Landscaping for Dummies, by a dummy seeking the easy way out.

[ucci]

Just some shots I took here from the house yard. I have been trying to work on taking landscape shots and experimenting with suitable cropping to give them a psuedo panoramic aspect. Be interested to hear any feedback from you on these and if I am sort of heading in the right direction.
Okay, so why not just take a series of overlapping shots and use PS to stitch them into a real panorama, do I hear you ask? Well, the reason is that I think that the standard frame turned out with my wide angled lens looks too box like and square, and comes out rather flat and dull. Cropping to accentuate the longitudinal axis in these landscape shots seems to make the shot look far more interesting. And besides it is just so much less effort, which for one who has a bad case of BBI syndrome, such as I have, it is rather an attractive alternative. My BBI Syndrome was diagnosed early in our marriage by Mrs Ucci. I was whining about the effort it would take me to do some task or other, the exact nature of which has been long forgotten. But what I do remember vividly is Mrs Ucci's spot diagnosis of my BBI syndrome. " You know what your problem is? You are just Bloody Bone Idle!" And you know, she was right, and over the years my condition has gotten worse!
Thanks for viewing and for any feed back comments.

[IzzieK]

Hi Ken...I like #1 for its potentials like I had suggested to you in my email...
Love image #2 for the clouds and it will help if you either clone out that bush (tree?) at the foreground and crop it panorama style to put the line at the left corner of the frame. I think that will look better...
#3 image -- that is a glorious sun (set?) (rise?) and the reflection of the mountains is absolutely gorgeous. If I have to wake up to that scene every morning or gazed at it before the sun goes down, I'd say I am in heaven. Looks like the mountain is burning.

Nice to see you posting again after a hiatus...

[ashcroft]

But what I do remember vividly is Mrs Ucci's spot diagnosis of my BBI syndrome. " You know what your problem is? You are just Bloody Bone Idle!"

There is only one possible riposte to that (and I offer this advice free of charge) - "Yes, Dearest, I know. That's why I married you"

I thought I lived in a nice place, but your 'back yard' looks even more impressive. Excellent shots. I sometimes do this cropping but I do it from my Canon 5DM2 which is full-frame, so I still get a health dose of pixels.

[Mark von Kanel]

There is only one possible riposte to that (and I offer this advice free of charge) - "Yes, Dearest, I know. That's why I married you"

I thought I lived in a nice place, but your 'back yard' looks even more impressive. Excellent shots. I sometimes do this cropping but I do it from my Canon 5DM2 which is full-frame, so I still get a health dose of pixels.

Rob West Wales Is impressive been all to long since i visited for some diving, maybe this year???

[Geoff F]

For me, Ken, the first two work fine.

#3 seems to lack a clear subject. I think I would be tempted to crop a little narrower and lose about half of the land in order to concentrate more on the distant horizon and clouds.

Nothing really wrong with the last one but somehow it doesn't quite grab my attention so I wonder about another, but very slight, reduction in the foreground? And is that a small dust spot in the top right corner?

[bnnrcn]

Hi Ken I love the soft light and colors in #3. You seem to live in a very nice area, IMO you should try taking photos at golden hours instead of day time.

[FootLoose]

I think the 3rd is the standout, too Ken. The low angle of light has produce shadows and gradations of colour that give the image a sense of depth that is lacking the first two shots.

[GBO25]

I love the sky in #2 and agree with other comments here that a few need a bit more cropping to enhance the shots. I cam also be accused of BBI when it comes to cropping landscape shots to make them look like panos. Hey, it works!

I also agree with Binnur that getting out to where these were taken during the golden hour would produce some spectacular shots. The odd thing is though that #3 seems to have been taken at least close to that hour yet doesn't have the golden glow for some reason.

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Ken,

no's 2 & 3 work as good shots but as pannos i personally think you cant beat the proper thing ! How much effort is it to click an extra 2/3 shots?? im sure you can manage it

[Stagecoach]

It's No 2 & 3 for me Ken.

With this scenery on your doorstep you could be out there shooting every morning and evening

[FootLoose]

With this scenery on your doorstep you could be out there shooting every morning and evening

But he can't, Grahame. Ken has BBI

[JBW]

Ken, in Gimp I have exploring the potential of depth merge a very basic stacking function. When I throw in just a smidgen of hdrish from Picasa the overall change can be quite dramatic. Mind you it may not work well with sever BBI.