The beauty of fog, clouds and snow

Hi, back again from holidays......

as I had to carry quite a lot of food for more than a week, I decided to be ultra-light in camera weight:

my good old 10 D and one lens only, the distagon 25; no tripod, no panohead.
Off course, I couldn' resist and made some 30 panos, handheld:





actually, fog and clouds have their own beauty, below is a example with fast-moving fog, which makes shooting a bit more difficult, while creating interesting, fast changing light situations:

the entire pano has to be captured very fast, meanwhile not shaking the camera, as two or three seconds later, the fog might cover the entire image:






This summer's rain made the grass especially green, untill the higher peaks; that old barn at 7000 feet moved through the time out of the verticale. The fast moving clouds require manual correction of the stitcher's CP-points, as they would distort the other image parths:





not far away from that barn, a view towards the other direction:




in october, I might get back to that spot, and capture that mountain in a night shot, with some moving stars; but I'm not sure if this will be stitchable - any experiences or insights about that problem? One single frame has to be exposed for about 5 - 10 minutes, so the stars will move between the different frames....

Hi Michael,

These are splendid and the © sign, while intrusive, does not prevent us enjoying the view. Id htat a special plug in or do you have a curved on a track action for photoshop. which stitching software did you use.

They are all beautiful but the third one I like the best as it has a focal subject of interest that allows us to ask questions that cannot be answered, only wondered at. The darkness over the hut could be attended to and I think that would be better, but what do you think?

When you took the pictures, did you rotate round the imaginary entrance pupil of the lens or did you shift the camera?

What always impresses me in taking panos is that more rows and wide vistas are always a good thing even if you are sure you don't need them. However picture #3 is just right! No more no less!

Great work,

Asher

Hi Asher

I like the barn quite good too; as for the darkness over the barn, aka shadow of the clouds projected at the mountain, I personally like this 2nd dark area as a °echo° of the lower one.

You' re right, dodging carefully some spots only, whithout brightening the entire dark aerea - which would make it flat - adds a bit of pop.

The entrance pupil of the lens was rotated on guess, which is perfect for distant objects, but might cause problems for close ones. With PTGui, that correction is manually done with ease. The horizontal FOV of the barn-pano is 124 degs, no way in making it as a flat-sitch with a shiftlens.

I tried for the first time to make panos handheld, and like very much the aspect, that even using one lens only, plus a crop 1.6-cam, I could compose the image as desired.

Another interesting aspect has been the fast changing light conditions. Usually, in holidays people look for blue sky and sun, similar to the last years session. Same place.

But fog and clouds offer some very nice ambiances; it's somehow anti-photografic: meanwhile photography usually shows every detail (the photographer has to work to get rid of unwanted objects), shooting in fog reduces the vision; the amount of seen objects by nature, voiding the image scenery. A example as single frame:





a stitch (5 frames):




As for the ©logo: it's done in PS, a few klicks only, better than any plugin.

I like the 3rd shot. The barn and the little structure way off in the distance give the photo a nice scale. The sky is beautiful - I love all the clouds and the little bit of fog off to the left. I like the repeating shapes between the mountain peaks and the roof peaks.

As someone asked about b& w-prints from that aerea, they want to make some huge posters, about 720 x 320 cm, I made a example with a b & W-conversion from scratch, developing the RAWs into b & w directly. I thought I share the result here as well:



I'm not to sure, if these work fine, as the 10D - even having a good lens - looks to me to be to limited for these sizes. The panos from the previous years (1 Ds-2) should work, though.

Congrats Michael! That B&W is interesting and substantial.

The picture seems dark and a little too flat. So I looked at the Levels in photoshop and found there's no data beyond 226 so that bright end can be brought in with 225 as the brightest value. Further the picture can be opened up further with the mid tone set as 1.81.

Now adding a simple parsimonious S-curve, the photograph is stronger. Still, i'd like to see the hut selected and processed separately to get more of the fascinating detail of the wooden walls.

Good luck on this project. I'd love to see what I think is more potential coming from unexploited detail and texture in the grass, wood and mountains.

Thanks for giving us pleasure! Tell us how it prints.

Asher

Asher

you' right about the curve, especially when used with a layermask.

As for the barn, I don't mind it to be real black; anyway, I went back to the RAW again there's a huge contrast, that the 10 D wasn't able to cover further:

opening up the shadows in the barn resultes in a very grainy, fuzzy 5/6-tone..

The printing isn't shure yet; this image is just a demo for them, as they are not aware of the possibilty of B&W-RAW conversion, RAW Developer offers with the build in channel mixer.

And I'm not to sure yet, if I'm willing to give my private photos away commercially. I' ve got the feeling, they might wreck it up, and I'm not accepting that. (They didn't sounded very professionally)

Heck, that's the beauty of private shots - you don't have to sell them, if you don't like.

Parth 2:

going back to th place, with a bit of snow, now:





A stitch with two 14mm-shots (from the 14-24); stitching worked well, as the lens has little distortion, so for that one, not even a panohead was used... for weight reasons...

Not beeing a landscape photographer, I'm still amazed how it can change so fast.
The mountain per se is nothing special, but quite a huge wall.

One day later, at night - 14 mm wide open:




These photos were taken on one of the following hills, not the peak - 14 mm again:





exposed only with the light of the stars:

How long was the exposure? Looks like more than an hour, from the length of the tracks. The amount of details is amazing, if there was no other light.

regi

Reginald

it was 25 min only, with f = 2.8 on the 14-24, therefore wide open.
No other light than the starlight, in the scene itself.

Hard to frame, as you don't see a lot through the viewer, kinda blind-photography.

The lengths of the tracks depends on the N/S/W/E-orientation of the lens.

Michael,

Have you tried the Canon 14mm and can say the Nikon 14-24 at 14mm serves you better?

I'm coming to Switzerland and was wondering what lens to use for such wide scenes.

Every time I help someone with a shoot I seem to lose one lens! I no longer have my Canon 15 mm fisheye which I loved! So I'm thinking of getting something new for the wide landscapes. For my 5D2 my widest lens is 24mm since I sold my 17-35, so I'm in the market for a new wide end lens!

Asher

no Asher, I don't need/like the 14mm-range to much - therefore the zoom is perfect, as i use that lens most for interiors, beeing able to zoom is just great in these situation, as you can't step back.

The first 4 images of that thread are handheld stitches with the 10 D, crop 1.6 - and a 25 mm, beeing light equipement.

The image in the snow where taken at 14 mm, on FF. A friend helped me carring up lens (14 - 24 =1 kg) cam, panohead and tripod - it would have been to much weight on my own.

POV aesthetics, I think that the 2nd image of post 9 flattens the steepness of the mountain to much - it's way steeper.

You still could use your 18 mm on the 1 D, that' ll be the equivalent of 24 mm on FF the same as the 5 Ds with your 24....

Another summer - some new photos:



Doesn't the building looks a bit ridiculous?
Sorry for showing it so big, but it looks much better in that size than at 800 pix.

Anyway, it's a handheld stitch FF + Distagon 35, which is a very nice combo, would you guessed that it has 117 degs in HFOV?

in high summer, the evening's light can be more interesting than during day, all singleshots, no stitches:

moonrise:






some sheet lightning: the lightning is hidden by the cloud; as the exposure was arround 5 min with several lightnings, the same cloud's shadow appears several time :





The next one looks arty ;-)



and finally the look down to the valley:

Michael Fontana said:

some sheet lightning: the lightning is hidden by the cloud; as the exposure was arround 5 min with several lightnings, the same cloud's shadow appears several time :

Click to expand...

Hi Michael,

This are the scenes I missed this time in St Moritz! I have promised myself to return fit enough to at least climb to the hut! I do like the horizontal lines in the clouds giving a layered archaelogical appearance of cloud strata, so to speak.

Are these artifacts of jpg compression or else the extended exposure.

Asher

Hi Michael
Beautifull! so we do share the same passion for night shots during our holidays!

I do like these quite long moments, when the shutter is activated for a long exposure…
one see the moving part of the scene and wonder how it will show…
Great moment also when one try to anticipate the clouds movements to get the desired result as to show or hide the moon…
A delicious mix of anticipation and luck…

Asher

while your travel has been exhausting, I hope you still enjoyed yourself in the Engadin!
Still wheater was fine! Some images to share? In high school times I have been working in St. Moritz in summer holidays, so I quite know i.

I arrived at the south at monday evening only and we went up to the hut at tuesday; my son and me we stayed a week with just fine wheater. Still a lot of images to work and stitch...

Are these artifacts of jpg compression or else the extended exposure.

what do you mean?
With sheet lightning (I hope you understand that expression) the double lines are the shadow of a cloud beeing projected with multiple lightnings on a other cloud - as the cloud moves between the two lightnings, its shadows produce different shadows, the double lines.

Bonsoir Nicolas

I guess we both know that the harsh daylight of high summer is often not a favorable light, so we escape from it in the night...

and yes, these long exposures are special, compared to normal shooting. It's like to span a lightsensitive net as a light trap - and hunterlike praying and singing for getting the swag.. ;-)

Well that week, with the experience of the other years, it's been easier for me to mix different light sources - sheet lightning (éclair de chaleur) plus the star trails and even moon light - it's interesting to see how work progresses/changes through the years - between the shootings they' re alwith some monthes in between.. enough time to study the last time results...


The following two are converted with °your° methode of linear gradation curve in C - it helps a lot in the harsh lights shadow - but then sometimes the color might look unnaturally- Previews of the stitches only, at the 2nd one the sky was darkend up a bit:

Michael Fontana said:

Asher

while your travel has been exhausting, I hope you still enjoyed yourself in the Engadin!
Still wheater was fine! Some images to share? In high school times I have been working in St. Moritz in summer holidays, so I quite know i.

Click to expand...

Michael,

I had to copy files through a totally black screen. I just managed to illuminate the screen from an angle to see the icons! Sop now I'm putting together all my pictures and will shortly post some.

The Engadin is a magical place. I hope I will be able to share some of that with those who have never visited,

Michael Fontana said:

The following two are converted with °your° methode of linear gradation curve in C - it helps a lot in the harsh lights shadow - but then sometimes the color might look unnaturally- Previews of the stitches only, at the 2nd one the sky was darkend up a bit:

Click to expand...

The pictures speak for themselves. I love the gentle expression of the color. Just explain the method.

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Michael,

I had to copy files through a totally black screen. I just managed to illuminate the screen from an angle to see the icons! Sop now I'm putting together all my pictures and will shortly post some.

Click to expand...

Hi Asher
why didn't you connect your blind Mac to another one as a target HD?
Simply shut it down. Then connect it thru firewire to any othe Mac (running) then start the blind Mac while pressing Apple (command) and T keys it will appear on the other Mac as an external HD that you can browse, copy files from and even to… just like a hard disk.

Hih

Hi Michael
I'll come later today…

Hi Michael

later today after a well filled day of work ;-)

Michael Fontana said:

I guess we both know that the harsh daylight of high summer is often not a favorable light, so we escape from it in the night...

Click to expand...

Yes and it's also favorable to some quiet (quiet?) nap…

Michael Fontana said:

Well that week, with the experience of the other years, it's been easier for me to mix different light sources - sheet lightning (éclair de chaleur) plus the star trails and even moon light - it's interesting to see how work progresses/changes through the years - between the shootings they' re alwith some monthes in between.. enough time to study the last time results...

Click to expand...

Agreed too, we're supposed to do again and again the same things form our childhood, but getting better (or different) with experience is exciting!

Michael Fontana said:

The following two are converted with °your° methode of linear gradation curve in C - it helps a lot in the harsh lights shadow - but then sometimes the color might look unnaturally-

Click to expand...

Yes, I know, sometimes the midtones do need to be enlighen a bit more and even desaturated a bit.
Another point is clarity, this setting is much stronger (too much if you ask me) than the one in LR2.
On some pics with lot of white surfaces (or night shots with lamps) may get highlights burnt if you put too much clarity, I often have to lower it to 20 even 15…

What version of C1 do you use? It may also behave differently (I use 4.8.2).

Hi Asher

I hope its running fine now, otherwise if its a Macbook, you might add another display.

Yes, the Engadin is beautiful, but way overcrowed, so I tend to go at the smaller places, there' some nice spots as well. °My° hut is just about 30 k's away from it...

But I wonder where you've been and the photos you took - did you came up with small Bernina train, passing the glaciers at 8200 feet = 2'500 M?

The RAWConversion applied is using the linear RAW data whithout a initial and automatic standart RAWcurve. Nicolas has shown that methode here - in harsh summer light, it opens the shadows and smoothes the light.

You can use that methode on other RC's as well, I could apply/adapt it with success on RAW Developer as well - someone might test it with LR.

Nicolas

anyway, at the sea level I wouldn't move before the evening, to hot anyway....
I' ve been pretty glad to be high up in the hottest period.

This going back again at the same place since 10 years might look boring und dull from the outside, but every time, I discover some new things, and a better/different way of looking at mountains, sky, rocks, etc.

Having to carry it up most of it myself teaches a certain discipline in using lenses - this year, I took the Zeiss 35 & 85 only, but didn't feld it as a restriction as you can stitch with' em both pretty well..

Your methode is really a advantage in harsh summer light - I couldnt achieve these smooth tones and color transitions before - therefore a big hug for that hint. I found the oversaturation beeing best controlled later in PS, with a selective color correction plus its mask.

Michael Fontana said:

Your methode is really a advantage in harsh summer light - I couldnt achieve these smooth tones and color transitions before - therefore a big hug for that hint. I found the oversaturation beeing best controlled later in PS, with a selective color correction plus its mask.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm happy that it helps!
Shooting with Harsh light coming from zenith is something I know quite well and I had to find a better workflow, both to improve IQ and time spent on PP.

I have just updated my post with workflow with my latest conclusions…

On that zoomify from a month ago, shooting at noon was a nogo, therefore I had to wait until 5 minutes before the sun hides behind another mountain, and captue very fast.

Who finds the deers?

I'll go back in about a months, or two as the light will be better then, and change the cam's position quite a bit. But I like the light - showing the old fella's face.

The light on the last chalet on the right and its fence is really nice!
Hoops forgot the hunt for the deers, I'll have to revisit!

You might need some



Roman sees them ;-)

Cool!

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Ok then:

Cool! cool!