Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.
Navajo Arc + repost
‹ PreviousLandscape GalleryNext ›

Navajo Arc + repost

by Doug Koepsel

Gallery: LandscapePosted August 29, 2011447 views20 comments
Last week, I was able to join a group of photographers for a day at Monument Valley. After photographing a rug weaver in her hogan, and a sheep run at Ear of the Wind, the day concluded with a rainbow over the valley. I have posted other images in the RMNP forum.

This pano is a stitch of 8 vertical images using PSE9. Nikon D90, Nikon 16-35 @ 19mm, f/8, ISO 200.

Comments

20 comments
Comment posted by Gary McGhee on August 29, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Super detail in the clouds Doug, you can clearly see the rain sheeting down. Love the wide view and great job on the stitching.

Gary.
Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments
Comment posted by Yiming Hu on August 29, 2011 at 12:38 PM
Love the waterfall-like clouds inside the rainbow. It seems that the photo is compressed horizontally when you stitch frames together. Choosing a different projection mode might help.
Registered on April 28, 2011, 38 Posts, 733 Comments
Comment posted by Morris McClung on August 29, 2011 at 1:11 PM
The rainbow does seem a bit squeezed, but what a great moment captured and your comp is outstanding.
Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Hackett on August 29, 2011 at 2:02 PM
Very cool Doug! What an awesome scene to witness. Everything looks good to me. My only nit would be to crop up from the bottom since there is not much going on there and make it an ultra-pano.
Registered on March 13, 2006, 65 Posts, 1119 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Chambers on August 29, 2011 at 3:58 PM
As Morris mentioned, the rainbow appears somewhat "squeezed". I don't know if that can be corrected or not - hope so. Other than that, this is terrific - great detail and scenery.
Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments
Comment posted by Joseph Kayne on August 29, 2011 at 5:10 PM
:toast: :toast: :toast:
Registered on November 1, 2003, 573 Posts, 2619 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on August 29, 2011 at 5:30 PM
I have tried the "perspective layout" in the Photomerge Panorama, and while the rainbow is not compressed, the horizon ends up being severely curved. This one was done with the auto layout I will keep trying other layout modes in the photomerge. Guess I just need a "pixel stretcher" for this :wink:
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments
Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on August 29, 2011 at 6:08 PM
Very cool photo Doug. The distortion takes away from this awesome image a bit though.

I'm a photoshop nut so I might have a quick and simple fix for this if you are interested. All you need to do is duplicate the layer, then do a transform. Compress your rainbow to a more realistic shape, ignoring what it does to the rest of the image. Take the layer with the fixed rainbow and drop the opacity a little bit so you can see the image with the undistorted rocks. Line the two layers up to something that looks good to you, then do a layer mask on the rainbow layer. Mask out the bottom of the rainbow layer until you see the rocks from the main layer. Make sure you remove the opacity from the rainbow layer before flattening. Piece of cake. ;] You'll lose some height on the image, but that's trivial for a pano shot like this.

Again...awesome photo.
Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on August 29, 2011 at 6:34 PM
Nicholas,
Thanks for the technique. Here is a low-rez, quick attempt using the 1200pixel image to see how it works. Danke.
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments
Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on August 29, 2011 at 6:40 PM
Right on man! Just a tiny bit more and I think you'll have it. Bitte!
Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments
Comment posted by John Mumaw on August 29, 2011 at 6:54 PM
I was waiting to see if you would correct that 'bow before commenting, and am I glad I did.
This is spectacular event you captured, Doug!
As always, I believe the skies (only) could use a bump in contrast (or Image Polish) to make that rainbow 'pop'.
That's really a minor nit, though. Consider yourself blessed my friend, and give it another friendly stretch as Nic suggested.
Registered on September 9, 2005, 62 Posts, 2289 Comments
Comment posted by Koveh Tavakkol on August 29, 2011 at 7:51 PM
An incredible scene and moment Doug. I would make the adjustments suggested above and hang this up on your wall.
Registered on September 1, 2009, 41 Posts, 608 Comments
Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on August 29, 2011 at 9:19 PM
You got really good conditions and lighting here. The only nit from me was the already mentioned compressed rainbow.
Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments
Comment posted by Paul Marcellini on August 29, 2011 at 9:51 PM
Rainbow looks a little squished but otherwise, very cool. My kind of sky right there.
Registered on November 27, 2007, 250 Posts, 2468 Comments
Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on August 30, 2011 at 10:14 AM
That's a once-in-a-lifetime even, Doug. Looks like you're viewing the rainbow in an oblique manner. Those cloud textures are really good.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on August 30, 2011 at 2:25 PM
Doug,

What a glorious moment on nature! Thanks to Nicolaus for the great tip - your repost looks much better distortion-wise, although I think you could go just a little further. And this image is certainly worth the effort - what a special moment you've captured for all eternity.

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on August 30, 2011 at 3:15 PM
Here is a version with as close to a semi-circular rainbow I could get, and some added contrast to the skies. Again, thanks to Nicholas and others for your suggestions.
Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments
Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on August 30, 2011 at 4:34 PM
Looks great Doug. Definitely an image to cherish. I hope you make some awesome sales from this photo, it's a spectacular and unique catch. As a pano stitch you should be able to print this out MASSIVE.
Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments
Comment posted by Mark Hespenheide on August 30, 2011 at 8:22 PM
Nicely done on the re-work, Doug. I have to admit it took me a second to visualize what Nicolaus was suggesting, so more power to you for figuring it out. The "squished" version definitely looked weird and was distracting from an otherwise great image. I do think the tiny bit off the bottom (as per John Mumaw) helps also. Excellent!

Tony, if I can go into physics teacher lecture mode (my day job; forgive me) it's not possible to view a rainbow obliquely. Each rainbow is unique to a given viewpoint, constructed out the interaction between the sun's rays and raindrops. The rays refract and reflect to form a cone; each person or camera sees part of a circle traced out by that cone.
Registered on August 14, 2010, 3 Posts, 61 Comments
Comment posted by Dean Sauskojus on August 31, 2011 at 5:45 PM
I like how the rainbow gives this image some scale. Works well as a small pan. Very nice Doug.
Registered on September 29, 2009, 137 Posts, 2659 Comments