I really like the feel of your photos dcjs. Any reason you're going straight from the jpegs rather than a much meatier 16-bit tiff made from the raw file other than expediency? I doubt we'll be able to tell at this resolution, but for large prints, it would probably help smooth the transitions between frames.
thanks for your comment, and interesting question about the processing. I guess the short answer is "because it wouldn't make a difference for what I'm doing with the images for now".
I simply lack the hardware to properly display or print larger files, my screen is 1280x1024 and my computer is struggling with handling large amounts of 6MP JPGS in a timely manner. Even the upsacled 12MP files that the Fuji RAW converter produces are getting tedious to mork with, so I don't even want to think about 16 bit TIFFs right now. I mainly use my images for my personal enjoyment and as desktop backgrounds, so higher quality really would be lost on the output media for now.
This is not true for color and other camera and lens specific image characteristics though, and pano stitching allows angles of view or deph of field otherwise not possible with my hardware. Also, I still consider myself to be at the steep end of learning curve, and what I'm struggling with most is getting the perspective just right (ever tried visualising a 100° angle of view with a 35mm lens on a crop camera?) and firing off all those 15 frames before the light changes, without camera shake induced ba adjusting the pano head... stuff like that. As a side note, I find the common pano heads highly inadequate, a downright ridiculous design unless you really need to do 360° spherical panos, which I'm not interested in at all.
Just in case, I have started to also record RAWs so I have the option to make the most of them later in case I manage to capture a scene that is worth it. For now, I'm working on the shooting process itself, there's always time for more careful processing later when I have the skill, the software and the need to produce bigger files.
Totally legit on processing needs and keeping an eye on the finished product. Colors, in all honesty, are the reason I process big tiff files instead of jpegs, but I have a pretty monstrous computer that can munch down on a pano in pretty quick order.
I have thus far stuck to less intimate environs for doing mosaics, and have been more or less successful with hand shooting single rows. I'm absolutely confident that your forest shots are much more difficult to plan and execute than the work I've done thus far. It's good stuff and I really like the presence your images give.
SPECIAL NOTE The FM site seems to compress large images even when linked. So, Right Click on the image and view them in a new window outside of the forum itself for full details.
One from this past weekend. Spent 6 days in the Sawtooths at Redfish Lake, where I usually spend 2-3 weeks each summer. I've never seen this much snow so late in the year, made for some spectacular images. Here's a 6 shot pano with my Kodan DCS Pro SLR/n and Nikon 200mm f/2 VR.
About 10 years or so ago I spent 3 months in Israel. I took a number of photos of the Wailing Wall wanting to stitch them together. I tried soon after with some SW that was available and got a jumble which I ended up really liking. I've never tried to do a "proper" conversion.... http://i.pbase.com/o6/63/551663/1/135634227.zQJxpbUR.WWpanoramaprint.jpg
Mike
Too much great stuff to comment on. I'm blown away by the detail and the grandeur in the photos -- feels like "The Amazing Race" with all these scenic locations.
Here's something a little on the boring side -- overcast in the L.A. area (Ventura County).
The novelty is that I took the shots hand held with my "new" (arrived yesterday)Canon G6 -- yes the one from 2004! It's my first P&S (well, a pro P&S, at least) that I've bought for myself. I'm surprised how well I like it! The jpgs are particularly good and that's what these panos are based on. And it can shoot RAW, which I like. actually, a lot to like. Maybe I'm stuck in 2005? I now have a 5D, 1Ds2 and this G6 (and a 550 flash listed in the manual for both the G6 and 1ds2).
G6 at the wide focal setting (35mm equiv.), vertical orientation, 9 shots for the street, 7 for the patio. ISO 100 @ f/4.0.
From last summer. The historic and infamous Frank Slide in the Crowsnest Pass. Turtle Mountain on the right let rip, and millions of cubic metres came rumbling down, completely burying the town of Frank. The rocks continued across the valley and up the other side before finally stopping its deadly path. Blocks of rock the size of houses. Crazy to see the devastation......... http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/5841612840_7c627c561c_b.jpg
Here's a comparison that is sort of interesting. The same subject photographed first with a five-shot horizontal pano, and then with a nine-shot vertical pano. This is what is left after cropping to the greatest dimensions on the first, and a little more cropped width on the second (obviously, the height will be greater in the second). I used a slightly different position too.
Both shot hand held with Canon 60D, Zeiss Contax 50/1.4 lens @ f/8 and ISO 400.
