A prelude to the image within this post :
https://plus.google.com/100975265940134223422/posts/9JtSDbseytS
This shot was the first one from the evening and when the pinks of the sun going down over my left shoulder were most intense.

This was certainly a tricky image to process, 3 shot panorama with each shot bracketed, there were no filters used and as such the dynamic range was still fairly high and I really wanted to preserve the shadows on the mud yet maintain that pastel pink, which is exceptionally easy to lose even when the frame correctly exposed (hence why i often use minus0.5 bais on the exposure).

However fun only started when trying to stitch this bracketed shot, even with some good overlap between images it always resulted in some serious mismatch in the tree resulting in multiple tree trunks ;( Thus an alternative method was needed, I loaded each bracketed shot into a stack and manually blended the frames, this had to be carefully done to maintain a nice even exposure over the three frames of the panorama this was then flattened and then pano merged with PS photomerge, alas some parts of the horizon were a bit wonky, luckily in PS with the photomerge it lets you adjust the actual parts of the photomerge blends, consequently after some manual blending of the panorama frames it was looking better, ie straight horizon etc 🙂

from then on, a simple matter to preserve the tones and process per my usual style.

Manually blended and manually stitched 🙂 nothing like doing it all ya self 🙂

Next time I'll be sure to simply use the Lee Graduated filter to save using multiple bracketed frames 🙂

3 frame (bracketed) panorama
D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 20mm- Aperture: f/11 and Shutter Speed: 1/10, 1/45 & 1/3 seconds
out front – absolutely nothing but gerry madly wiping the lens to get the condensation off it 😉

I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed and always appreciate the time people take to have a look, plus and/or comment.

View Large and fill that 16:9 screen with what its meant to be filled with – panorama love 🙂

A number of lessons I learnt (or re-learnt) on this day 😉 1) A camera lens continue to fog up for a good 15 or 20 minutes if it has been stored in a airconditioned room at 18 degrees then brought out in the QLD winter weather that is 27degrees (yeah thats winter lol) – and that was with only 50% humidity! doh.
2) just because its mud does not mean the oyster shells don't hurt any less when you walk on them in bare feet 😉 3) Damn mozzies in QLD are freakin insane..wear insect repellant fullstop.

I love this tree, its so photogenic, i would walk over oyster shells with no shoes to even photograph it, oh wait… i did that 😉

My last visit to this awesome spot was timed at high tide, see here:
https://plus.google.com/100975265940134223422/posts/d7AcfUcRSop
This time it was low tide and I had 40 minutes or so to burn so I took the opportunity to get out on the mud flat and get up close to my favorite tree – rest assured, I will be back for more when the opportunity arises 🙂

I think this is a great example of image that you can take without any special equipment, this was with no filters, no polariser, no bracketed shots – it was simply the right time of day with the right light and right place.

Techie data:
3 shot panorama (probably should have added a few frames for some more overlap – but i was being carried away by mozzies)

D7000 with Nikkor 17-55mm f2.8 @ 19mm- Aperture: f/9.5 and Shutter Speed: 4 seconds
out front – absolutely nothing but gerry madly wiping the lens to get the condensation off it 😉

I welcome any suggestions, comments and improvements to my photography, they are always warmly welcomed and always appreciate the time people take to have a look, plus and/or