Prairie Panorama with repost

We spent Easter Weekend visiting family in South Dakota and had dinner early on Saturday since some of us had to travel on Sunday. All afternoon it was windy and there were some rain squalls moving through but just after we finished eating the storms broke and revealed one of those amazing prairie skies. This is 2 horizontal images stitched together. I knew I was in trouble when my 10 year old Panorama Maker 3.0 wouldn't load on my newish desktop so I did a crash course on photomerge in Photoshop Elements. Guess I'm going to have to break down and buy Autopano or some such thing. I'm a little disappointed in the left edge sharpness (or lack thereof). Pretty sure my shooting technique was okay but I can't really blame it on software. C&C always appreciated.

No doubt a nice glow on the prairie. I do wish the tree was off center.
For stitching software, I highly recommend PTGui. It's a bit over a $100, but if you want consistently great results its a great choice.

This is a nice, interesting image, Bill. I do like how you included the road.
I'm not sure you need additional software, though. The stitching itself looks great and I can't imagine why a panorama creator would soften an image, especially one on the extreme edge of the frame where no real stitching occur. Have you compared the original image on the left with the pano. version?

Beautiful light and awesome clouds, Bill, and a really evocative scene. It makes me want to hit the road and go somewhere. I do feel like the road is too hard up against the left edge of the frame, that leading line is so strong but then it's too easy for my eye to leave the photo instead of making its way back to the awesome clouds.

Thanks for the comments. Duh me, I was processing in a hurry and snagged the wrong originals. Here's a redone version with a little different crop. The tree is off center a little more and the left side is sharp. Good thought about the road Jackson. I'll have to play with that a little. I think the road gives the image a strong sense of place and scale but I'll play with the crop some more.

I love the view out to 'infinity and of course the beautiful light and clouds. The left edge feels a little awkward to me, I think it would have been better to have a little more room between the road and the edge of the frame. Maybe also having the whole width of the road all the way through the frame as well. Still, it's a wonderful scene in a type of landscape that can sometimes pose a challenge in finding a good comp.

I like everything you changed in your repost. The saturation boost is nice too.

Repost is awesome Bill...inclusion of the road really adds so much! The warm colors and the rich blue skies...what a place...

Nice open scene, has me psyched to hit the road for some storms!