Cliffs
2013-09-06, 13:16

This is a smaller version of a 726 megapixel panorama stitched from 225 photos (75 positions x 3 brackets). I used a 10 stop B+W ND filter at f/22 to get long 30 second shutter speeds during the day of the ocean’s surf on the rocks. It was incredibly windy so I wasn’t sure if it would come out at all when I shot it. It took an hour and fifteen minutes at 50mm to capture all of the images with a Panoneed robotic head and Promote Control. The Panoneed has gyroscopes and a vibration sensor to only take photos when it is still, and on a Really Right Stuff TVC-34L tripod and leveling base it is very stable and vibration resistant. Some of the trees are blurry from blowing in the wind and it almost gives a feeling of depth, like bokeh from a wide open aperture.

I shot three brackets spaced 1.7 EV apart to cover the entire dynamic range so the sun wouldn’t be too blown out: 5 seconds, 13 seconds, and 30 seconds. The panorama was stitched and blended with PTGui Pro, but some of the sky was done row by row and images individually placed by hand, then masked in as layers in Photoshop to correct for the sun and cloud movement over such a long period of time between rows. The final image size is 38102 x 19051 or 158.76” x 79.38” @ 240dpi when printed.

Shooting data: Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8, & B+W 10 stop ND filter @ 50mm, f/22, ISO 200, and 3 exposures spaced 1.7 EV apart: 5 sec, 13 sec, and 30 sec.

The full resolution sphere can be explored on my website: http://www.aaronpriestphoto.com/panorama/2013/2013-09_Bold_Coast/