There is always someone

Have you noticed that just as you set up a shot and press the button someone is likely to wander across your photo and cast an awkward shadow of even block out part of your subject? For conventional HDRi\ this can be a disaster, or a lot of cropping. These where taken with my android phone using HDR Camera, which has a “feature” that it uses the first photo as a reference and other items in a single frame only will be removed, rather than included as a ghost. Not sure how its done but it does take some stress away.
I took this photo series of a decorated CFA van to test a theory I have that HDRi is a good technique for the harsh Australian summer midday sun. With a single exposure they best I would have expected was a bleached out sky and the silhouette of the white van (blown out with no detail) against the background trees dark in shadow.
PS: If you want to get the “official” CFA/DSE Bush Fire warnings and alerts on your smartphone for this sumer visit this link.

An extra big autostitched image

This is probably my biggest multi-image stitched panorama I have attempted. It is based on 32 separate telephoto images (taken at 85mm, equivalent to roughly 130mm for a 35mm film) taken hand held. The flattened perspective of the telephoto shots does put a little more pressure on the stitching to matchup features so I have reduced the amount of overlap between images a little (approx. 15%). The lighting was wonderful this morning and the detail crisp and clear. The stitching was run with Autostitch using all default settings and run to 17,600 pixels horizontally (the image I have posted here is a tenth of that, but should give you a feel for the grandeur of the place) and took over an hour to prepare! The lettering and border where added in Paint.net. Normally I would crop these big images to straighten the edges but I felt the ragged flow of the photo matching adds to the drama of this image. Whilst taking this series and other photos (see previous post) I meet Alistair, a peaker (which means he regularly runs up the peak!) and he said if I waited the swirling mist would clear and I would see the distant pines silhouetted (shown here). Excellent advice.

No. Lord of the Rings was not filmed here.

chair in waiting