So I came up with the crazy idea to see if it was possible to create a long exposure panorama (LEP). This would allow for the combination of panoramas, long exposures and light painting.
My first attempt was a dismal failure and Photoshop wouldn't touch the stitching with a ten foot batch. I changed my approach and was able to get two successful LEPs.
While these worked they were shot at 50mm and had their own issues. I had to shoot the first one from across the street so I was unable to get the angle I wanted on the bus and wagon.
In the second one I spent an hour running around light painting the joshua trees and yucca plants. When it came time to stich the image most of the foreground was cropped out due to the perspective.
The tax man was kind enough to refund a few of my dollars so I ordered some Nikon 28mm f2.8 AI-S goodness. I didn't want to go too wide since I was already doing a pano.
The new glass worked well. I would have preferred faster glass so I wouldn't have to crank the ISO so much on the Milky Way shot. The final images are weighing in at 50-60 MP with a typical ratio of 7.5 x 18.
Photoshop still complained about some of the stiches. I think it doesn't like the star trails as the problems seemed to be on images that had more sky. I gave Autopano Pro a try and it worked really well. I ended up buying the Autopano Giga version as it offered more control. This was a good thing as a couple of other LEPs required the extra control.
Overal I am really happy with the results. I am now trying to identify new vistas for the technique.
My first attempt was a dismal failure and Photoshop wouldn't touch the stitching with a ten foot batch. I changed my approach and was able to get two successful LEPs.
While these worked they were shot at 50mm and had their own issues. I had to shoot the first one from across the street so I was unable to get the angle I wanted on the bus and wagon.
In the second one I spent an hour running around light painting the joshua trees and yucca plants. When it came time to stich the image most of the foreground was cropped out due to the perspective.
The tax man was kind enough to refund a few of my dollars so I ordered some Nikon 28mm f2.8 AI-S goodness. I didn't want to go too wide since I was already doing a pano.
The new glass worked well. I would have preferred faster glass so I wouldn't have to crank the ISO so much on the Milky Way shot. The final images are weighing in at 50-60 MP with a typical ratio of 7.5 x 18.
Photoshop still complained about some of the stiches. I think it doesn't like the star trails as the problems seemed to be on images that had more sky. I gave Autopano Pro a try and it worked really well. I ended up buying the Autopano Giga version as it offered more control. This was a good thing as a couple of other LEPs required the extra control.
Overal I am really happy with the results. I am now trying to identify new vistas for the technique.