Hey folks, I am going to the Islands ( ) in two weeks and am looking to create that sunrise/sunset image with the soft, silky tidal changes and using ND's and CPL filters. Now comes the hard part (for me.) I am using the Canon 50d (15 mp) in the portrait format and the 17-40 L lens and expect to shoot between 5-10 images of each comp. I will be using the BH1 Kirk ballhead on tripod, remote release and mirror lockup and I know enough to level and plumb the camera, but what other considerations would you suggest? I have access to the Manfrotto 303sph, but it's so heavy that I really don't want to carry it around.(Not to mention that I really don't fully understand the entry point, etc) This is to be my first real serious attempt at creating a LARGE finished panorama image for display on the living room wall and the opportunity may not present itself to me again for any forseable time for me to reshoot it if this doesn't work. You folks in the ES&S forum seem to produce a great deal of these better than most, so I would humbly ask for your expert assistance.Thanks `Jeff
Posted by John Mumaw on December 7, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Keep the same exposure (via manual) throughout the sequence of shots.
Use a custom white balance rather than using automatic, even if you're shooting in RAW. You can create a custom white balance by placing a white coffee filter in front of the lens and taking an image pointed toward the light source.
Finally, ditch the polarizer for your series. You'll get uneven sky polarization in the sequence by using it, and it will be a miserable task to try and fix for this once in a lifetime (?) opportunity.
Posted by Wayne Jones on December 7, 2008 at 11:46 AM
Jeff,
Sounds like a great trip you have planned!
You should look at the 11/20/08 post by Kevin Trinkner, here for a lot of great info on pano technique.
The Manfrotto 303sph is a great tool, but there are other pano brackets that are much lighter. I saw a plastic one somewhere, but I doubt that it would hold steady for long exposures in the wind. Brackets like that are necessary if you have objects in the foreground that appear in more than one frame, because they won't stitch right unlesss you are rotating around the nodal point of the lens. If you don't have that situation, you may be able to do without the bracket.
Please note that it's not good enough to level the camera. The bottom of the ballhead must also be level. See the above thread for more on that.
Posted by David Bostedo on December 7, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Jeffrey - A couple of tips :
1) You only really need the manfrotto spherical head if you want to do multi-row panoramas, or are taking pictures of stationary objects that are close to you (giving parallax errors). Otherwise the panning feature of your head will be OK, as long as the camera and head are leveled.
2) Try to pick your image overlaps so that key features - particularly the sun - aren't being blended from multiple shots. The sun will move as you take your shots.
3) You might want to experiment with the surf to see how long an exposure you need to get water as soft as you want it. It might be tough to blend in a satisfactory way at certain exposure times.
Discussion
3 repliesUse a custom white balance rather than using automatic, even if you're shooting in RAW. You can create a custom white balance by placing a white coffee filter in front of the lens and taking an image pointed toward the light source.
Finally, ditch the polarizer for your series. You'll get uneven sky polarization in the sequence by using it, and it will be a miserable task to try and fix for this once in a lifetime (?) opportunity.
Sounds like a great trip you have planned!
You should look at the 11/20/08 post by Kevin Trinkner, here for a lot of great info on pano technique.
The Manfrotto 303sph is a great tool, but there are other pano brackets that are much lighter. I saw a plastic one somewhere, but I doubt that it would hold steady for long exposures in the wind. Brackets like that are necessary if you have objects in the foreground that appear in more than one frame, because they won't stitch right unlesss you are rotating around the nodal point of the lens. If you don't have that situation, you may be able to do without the bracket.
Please note that it's not good enough to level the camera. The bottom of the ballhead must also be level. See the above thread for more on that.
1) You only really need the manfrotto spherical head if you want to do multi-row panoramas, or are taking pictures of stationary objects that are close to you (giving parallax errors). Otherwise the panning feature of your head will be OK, as long as the camera and head are leveled.
2) Try to pick your image overlaps so that key features - particularly the sun - aren't being blended from multiple shots. The sun will move as you take your shots.
3) You might want to experiment with the surf to see how long an exposure you need to get water as soft as you want it. It might be tough to blend in a satisfactory way at certain exposure times.