Posts Tagged ‘panorama’
Panorama of Mount Cheam in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia
-click to enlarge-
This is a panorama of Mount Cheam, a familiar sight to anyone living or often traveling through the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. I made this photo by the banks of the Fraser River in Agassiz just after sunset in January. The time right after sunset is often referred to as “Blue hour” and you can see why. I often like to photograph city buildings in Vancouver at this time as you can still see the outlines of the buildings against the sky (unlike when the sky is darker). I find this is also a great time to photograph mountains – so it is worth hanging around after any potential sunset light or alpenglow has faded. Always wait until the light is gone!
Tags: agassiz, blue hour, british columbia, canada, evening, fraser valley, mount cheam, mountains, mt. cheam, panorama, panoramic, peaks, snow, sunset, winter
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
Panorama of Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park
-click to enlarge-
I have not posted a large panorama in a while. This is a 14 exposure panorama of the iconic view of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park. Canada Place is the building on the right and is used for convention center space. The next building is the new Convention Center. Next to the Convention Center is the 2010 Olympics torch (you can just see the top of it) and then we have the Seaplane Terminal. I was in the park looking for fall colors, and was initially attracted to this scene due to the great leaf color on the right hand side near the seaplane terminal. I made another row of photos to catch more of the buildings but the light had changed in the 3-4 minutes from the first exposure and the result was not pretty. So I only included the lower row. I’m going to have to get better with my timing or just work faster next time!
Tags: barnet inlet, british columbia, canada place, coal harbour, convention center, panorama, seaplane termina, stanley park, vancouver
Posted in Photography | No Comments »
Cosens Bay from Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park
-click to enlarge-
During my recent trip to the North Okanagan region of British Columbia I spent some time in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park. Of all the parks and areas I visited, I think this is my favourite view of Kalamalka Lake – a view looking down on Cosens Bay. The flowers in the foreground are Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) and I found them in full bloom which was fortuitous timing to say the least.
What was perhaps not as lucky timing was what happened next. I walked a bit further up Cosens Bay Road and then jumped on a few rocks out into the grassy meadow for a better vantage point on some Balsamroot plants that looked promising. I try not to walk on vegetation if at all possible so rock hopping is a good opportunity to avoid this. I was about 10 feet into the field, standing on a rock, finishing up a photograph when I heard a distinctive rattling sound – but only twice. This made me uncomfortable to say the least – there are Western Rattlesnakes in the park and I’d just read a sign on the way in about them. They say on the sign that when you hear this sound you should identify where the snake is, then walk far around it. Great advice IF you can find its location! I could not – and it wasn’t rattling anymore so determining the source was not exactly going to be easy. Unable to find it I extended the legs of my tripod to their fullest extent and swept the grass as far ahead of me like I was looking for mines – and made my way back to the road. This was uneventful. I’ve read that people find unexploded WWII ordinates in the park too, so mine sweeping might not have been that far from the truth. The Cosens Bay area was a WWII mortar practice range. Every 10 years or so someone finds an unexploded mortar which has to be disposed of!
Tags: arrowleaf balsamroot, balsamorhiza sagittata, british columbia, coldstream, cosens bay, kalamalka lake, okanagan, panorama, panoramic, rattlesnakes, thompson okanagan, vernon, wildflowers
Posted in Photography | 4 Comments »
Downtown Vancouver Panorama photographed during Blue Hour
-click to enlarge-
I have photographed downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park a few times in the past – with fair but not spectacular results. When my first DSLR was new I would try to photograph the skyline well after sunset. At that time of day there isn’t much contrast between the dark buildings and the sky, so these photographs did not turn out very well. I learned that if you photograph during “Blue Hour” there will be much better contrast between the dark buildings and the sky – with much better results! Blue Hour is the period of time between total darkness in the sky and sunrise or sunset. Just like the “Golden Hour” this may not actually last an hour. In Vancouver at this time of year I think the blue hour lasted about 20 minutes facing southeast though there was still good blue light facing west for about another 10 minutes after that.
This Panorama, taken during the blue hour after sunset, shows a dark sky but you can still see the profile of all the buildings. Much better than a photo taken when the sky is really dark!
FYI – if you ever photograph downtown from Stanley Park near the Nine O’Clock Gun is the location I made this photograph. I was still there at 9 o’clock… with a few others who had gathered to hear its blast. Well, this isn’t a cap gun, the shockwave was dramatic even though I was standing 50 feet away. There were some tourists and teenagers who were standing right next to the wire cage that houses the gun, and one passerby tried to get them to plug their ears or step away from the thing as it was almost 9. This sage advice was ignored and when the gun went off there was a lot of screaming and even some tears due to the noise. If you are out there photographing near 9 o’clock and the red flashing lights go off – plug your ears!
Tags: blue hour, canada place, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, dusk, evening, harbour center, panorama, stanley park, trade and convention center, vancouver
Posted in Photography, Techniques | 4 Comments »
Eureka Falls (click for larger version)
Last May I traveled back from Kelowna through Manning Provincial Park. In Manning I was driving mostly through a rainstorm but it cleared just as I came down the mountains into Hope, BC. I decided to check out Silver Lake Provincial Park and shot some really nice post storm photos of Silver Lake itself. I spent much more time photographing Silver Creek though. Last winter did not produce much of a snow pack (remember the Olympics having troubles with snow on Cypress Mountain?) but 2011 has been very different. Consequently there is much more water in the creek this year – which I should probably have expected ahead of time considering how much snow still shows in the mountains.
Last night I ventured out into this area again – this “panorama” of Eureka Falls is so far my favourite of the bunch, though my judgement is always questionable this soon after a shot is taken.
What do you think? Does this shot work for you?
Tags: british columbia, details, eureka falls, fraser valley, hope, panorama, silverhope creek, stitched, waterfalls
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
The Chilliwack River
-click to make even bigger-
3 exposures stitched, Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM @ 17mm
Now that I have written a post about getting away from solely using wide angle lenses for landscapes and to look for the details I thought I would post a wide angle panorama!
This is the Chilliwack River near Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park taken at the same time as some of my other Chilliwack River shots.
One thing I keep noticing with this shot is that the majority of longer exposure river shots I see are looking upstream while this is looking across/downstream. Does this make it look unnatural or different in a negative way?
Tags: british columbia, Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM, chilliwack, chilliwack river, fraser valley, frozen, ice, panorama, river, snow, stitched, sunset
Posted in Photography | 4 Comments »
Alpenglow on Mount Redoubt and Nodoubt Peak from Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park
(click for larger version)
6 exposures stitched, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM @ 144mm
When I spend time shooting I will normally take a quick overview of the days results immediately. There are often a few shots that will stand out – and those are often processed and sometimes show up here on the blog right away. I have learned that taking a long step back from a series of new photos can be beneficial to me in terms of my objectivity in culling the weaker shots. If I were to go through all the shots immediately I still carry my mental image of what I had planned for a photo. Not everything I try works out of course, and sometimes my initial expectations turn out to be too high. Sorting and processing images a month or two later gives me a lot better perspective of what is a “good” shot or a bad one – as many of my initial expectations have settled down. This has generally worked out so far – and I think I am better at choosing strong images than I used to be in part because of it.
However…
I recently had an experience where the month+ delay in processing a panorama didn’t really seem to help. I processed and stitched this panorama 3-4 times – never quite happy with the colour of the sky. Things got to the point where I was no long able to view the photo at all objectively.
For this particular panorama I stood in the snow next to Chilliwack Lake for over an hour, freezing, taking the odd shot but waiting for the right light. When it came – I shot about 3 panoramas (and many single shots) with a few different compositions. I like the composition of this one the best. The colour of the sky seemed quite purple compared to what my brain was telling me looked “natural”. This could be a case of over analysis – but I try to process images such that they are faithful to what I saw at the time. So I processed the 6 shots that make up this image again in Camera Raw with some PS adjustments to account for the colour. Then I did this again. Still not happy I put the image away for a few more weeks. I should note the purple color is present in the raw file – not as a result of some other colour processing I have done.
Now that I have picked up this panorama again, I am still not sure if this looks natural. I like the colour on the mountain peaks, this is how it looked when I was there – but the sky still bothers me. I have stared at it so long I no longer remember what it looked like in person – perhaps that is the downside in waiting to do post processing? Maybe I just have to drop an image for longer or toss it entirely? I again processed an alternate panorama – taken about 7 minutes before the one posted above – and the sky looks bland and the clouds undefined – the whole image is uninspiring.
So what is the good thing about all this?
During this process I learned a few more Photoshop techniques that I otherwise would not have. Tweaking sky colours using Selective Color in Photoshop, for example. Next time I have a sky colour problem as a result of changing colour temperature etc – I know how to fix it. I have also learned that sometimes I might need to move on from processing an image that just isn’t right – or leave it behind entirely.
Tags: alpenglow, bc, british columbia, canada, cascades, chilliwack, chilliwack lake, chilliwack lake provincial park, mount edgar, mount redoubt, mountains, national park, nodoubt peak, north cascades national park, np, panorama, post-processing, provincial parks, reflection, snow, stitched, washington, washington state, winter
Posted in Photography | 6 Comments »
7 exposures stitched, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM @ 200mm
Panorama of the North Vancouver Sulphur Works from Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC.
I have always liked the view of the North Vancouver Sulphur Works from Stanley Park – especially at night. Always reminds me of a roller coaster that just dumps passengers into Burrard Inlet. I have an earlier panorama from this location in Stanley Park but it is not nearly as clear – owing to my old shaky tripod and lack of techniques such as a shutter release and mirror lockup.
Tags: burrard inlet, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, night photography, north vancouver, north vancouver sulphur works, panorama, stanley park, stitched, sulphur, vancouver
Posted in Photography | 5 Comments »
5 exposures stitched, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM @ 116mm
Panorama of the Lions Gate Bridge from Stanley Park. Lights in the background are in West Vancouver.
Drove to Stanley Park on Wednesday to get some night shots of downtown Vancouver. Now that I have a really nice tripod that can actually hold my camera steady for 30 seconds this was a lot easier than before. It became evident last year when I tried this that portrait shots on my old tripod were causing things to slip just slightly each time – which is quite evident on a 30 second+ exposure! On Wednesday there was a lot of construction on Stanley Park Drive including Brockton Point. This kept me away from the lighthouse but perhaps that was a good thing – it forced me to take this pano from further down the drive. I have never noticed this sort of reflection of the bridge lights on the water before – perhaps that is not as evident from the usual Brockton Point angle. Sometimes it is good to be forced to use new angles on a subject – and a reminder to seek those on my own.
Tags: british columbia, brockton point, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, first narrows bridge, lions gate bridge, national historic site, night photography, panorama, stanley park, stitched, vancouver, west vancouver
Posted in Photography | 3 Comments »
About Michael Russell Photography
Cell: (778) 878-9074
