side photos on Flickr

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Sometimes I find old pictures and I fall in love...

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Processed with VSCO with b5 preset

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10 image pano taken from Beacon hill. At a later point I will add in the left side of Hong Kong as well. But this already hits the 20 mb size limit...

2 rows * 5 images. Taken with my favorite Pano lens the Canon 70-200 f/4 L IS.

Check out the super high res version. www.flickr.com/photos/xavibarca/4808083371/sizes/o/in/pho...

Especially check out the part right under. Sham Shui Po. One of my favorite HK hoods. It's a concrete jungle that is immensely dense. If you need any electronics (knock off brands or real) the choice is immense. Sham Shui Po is high on my list of places to photograph but with the good weather I'm now going for those "Hollywood" (commercial) shots that are impossible 90% of the year.

I have been doing lots of pano practice this summer.

A few tips:

1) Use a prime lens or an ultra-sharp zoom. If you go through all the hassle of making a pano better start with a sharp lens.

2) If you use a "weaker lens" use more overlap in the pictures. In this case the pano sofware will ignore the sides and include more of the sweet spot of the lens. Make the image in such a way that you can crop away the bottom and top parts of the pano as well.

3) Use a sturdy pano head in portrait mode to max the resolution. I always carry my portable nodal ninja pano head. But when I go for a hike I bring my sturdier manfrotto pano head.

4) Use a sturdy heavy tripod to minimize shake. Try not too extend the center column to minimize shake.

5) For evening pictures a lens that is sharp at larger apertures is vital. Poorer lenses that need to be stopped down waste too much time. The light chances fast in the morning or evening.

6) When taking images for your pano keep an eye on the histogram of the live view. If it gets darker dial in a slightly longer exposure all the time to maintain even images. If the exposures get too long use a larger aperture. An aperture at which the lens still is sufficiently sharp. Depth of field is not a big issue for cityscapes. Alternatively you could up the ISO but I never do that. Check SLRGEAR.com for the relationship between sharpness and resolution for a host of ilenses.

7) When taking cityscapes try to get the sky row (top) first. The sky's color is generally at its best before sunset while the citylights get turned on later. The city lights also become clearer when the blue hour starts.

8) After turning the panohead for the next image take a short pause to make sure the tripod does not shake anymore.

9) Use mirror lockup (=using live view) and use a camera remote.

10) Make sure to bracket the images. The longest exposure should hardly have any shadows. Make sure the shortest exposure is not more than 0.6 seconds at f/8 to prevent blown out billboards or signs. Alternatively use the bulb exposure mode. Use the long exposure mode for the longer exposure and tap the shutter release briefly for the city lights.

10) Bring a bulb level and make sure the tripod/tripod head and camera are absolutely level. Use one level row to anchor the image.

11) When using a multiple row pano use enough overlap to ensure that there is still overlap between the tilted images.

Rhine Side Gallery ... by Peter Klein

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Werft 765

SIDE by Bojan Radisavljević

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C51O0022 by Alan

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Minnehaha Falls ~ Minneapolis,MN by Jeff Wiles

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Side Note: Minnehaha means "laughing water" in Native American language- for a truth!