Olympic Mountains Panorama

Sometimes it is not possible to have the entire view in one photo.  This is a panorama of several photos taken at Ft. Ebey State Park on Whidbey Island.  The Olympic Mountains have a good cover of snow that is unusual for this late in the spring.

Double Rainbow

Rain to the east and sun to the west make the perfect combination of amazing beauty.  This is a panorama of four images using the free download, Hugin, to combine them.

The same four images have been combined in Elements here.

Here is a com-bination of four images in Elements from a slightly different location.

This was the second double rainbow I've seen this year.

Olympic Mountains Panorama

This was a recent panorama of the Olympic Mountains taken from the west side of Whidbey Island.

Using ICE for Panorama Stitching

Who doesn't like a free program to do amazing feats with your digital images?  Today I tried a free download from Microsoft, ICE, or Image Composite Editor.  Here is the result of combining ten JPEG images.

I left the image as it was finished in ICE, dust spots and all.  I did crop slightly, in ICE, but see now I left a bit of error cropping at either end.
The positives about this program: it was fast, much faster than, say, Elements.  The quality for web viewing is great.  For free, it is wonderful and allows anyone to try making a panorama.
The negatives: the resulting file is much smaller than would be produced in Elements.  The end file was 5.11 MB, smaller than each of the ten JPEGs.  If you need the several hundred MB images that Elements produces, this program will not work for you.
So, get out your camera, put it on a tripod, take a series of overlapping images, load them into ICE, and you have your panorama.  You can even go further and make an interactive 360 view using Microsoft Silverlight - but that is for another day.
(Note: the above image has been greatly reduced in Paint to an 82 KB file.  I do that so no one is tempted to "take" the image and use it.)

Olympic Mountains Sunset Panorama

This is a recent sunset from Ft. Ebey State Park on the west side of Whidbey Island.

Sunrise Fire

This was the view from my home this morning.  Having caught a modiocre sunrise yesterday morning, this one seemed worthy of a new year.  I got in my car and headed to my faviorite view of an Oak Harbor sunrise.

Even in the few minutes it took me to get there, the scene had faded.  Heavier clouds were beginning to come in from the south.

The fire changed color and moved to the north, giving a colorful background to Mt. Baker.

I also took several images so I could construct a panorama.  I did not have my tripod (I love my VR lens).  This is a series of six photos, combined in Elements.

Christmas Panorama

This scene at a house nearby is the combination of three photos (merged in Photoshop Elements).  The exposures were 1.5 seconds each.
The homeowners put on a show every holiday!

Sunrise Panorama

This was the dawn view from the vacant lot across the street on December 1, 20111.  Taken from the west side of Oak Harbor, the Cascade Mountains are on the horizon.

Sunrise Panorama

This was the sunrise this morning from the vacant lot across the street from home.  On the horizon are the North Cascade Mountains.  In the foreground are some of the rooftops in Oak Harbor, including the cross atop the First Reformed Church.
I did not use my tripod on this panorama.  I now have a telephoto lens that has a "vibration reduction" feature.  I was able to reduce the shutter speed to the point I was able to get a decent image while merely "hand holding" the camera.  I did bump up the ISO, though.  This is a combination of four images combined in Elements.
Nikon D7000
1/80 second
f/13
66 mm
ISO 1000

Panorama Oak Harbor Sunrise Whidbey Island

The sunrise this morning, from above Barrington Ave.

The view is east, over Oak Harbor, Saratoga Passage, to the Cascade Mountains.

Panorama from South Whidbey

This is the view from Hilltop Dr., south of Clinton, at the south end of Whidbey Island.  This panorama is a combination of four photos (and is greatly reduced in size).

This is an even broader view, a combination of eight photos (again greatly reduced).  Across Saratoga Passage is Everett and the Cascade Mountains. 

Oak Harbor Panorama

This was the view this morning from above Barrington Drive, on the east side of Oak Harbor.  Mt. Baker is at the horizon to the left while the North Cascades are to the right.  Mt. Pilchuck is just at the right edge of the panorama. 
This is a combination of 14 photos, merged in Elements 6.  I held my Nikon vertically as I panned the view.  This image is greatly reduced as the original is over 22 MB.



Fort Casey Panorama

This panorama of Fort Casey, on Whidbey Island, was taken last summer.  Sometimes I'm glad to be reminded of sunshine on a winter day.

This is a greatly reduced file from the original, a combination of four RAW images.

Sunrise Panorama

This is a thumbnail of a compilation of five shots taken a few days ago.  I stationed myself on Freund's Hill, at the west side of Oak Harbor.  On the horizon are the North Cascade Mountains.  In the foreground are parts of NAS Whidbey, Oak Harbor Bay, and the city of Oak Harbor, WA.

Whistler Panorama

This is a compilation of 12 images I took on a recent trip to Whistler, B.C.  The camera was hand held vertically as I rotated through the scene.  This image is greatly reduced as the original file was over 23 MB.

Ebey Prairie Panorama