone and tree apparently closer together). This would cause me another issue in that I would not have sufficient depth of field to render both the stone and the tree sharply. Also the foreground was in virtual darkness, so I would need to light it some how. Flash seemed the obvious answer, and I liked the idea of the surreal effect this might give.

In the end, my simple pre-visualisation had become a technically complex image to execute. I decided to use a focus-stacking technique, using two captures: one focused on the stone and lit by flash; the other focused on the tree and exposed to keep the intense colours in the sky. Add in the fact that all of this had to be executed by torch light and in the freezing cold! The two images were merged in Photoshop and then cropped to the 3:1 (or is that 1:3?) format you see.

Does it work? I must admit that I am not 100% convinced, but it is faithful to my original visualisation, and I think, quite striking. Let me know what you think.

You can buy a print of this image here.

Photographic Notes

This image was taken with a Nikon D3 and 70-200mm lens (set to 125mm) and a SB-800 flashgun attached by a SC-17 cord and held above the camera, which was set at knee height on a tripod.

If I were to try a similar shot, then I would consider using a 85mm tilt/shift lens on a DX sensor camera, which would possibly deliver the front to back depth of field needed in one single exposure (the stone and the tree are in focus in this image, the bits in front and between are not, but I do not think this detracts from this image too much).

Volunteers Needed!

I am looking for volunteers to help me with a new photographic project please. I need to produce a professional set of informal portraits of you and/or friends or family primarily for use in an academic project. All you'll need to do is give up about half to one hour of your time for free.

In return you'll get an online gallery of images that you can share with friends and relatives, from which you or they can order prints or gifts, plus one FREE 12"x8" print for you. The gallery will be provided by Photobox, and prices will be their standard retail prices as published on their website here.

Although the FREE print is unframed, I can provide larger prints, frames or canvas prints and many other finished products at additional cost.

If you are interested, please drop me a line by clicking here. It's a limited offer, first come, first served.

Good Morning World

This mornings sunrise, taken with Nikon D3 & Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 AI-S.

Could have done with getting a bit closer or higher to give a bit more separation between the tree and the horizon, unfortunately neither was practical. Still, not a bad start to the day!