Gotham City - the wider view

[dubaiphil]

Here's another shot from later this morning. Dramatic light from just before sunrise had gone, so I couldn't process so dramatically.

This shot was a stitch of 10 images shot with a 35mm prime, so there's plenty of detail when you zoom in an less distortion around the edges compared to a single 14-24mm image.

[dje]

Technically and visually very good also Phil but for me, your other narrower image has more "wow factor".

Dave

[MilT0s]

Although I prefer the portrait version I really enjoy the details in this one Phil.

[Sergio M.]

Another great image, Phil.

[Mike Buckley]

I prefer the one with the vertical orientation but I would like this more if you cropped a lot off the right side.

[dubaiphil]

Thanks guys - I was trying to get more detail into the shot and include the Palm, Dubai Marina and Burj Al Arab (just about visible in the distance in the haze on the far right). The CZ 2/35 can sometimes bring out these details through the haze on a b&w conversion, but the visibility wasn't quite up to it yesterday morning.

[Coinneachmhor]

This shot was a stitch of 10 images shot with a 35mm prime, so there's plenty of detail when you zoom in an less distortion around the edges compared to a single 14-24mm image.

Silly question time but when you say "a stitch of 10 images" can you give me some more detail on what you've done in merging the images as this is fairly new to me.

Thanks - I like the way the sky blends to infinity with the fog, giving a real sense of scale.

[dubaiphil]

This shot was a stitch of 10 images shot with a 35mm prime, so there's plenty of detail when you zoom in an less distortion around the edges compared to a single 14-24mm image.

Silly question time but when you say "a stitch of 10 images" can you give me some more detail on what you've done in merging the images as this is fairly new to me.

Thanks - I like the way the sky blends to infinity with the fog, giving a real sense of scale.

Well I looked at the scene I wanted to photograph as a panorama. Scanning the scene showed me which area would be brightest. I then exposed for that.

My camera was in full manual mode. I metered for the top right of the final image, as this was the brightest area of sky. I didn't mind a few clipped highlights there. End result was 1/125th sec at f4, ISO200.

Once I had my exposure down, I then focused. I was using a manual focus lens, so this was an easy. Nothing was close, so I set my lens to infinity. Then I made sure that my White Balance was consistent, by moving from auto WB to a manual preset. You can leave it in auto ISO, but then you'll have to make all the WB values the same in Lightroom afterwards if you're shooting RAW.

Then I was ready to shoot, moving from bottom left across, then up to the top right corner and finishing on the top left. With each image I was making sure there was around a 20-30% overlap.

Then I loaded the files in Lightroom, used the Lens Correction Profile to cancel any distortion, and exported my files onto the hard drive.

Finally I opened up PTGui, the stitching software I prefer, loaded the files, checked the computer's first attempt at the stitch, added my vertical control points to make sure my buildings were straight, and exported to the hard drive as a large TIFF file.

Sounds complicated, but it's not really. You just have to methodical to save yourself time in PP.

Camera = Manual Mode
Exposure = Acceptable for the brightest area of the panorama
WB = A Manual Preset
Focus = locked once attained
Shoot with overlaps

It's quick and easy handheld - a little slower on a tripod. If there's an object relatively close to the lens you'll have parallax error, but in this case there's nothing to make that happen. It was just a trial to see how the panorama would look from this location, but next time I'm upp there I'll shoot somre more.

[Coinneachmhor]

Thanks for sharing Phil - really appreciated.