Lake Moogerah Sunrise Again

Lake Moogerah Sunrise Again
Originally uploaded by jezza323

Here is another HDR Panorama from my Lake Moogerah camping trip. I really like the colour of the sky and the reflections in this.

Let me know what you think!

Project 52 - #10 - Brisbane Riverwalk

Brisbane Riverwalk
Originally uploaded by jezza323

This is looking down part of the Brisbane Riverwalk. I took this shot from next to the Riverside Centre building, the main building in the shot is the Riparian Plaza and the building at the left is Waterfront Place.

Taken using Pentax K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II and Slik 500 DX Pro Tripod. This is a HDR Panorama, composed of 5 HDR images (I overlapped them a lot), each composed of 3 images shot at +2, 0, -2. Blended and Tone Mapped with Photomatix batch processor using Details Enhancer, and stitched using Autopano.

Project 52 - #9 - Old Customs House

Old Customs House
Originally uploaded by jezza323

This is a shot of the Old Customs House in Brisbane. This is the view from the Brisbane Riverwalk.

This shot is another HDR Panorama, this time blended at stitched from 12 photos. It is stitched from 4 HDR images in a 2x2 layout using Autopano Giga, and each HDR image was shot at +/- 2.0 EV and then blended using Photomatix with the Batch Processing function, using Details Enhancer for Tone Mapping.

Shooting and Processing

• Shot all 12 photos in Pentax RAW (PEF), 4 lots of +/- 2.0 EV brackets
• Imported all images from memory card using Lightroom 2.5
• Exported all 12 photos to a new subfolder as 1bit TIFF files
• Opened Photomatix and ran Batch Process over the new subfolder
• Opened Autopano and selected the 4 resulting TIFF HDR images to stitch
• Rendered the created panorama to another 16-bit TIFF
• Imported final TIFF into Lightroom 2.5
• Edited white balance (its a hard one because the Riverwalk is lit with different colour lights to the lights on Customs House and cropped image
• Exported to JPG for Web

Project 52 - #8 - Japanese Garden, Mt Cootha

Japanese Garden, Mt Cootha
Originally uploaded by jezza323

I am a little behind, but I hope to catch up this week. We have had rainy weather non stop for a couple weeks now. Yesterday I got out amongst the showers in the Mt Cootha Botanic Gardens, and in particular wanted to visit the Japanese Garden. You can read about the garden here.

Over the last week or so I've been discussing shooting in various different aspect ratios with a friend at work. He had the idea to shoot only in a particular aspect ratio for a bit. After this discussion I decided to copy his idea a little, and try shooting some stuff in the movie aspect ratio of 2.39:1 (my friend has decided on 16:9 btw). This is from my first shoot where I specifically considered shooting in this aspect. I dont plan on taking lots of shots in this aspect ratio, but it is fun to consider.

This is a Brenizer Panorama, taken with my Pentax K200D and Jupiter-9 85mm lens at f2.8. I stitched the shots using Autopano, then did some editing in Lightroom 2.5 to get the final result (crop, contrast, exposure, blacks)

Project 52 - #6 - Brisbane General Post Office

Brisbane General Post Office
Originally uploaded by jezza323

The Brisbane General Post Office. Located on Queen St, facing Post Office Square is landmark #6 in my Project 52 Brisbane Landmarks for 2010.

As you can see it is lit up at night with red lights (Australia Post uses a red logo).

I'm not 100% happy with the stitching on this. It is a HDR Panorama (yes again...) composed of 4 HDR images, each HDR is 3 shots at +/- 2.0 EV. Unfortunately 1 of the HDR's came out quite soft for some reason, so the stitching on that 1 is not the best.

This was shot with the Pentax K200D and Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II lens at 18mm.

Shoot and Processing was as follows

• Shot in Pentax RAW (PEF), 12 images
• Imported to Lightroom 2.5
• Exported to TIFF
• Blended with Photomatix batch processor, Tone Mapped using Details Enhancer, resulting in 4 TIFF files
• Stitched 4 HDR TIFF files with Autopano, resulting in a single TIFF
• Edited stitched TIFF using Photoshop to correct some perspective distortion, saved to TIFF again
• Imported final TIFF into Lightroom
• Minor edits in Lightroom (contrast, clarity)
• Exported to JPG for Web

St Stephens Chapel - Another Church

St Stephens Chapel
Originally uploaded by jezza323

The St Stephens chapel was the first catholic church in Queensland. It was completed in 1850. It is located next to the Cathedral of St Stephen on Elizabeth St in Brisbane. The cathedral was built later to cater for a larger congregation.

This shot is another HDR Panorama - as are a lot recently! I think I need to get a wider lens ;-). This shot is composed of 2 portrait orientation HDR's stitched using Autopano. Each HDR is 3 images, shot at +/-2.0 EV and blended using Photomatix Batch Processor using Details Enhancer for tone mapping.

I have had a few enquiries about my HDR processing methods. I will be doing up a detailed step by step post over the weekend to share with everyone, so stay tuned.

Project 52 - #5 - Cathedral Of St Stephen

Inside The Cathderal of St Stephen
Originally uploaded by jezza323

This is a 9 shot HDR Panorama of the inside of the Cathedral of St Stephen on Elizabeth St in Brisbane. It is composed of 3 landscape orientation HDR's. Each HDR is 3 shots taken at +/- 2.0 EV. This is landmark #5 in my Project 52 Brisbane Landmarks for 2010.

The shots were taken using my Pentax K200D and Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II lens @ 18mm. I also used my tripod to support the setup for the required long exposures.

Processing Details

• Shot in Pentax RAW (PEF)
• Imported into Lightroom 2.5
• Exported 9 images to 16 bit TIFF
• Blended using Photomatix Batch Processing using Details Enhancer for Tone Mapping, this created 3 16 bit TIFF files
• Stitched resulting 3 TIFF's using Autopano
• Rendered to 16 bit TIFF
• Imported stitched TIFF to Lightroom 2.5
• Minor adjustments in Lightroom (crop, tone)
• Exported to JPG for Web

Antarctic Beech Trees

Antarctic Beech at Springbrook
Originally uploaded by jezza323

Here is another HDR Panorama I took at Springbrook National Park on the weekend. These are Antarctic Beech Trees, which are quite rare, as you will notice if you read the wikipedia article. This shot was taken with the K200D, Pentax SMC DA 18-55 AL II kit lens, and Slik 500DX Pro tripod. It was raining lightly when I took the shot. I setup the tripod just on the inside of the fence which protects the trees from the path.

It was because I was so close that this had to be a panorama. I was not able to fit the base of the trees in the shot. I was also forced to use HDR for this shot due to the extremely bright white clouds behind the tree trunks. I did not want to lose the detail in the roots.

The shoot and processing details are as follows

• Shot in Pentax RAW (PEF)
•  Imported into Lightroom 2.5
•  Exported to 16 bit TIFF
•  Exposures blended using Photomatix Batch Processing with Details Enhancer Tone Mapping
•  Photomatix resulting images were then stitched using Autopano
•  Resulting panorama was imported back into Lightroom 2.5
•  Minor adjustments made in Lightroom
•  Exported to JPG for Web

A Rainy Weekend of Camping

Peaceful Outlook
Originally uploaded by jezza323

I haven't posted for a few days as I was off exploring the world. A friend and I travelled to Springbrook National Park for a weekend of camping and photography, only to discover that the weather was against us. It rained very heavily most of the time, so not much photography happened!

Here are the first of the processed shots though.

This shot was taken using the Pentax DA 18-55 AL II lens @ 18mm. It is 3 HDR images stitched together (HDR's were 3 images each @ +/- 2.0 EV). All shots were taken in Pentax RAW (PEF), imported to Lightroom 2.5, blended using Photomatix batch process with Details Enhancer (quite extreme one too!) and stitched using Autopano.

I also took another HDR panorama from the other side of the shed looking back to the bridge I took this shot from. This is the link to flickr

Rainy Day

Rainy Day
Originally uploaded by jezza323

Well its been raining since the beginning of the weekend here now (on and off raining anyway). Here is a shot I got of some rain clouds in between the showers. Unfortunately the background is a boring grey rather than white or blue sky (or even better more cloud formations)

This is a 3 shot panorama. I shot using the K200D and Jupiter-9 85mm lens with aperture set to f5.6. I made sure to shoot the frames quickly so the movement of the clouds wouldn't interfere with the stitching.

Shooting and Processing as follows:

1. Shot in Pentax RAW (PEF)
2. Imported into Lightroom 2.5
3. Exported to 3x 16 bit TIFF
4. Stitched using Autopano Giga
5. Rendered to a single 16 bit TIFF
6. Imported new TIFF into Lightroom 2.5
7. Applied adjustments in Lightroom (clarity, contrast, white balance)
8. Exported to JPG for Web

Project 52 - #3 - Anzac Square Eternal Flame AGAIN!

Enternal Flame - Anzac Square Reshoot
Originally uploaded by jezza323

I re-did this shot yesterday afternoon. It was a bit overcast so there are no shadows, and thats why the sky is white. No stitching errors this time! (that you can notice at this size).

This is a Brenizer Panorama, stitched from 181 shots using Autopano. The final edit is 123 megapixels. I could have rendered it larger, but its hard enough to work with at this size!

Shot with Pentax K200D and Jupiter-9 85mm f2.0 @ f2.8. Shot handheld, this time I made a conscious effort to keep my body still while shooting, to avoid the stitching errors I got the first time I shot.

I am much happier with this shot, so I will use it as my Project 52 shot for Week 3.

Project 52 - #3 - Anzac Square Eternal Flame

Anzac Square Eternal Flame
Originally uploaded by jezza323

This is a Brenizer Panorama of the Eternal Flame in Anzac Square, Brisbane. This is landmark #3 in my Project 52 Brisbane Landmarks for 2010.

Taken with my K200D and Jupiter-9 85mm f2.0 lens @ f2.8. It is made up of 204 stitched images (it took a while to shoot it)

Unfortunately the exposure is a bit off (i was shooting in jpeg so i didnt fill up the card too much with 1 photo), and i got some parallax error in the stitch around the pillars above the flame. The midday lighting was also not ideal.

I am going to re-do this shot tomorrow afternoon to try and get a better version. I will update this with the results

A Backlit Brenizer Angel

A Backlit Brenizer Angel
Originally uploaded by jezza323

Another Brenizer Panorama from the Toowong Cemetary taken yesterday. This one is again with the Tair-11a on K200D. Its 58 images stitched with Autopano Giga 2 and edited (cropped, curves, colours, exposure brush) in Lightroom 2.5.

Processing :-

• Shot in Manual Mode, ISO 200, f2.8, 1/320 sec shutter - Pentax RAW (PEF), custom white balance.
• Imported into Lightroom 2.5
• All shots in pano exported to subfolder "Pano-5" as 16 bit TIFFs
• Stitched using Autopano Giga 2
• Saved-as 16 bit TIFF
• Imported result back into Lightroom 2.5 library
• Edited in Lightroom as show below (click pics for more detail). I did use a preset for most settings. Also cropped but not shown.

Exposure Brush to show more detail in the Angel

Develop settings

Flowering about your Resting Place

Flowering about your Resting Place
Originally uploaded by jezza323

Another Brenizer shot I took today in the Toowong Cemetary in Brisbane. This one was also taken with the Tair-11a 135mm f2.8.

• 42 shots taken with K200D, manual mode, ISO 100, f2.8, 1/640 sec, custom white balance, shot in JPEG (to save space)
• Import into Lightroom 2.5
• Stitched with Autopano Giga 2
• Save as 16 bit TIFF
• Import result into Lightroom 2.5
• Edit as shown below

Lightroom Edits (click for larger)

The Brenizer Method Pt 2

Well writing the previous post and seeing my rather lame attempt at the technique inspired me to go out into my back courtyard and try again on my basil plants. I used my Tair-11A lens (135mm) at f4.0, the final image was 100 shots! Again first is a single frame, followed by the full resulting image. The narrow DOF really makes the subject pop.

The Brenizer Method

I mentioned in a previous post a way to use panorama shooting to get a very narrow depth of field (DOF) on an image. This technique has come to be known as the Brenizer Bokeh Panorama method. A quick overview is using a fast telephoto lens (for example, 85mm f1.4 or 135mm f2.8 etc) to get a very narrow depth of field, but you also end up with a narrow field of view (obviously). So to build up your normal image you take lots and stitch them together. The man this technique is named for is Ryan Brenizer. And you can find his original guide HERE. I first read THIS guide, and find it a bit more informative. Ryan Brenizer has also published a How To video HERE. I highly recommend giving this technique a go. I have tried a couple with my Tair 11-A (135mm f2.8). The first photo following is a single shot of the panorama, to get an idea of the field of view. And then the final result. This one would have worked better had I been a bit closer to the subject (and reduced the DOF some more).

So, if you haven't tried this technique before. I suggest you get out there and give it ago. As you can see from the links I posted with the guides, you can produce some spectacular images! Don't forget all the tips from my panorama post still apply.

UPDATE: Took another demonstration shot

Tips for Shooting Panoramas

Shooting panoramas is something I have done a little bit of now. It allows you to really get some great large images, without having a super expensive camera or lenses. Some tips I've found from experience.

• Avoid Parallax - Landscapes work best, where most of the image is at infinity focus or close to it. This avoids parallax error. (see here for a good article about parallax error)
• Camera Orientation - Shoot with the camera in portrait orientation when doing a landscape orientation panorama, this gives a much better final image, not too wide for the height. With a portrait orientation panorama, shoot with the camera in landscape orientation.
• Manual Exposure - Set the camera on manual mode, so all shots will be at the same ISO / shutter / aperture. You can use another auto mode to get the required exposure for the panorama. Pick the point in the panorama which will be brightest, and use the exposure information to guide your manual settings.
• White Balance - If shooting JPG also set the white balance (dont use Auto white balance) so that the white balance is the same for all the shots (if you shoot RAW then make sure you set the white balance to the same for all shots before you merge the panorama).
• Overlap! - Make sure you overlap shots by plenty. Better to have too many photos to stitch than having gaps. I aim for about 50% overlap. To do this when you compose the next shot in the sequence, have something that was at the very edge of the previous frame, and move it to the centre of the next.
• Shoot Extra - Go extra around the edges. Dont stop where you want the final cropped panorama to finish. When correcting distortion you can often lose parts of the edges of the image. So go an extra row if you are doing a multiple row panorama, and go for an extra shot at either end of what you would like to show in the final image.
• Manual Focus - Make sure the camera is set to manual focus. By all means use autofocus to get the correct focus, but then switch to manual. This will make sure the focus doesnt change between shots.

Thats all I can think of just at the moment, I'll add more if I think of them! :)

Good luck panorama shooting.