Heron Pond, Vertical HDR Panorama Test

 This is my first attempt at a vertical HDR stitched panorama, made from 25 separate exposures.  I used the Acratech leveling base, Acratech GP ball head in the gimbal position, Acratech nodal rail and Really Right Stuff L-bracket holding a Nikon D700 in landscape position on a Gitzo Series 2 Basalt tripod.  The five pan positions started at the bottom.  Each pan position is five, one stop brackets processed in Nik HDR Efex with a custom preset I made for Heron Pond. The resulting five pan positions were assembled in Photoshop CS5.  I also used Photoshop to adjust the levels.  Then the stitched panorama was cropped in Lightroom 3.

This monochrome was made in Nik Silver Efex Pro using a custom split tone preset I created for landscapes.

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets each pan position around f/11.0 @ 1/20s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Cache River Natural Area, Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - November 7, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex, Photoshop CS5 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 

Heron Pond, HDR Stitched Panorama Test

This late afternoon view of Heron Pond is a four HDR shots stitched as a panorama.  For each position I processed five one stop brackets processed in Nik HDR Efex using a custom preset I developed for Fall Landscapes.  Then I stitched the HDR pictures in Photoshop CS5 and tweaked the levels.  Next, I adjusted brightness, contrast and structure in Nik Vivenza, the applied my "CSI: Miami" preset in Nik Color Efex Pro. So it took 20 shots and 11 processing steps to make the picture.  The resolution is equivalent to approximately 140 mega pixels.

This is a bit off subject, I've been working for a couple of months to get the look of an albumen print made from a wet plate negative.  I think output from Nik Silver Efex Pro using a custom preset I call "Wet Plate" comes pretty close.

This is my more usual split tone from Nik Silver Efex Pro from a custom preset I made for landscapes.

This posting fell a little shot because this is the full panorama I made at Heron Pond, stitching six, five one stop bracket HDR shots together, or 30 shots total.  I was able to process the 210 mega-byte panorama file in Nik Vivenza, but Color Efex Pro and Silver Efex Pro both threw errors trying to write out updated files.  I plan to reboot and try again.  If the applications still throw errors, I'll contact Nik Support.

Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f1.4 G 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around f/11.0 @ 1/20s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight

Location: Cache River Natural Area, Heron Pond GPS

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - November 5, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex, Photoshop CS5 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 

Red Sunset, HDR Stitched Panorama Test #1

The fall colors were very dull this year due to record dry weather.  However, we've had some blazing red sunsets.  This is a view from my back yard at dusk and is my first attempt at a stitching a panorama from HDR images, made from five brackets at three positions, for a total of 15 shots.  The brackets were processed in Nik HDR Efex with a preset I made for this purpose.  I used Photoshop CS5 to stitch the three HDR pictures.  I reckon this picture has the resolution equivalent of 100 mega pixels.

The monochrome was processed in Nik Silver Efex Pro, with the split tone applied in Lightroom 3.

Lens: AF Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 D 

Camera: Nikon D700

Exposure: ISO 200, five brackets around f/13.0 @ 1/20s, Auto WB, tripod

Lighting: Daylight, dusk

Location: My house

Dates: Capture - October 29, 2010, Processing - November 1, 2010

Processing: RAW file in Lightroom 3, Nik HDR Efex, Nik Silver Efex Pro, Photoshop