I recently reviewed Klaus Hermann’s new eBook A Practical Guide To HDR Vertorama Photography. It is a great guide to get you on the right path to making vertical panoramas. I really wanted to post a picture of how I used the knowledge I learned from it in a practical application. However, at the time of the review I did not have an ounce of free time to take a trip to my favorite nearby chapel.
Last weekend, I had the luxury of some spare time amongst all of the chaos going on in my photo life right now. I took a trip to the Holy Trinity Parish in Weston, MO. This church is gorgeous and shares quite a bit of history with the local township. It is one of the first Catholic Churches erected in the area dating back to the late 1800’s.
The best way to photograph this place is with either a Vertorama or a Panorama. So I did just that. I photographed it in both styles. Each image is composed of 35 pictures (7 tone mapped HDR images). The process to making these beauties is described in great detail in Klaus’ book so I will spare you the details and allow you to read how Klaus has spells it out.
If you really want to know how good your PC or Mac is, put it to the Vertorama or Panorama test! Both of these 16 bit TIFF images after stitching are 2.16 GIGABYTES a piece! That is insane! I remember back in the day when a Hard Drive was less than 2 Gigabytes, heck these won’t fit on some of the Flash drives or SD cards I have! They really do bog down your workflow so be sure to shut everything down except Photoshop when you are working with them!
After staring at both of these for some time, I have decided I think I like the Panorama better because of the Stained Glass windows. However, the Vertorama shows off that beautifully white ceiling with the sense of suspension from the lights. I think next time, I will do 3 vertical panoramas from the same location to capture more of both sides, then stitch those panoramas together. We may be looking at a 6 Gigabyte file that way!
Which one do you prefer? Have you shot any Vertoramas or Panoramas lately?
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
I was actually just working on a HDR panorama that I had shot yesterday at Taughannock Falls State Park when I decided to take a small break and head over here. I don’t really have a whole lot of experience with panoramas but a friend that was with me thought it would make for a good one. I figured what the hey. I like how it’s coming along. I’ll definitely be adding it to the flickr group once I’ve finished it!
Thanks for stopping by! I don’t do many pano’s, they are just so tricky to print and share, but boy are they fun! I highly advise you check out Klaus’ book! It is awesome!