A panoramic photo captures an image that is at least twice as long as high.  Usually a photograph with an aspect ratio* of 2:1 or higher would be considered a panorama. For example, 10×20 or 8×16 inch prints would be considered panoramic, with a view that is twice as wide as high.  An image that is as great as or greater than the viewing field of the human eye would be panoramic. A higher aspect ratio, of 4:1 or even 10:1 would be panoramic.

Quabin Panorama Photo

There are cameras which will create a panoramic image with a single shot. There are multiple lens and software to help create panoramic photographs as well as 360° photographic images. But for most of us, our usual still digital cameras using a standard lens along with some stitching software will be more than adequate for pano creation.

There are a number of software stitching programs on the market. One of the most popular is PTgui. (www.ptgui.com ).  Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements have Photomerge feature and does an excellent job for most panoramic stitching.  More recent versions (CS4 or better) do a much better job than earlier versions.

No matter what you use to create the final image, it is the photographic process that will determine how good your final image is.  It is possible to hand hold the camera and still create a panorama but it is much easier to use a tripod. You can purchase specific heads for your tripod to create panoramas, from the inexpensive LensPen Pananic head for about $20 to a Manfrotto Spherical Panoramic Head Kit at $650.

If you chose to forgo the expense of a special head for your tripod there are a few rules to keep in mind. If you are shooting without a tripod, try to use your body as the center point. Plant your feet firmly and turn from your waist. As with any shot, take a breath and hold it before depressing the shutter button.  If you are shooting with a tripod, it is best to level the head if you can before shooting.  The most important rule, however, is to overlap your shots by at least 1/3 of the scene you are shooting. I usually pick out a land mark in the shot about 1/3 from the edge and make that opposite edge on the next shot.

It is also important to keep the settings the same in the camera. If you have auto focus turned on be careful with the focus. It could shift based on the image and it would destroy your panorama.  You may want to shoot in Manuel Mode in order to avoid that from happening. A shift in meter reading could also make the creation difficult, although the software will do some blending of edges.

Try re-positioning yourself and trying the shot from a slightly different angle.  Take several multiple shots from different perspectives. Your first perspective might not work as expected when you start to turn the camera.  The number of shots you use to create your panorama is dependent on the scene you are shooting. I find that for a 180° shot that I will need 5-7 shots.

Creating a panorama photo is fun and rewarding. Going beyond the limits of the lens and camera opens up a whole new way of seeing through your lens. Capturing a wide view makes the scene more memorable and closer to what the “mind sees”.  Try turning the camera for a vertical shot. This will make your panorama wider and capture more of the scene. Good luck and keep shooting!

*Aspect ratio is a measure comparing width to height. Most digital cameras will produce a 3:2 aspect ratio.  The resulting print size of 4×6 or 8×12 is an example of 3:2 aspect ratio.

Western Mass Tornado Photo Show Fund Raiser

So many incredible photos have been taken of this devastating event. Many photographers have felt the need to record and preserve the images of the profound change that has happened in our region. Giclée of New England, Inc Gallery will be sponsoring a Photo Show as a fund raiser for the victims of the June 1 tornado. We would also like to see before and after photos in this show. Photos of rebuilding and clean-up efforts will be welcome as well as those that document the massive destruction.

There is a $10 donation fee  for two images. You can enter as many times as you like. We will find space to hang all entries. All entry fees will be donated to the Disaster Fund at the Monson Savings Bank. Giclée of New England, Inc. will offer printing, framing or mounting of photos for this show at deeply discounted rates.  Videos can also be entered for showing.

There will be awards (prizes if we can get donations) for :

Among photographers there seems to be a perpetual question about the editing process. “Is it Photoshopped or not?” seems to be the issue. The quality and clarity of the image is secondary to how the image was processed. I was recently denied admission to a juried show because the requirement that no digital photo should be edited in Photoshop beyond cropping. The fact that my images are panoramas and stitched in Photoshop made them ineligible for this show.

Where this issue seems to stem is from film, or former film photographers, who feel that to use Photoshop or other imaging software is somehow “cheating” and all the imaging should be done in camera. Of course in film, the editing was done via filter choice, film choice, and darkroom procedures. How this differs from digital editing is that it much of the processing editing was done by the photo labs and the photographer had little input, other than his/her choice of film type or lens or filters for the lens. In the past, few photographers, other than professionals had the means of darkroom editing and had to rely on the labs to get it right. By taking the darkroom editing out of their hands they somehow felt it was solely their creation and did not have to acknowledge the roll played by the lab in the creation of their work. Professional photographers often worked closely with the labs, dictating editing steps and even using airbrush experts to create their work, if unable to do their own darkroom work. Ansel Adams said “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

The fact is that digital images are all edited. When shooting in the Jpeg mode, most edits are done in camera by the camera’s software. The “preset” edits for jpeg images were developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (jpeg). People seem to be unaware that the digital camera is actually a “computer” designed for image capture. The software in the camera makes adjustments based on the parameters set by the user, and the developers of the software standards. When someone declares that they did not edit their work, but are shooting in Jpeg, they are letting someone else edit their work.

 If photographers want more control of the final output, they usually shoot in camera raw. The camera raw image is often flat and in need of adjustments. Many people who have upgraded to a DSLR camera find that they are disappointed in the outcome because they are looking at unedited photos and they are used to looking at jpegs. I can not tell you how often I have heard complaint from amateur photographers when they first shoot in camera raw that they got great photos from “the old camera” but lousy ones now.

When someone proudly declares that they did not edit their work in Photoshop, I have to wonder who did edit their photos. Did they chose not to edit because of some misinformation about the digital process and felt that letting the “Jpeg guys” do it is somehow purer or better than doing the work themselves? Or is it just a way to cover up the fact that they do not know how to use Photoshop and are trying to make this ignorance into a virtue?

Either way, you can make beautiful photos. But when the photographer takes control and does his/her own editing a true work of art can be created. Is it any less a great photo because it was edited by the artist instead of the computer software in the camera? Does doing the editing oneself make it better than relying on the software? I do not think either case is true. The image should be judged on its own merits, not how it was composed or created. It is time to end this debate and accept that some artists prefer to have control over the process while others are content to accept the image as created by the preset software. Yes, images are created in the camera and influenced by many factors. Be it lighting, composition, focus, aperture setting, shutter speed or digital editing it is the combination of factors that make a great photo. Just because many of those factors happen to be done outside the camera does not invalidate their influence on the final image. Why should artificial lighting be allowed in a juried photo for a show and brightening and contrast in Photoshop not be?

To quote Ansel Adams again, “There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”

High Dynamic Range or HDR

HDR photos are created by taking muliple exposures.  For the best results shoot using a tripod.  At least three exposures from over to under exposed. The more the better. Some photographers use 6 or even more exposures.

ckick to see larger:

Adobe tv – HDR

You may notice that I removed an extra bud from the photo. This was done using Content Aware Fill, another amazing feature of Photoshop CS5

“What I Did Today” May 19,2010

Show us what you did today. Upload your images, photos or artwork to our fan page on Facebook. You can upload one image a day for two weeks. Competition ends on Tuesday, June 1, 2010.  Enter to win a FREE 16×20 PRINT from GoNE, Inc.  Entrants will be eligible to become a finalist in the GRAND PRIZE shootout to be held in November, 2010. GRAND PRIZE is a Flip Video Camcoder. 

A total of 14 images per fan can be uploaded over the next two weeks.  Winner will be chosen by fan votes during the week of June 2-7.   Start collecting those votes to be in the running for the Flip Video. Its worth Shooting for!

Fans on Facebook can win a Flip Video Camcorder

Along with the usual great prizes like free prints, gift certificates  and greeting cards, we are announcing a GRAND PRIZE: a Flip Video Camcorder.

To enter: submit images created by you, to our competitions on the  Giclee of New England Fan Page on Facebook. To become a finalist, get the most votes for your photos or artwork over a five month period. Vote counting begins with the next contest to be announced on Wednesday this week, 05-19-10.  Open submission competitions for this Grand prize will end in the last competition in October, 2010. All fans are eligible to vote once per contest, whether or not images were submitted.

Be notified of upcoming competitions through our Fan Page on Facebook, postings here on this blog, or follow us on Twitter.

The Finalists will be the top twenty-five artists/photographers chosen by the Fans’ votes. They will compete in the Final Shootout during November, 2010 for the Grand Prize. The Grand prize winner will be announced on December 18, 2010.  (Just in time for the Holidays).

Remember, all it takes is “like this” on our fan page  on Facebook to be eligible to participate in this competition or use the link on the side bar.

There are plenty of competitions coming up.  Suggest to your friends on Facebook they become fans. This is a great prize worth shooting for! Along with all the other great gifts you can win from Giclée of New England, Inc. you can’t lose.

Employees, Past employees, and employees’ families are not eligible for prizes but may post images.

Images submitted to the Giclee of New England Fan Page on Facebook competitions may be used for publicity purposes. All rights belong to the originator of the art and by participating you are certifying that you have the rights to show these images and are not in violation of terms of use

Win a 16×20 digital print on Kodak Premium Luster.

New theme: Where I Live

Submitted images must be shot within walking distance of your home and shot within the next two weeks. This competion is for our fans (or are you “likes” now) on Facebook. If you are not yet a fan, click the link in the side bar on the right. Upload your images onto the Fan page on Facebook. Limit of one per day. Maximum upload per person- 14 photos.

This time you, the fans, are the judges. One vote per fan, so if you need votes get your friends and family to become ”likers” of Giclee of New England page on Facebook.  Voting instructions will be announced in an upcoming post. Below is the schedule:

• Shoot dates: From Monday, May 3, 2010 to Sunday, May 16, 2010.
• upload end date: Tuesday, May  18, 2010
• Vote for your favorite May 16- Sunday, May 23, 2010

Adobe CS5

I know that each new version of a software has a few new tricks or features that are nice but do you really need them?  Photoshop has had 12 versions since its inception in early 1990′s.  Each version has had great new features, but can you live without them? That, of course, depends upon what you do with photoshop.  But this time, Adobe has made some spectactular changes. My favorite feature is the new “content aware fill” feature. The hours spent cloning out telephone wires or trying to blend the sky that was lost when building panoramas are a thing of the past. With content aware fill these corrections can be done in a matter of seconds. It is Photoshop magic at its best.  Podcast from Lynda.com top new features in Photoshop CS5 . This is a brief overview of the best new features in CS5.

To learn all the new features, you can struggle through the steep learning curve. Wait for the hints on the forums or the easy way is to take an online course. I have tried several different sites and have found Lynda.com to be the most effective and easist to use. It also has a vast library of titiles and software to chose from. A subsciption to Lynda.com is the best learning gift you can give yourself.  Use the button on the side bar to get more information on Lynda.com

Congratulations to Anne Smyth

for winning the Giclee of New England “Sign of Spring”  photo Competition.  Her Photo of Hadley Massacusetts is a great example of Spring in New England, with the flowering shurbs in the foreground backed by the bare hills.

Spring in New England, by Anne Smyth

Sights of Spring: New GoNE, Inc Fan Page Competion

Upload your best spring shot taken between 4-1-10 to 4-15-10 to our fan page on Facebook . We will chose our favorite and the winner will recieve a free print of the image up to 16×20 on Kodak Luster photo paper.  Limit is one up load per day from now until 4-16-10 (max 8 from each photographer-one per day).  If you are a painter, upload a spring painting.

If you really blow me away, you could be in contention for an upcoming gallery show.