Seeing the Big Picture

The previous post described why only a panorama photo can capture the really wide angle views best. Unfortunately even the very best wide angle lens cannot capture in a single picture what the human eye can see at a glance so we must employ special software and bit of ingenuity to do so.

The example below is one of the photos used to create "Fresh Fields and Fresh Discoveries". As you can see it doesn't make a particularly memorable photo on its own. Its only when 2, 3 or more pictures are merged together that the scale of a vista like this can be fully appreciated.

Incidentally this picture is pretty much the way it was recorded by the camera as I wanted to illustrate the fact that what a photographer sees isn't always what the camera records.

The way I remember this shot is that I liked the way the light from the sun was creeping across the undulating hills as the clouds drifted overhead. The golden yellow hue of the fields, the patches of green grass and the shadows from the clouds are in my mind what gives the photo its essence.

So next time before you take a photo of that special place think of the big picture first and try to capture what you see and not what the camera sees.

The photo was taken at about 6:00 pm in mid January. Camera: Sony F828 Settings: 1/250s, f4.0, ISO64, focal length 42mm, 0 ev