Cape Schanck Lighthouse panorama

[alexch]

Hi All,

Took this yesterday whilst trying to get Moon, Mars and Saturn together but that part of the sky was a little too cloudy.

3-shot panorama with Nikon 10.5mm fisheye.

Cheers,
Alex

[troypiggo]

That is absolutely fantastic! Lots to look at in there. Love it!

[Vanda]

An interesting composition Alex. The sky a tad unnatural with some milky way and a sunset/rise present giving it a surreal feel. Good attempt at light balance and a strong result.

[alexch]

Troy, Ian - thanks for the comments.

It almost looked like that in reality yesterday. Sunset remnants were competing with moonlight dispersed by the clouds.

This is an equirectangular projection of a 360 degree spherical panorama and the top-right corner of the image is almost at zenith, so it is darker.

I did darken the sky just a bit for stronger visual impact and probably the fisheye lens vignetting added a bit too.

Alex

[alexch]

Here is another image from a little earlier that evening (shot at 70mm)

[iceman]

You have some fantastic scenery!

How do you power your camera in the field when you do timelapses etc?

[xstream]

Gee that brings back old memories Alex!

Cape Schank was one of my favourite diving spots. The Crayfish we used to pull out of there 30 years ago were to die for.

[Liz]

Beautiful images Alex. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Beautiful scenery. I just love the colors and lighting in this shot. Great stuff. :thumbsup:

[alexch]

Thanks, Mike. Victorian coastline is beautiful almost everywhere you go.

I use two batteries, each lasting about 2 hours. Last week I also got an inverter so I plan to charge one in the car whilst another one is being used.

Alex

[alexch]

Marc, Liz, John - thanks for the comments!

[Kevnool]

That is fantastic Alex.
A very worthy shot indeed.
Looks like a nice place.

Cheers Kev.

[alexch]

Thanks, Kev and everyone! Your kind words are much appreciated.

I experimented with Adobe Flash virtual tour and thought it is worth to share:
http://www.terrastro.com/vr/cape_schanck/

It needs Adobe Flash 9 and starts to spin automatically but stops as soon as you click anywhere in the image. You can pan by clicking the mouse and dragging it, zoom in and out using the buttons on the toolbar at the bottom.

Please let me know if it works in your web browsers.

P.S. I am a bit unsatisfied how the zenith turned out in terms of lighting but I don't feel it is worth to spend more time processing this.

[Octane]

Alex,

That's fantastic. Dig the way the stars fade and the backlit clouds come into prominence.

Welll done and kudos to you -- I'm not game to attempt stitching panoramas. It's hard enough getting one exposure right!

Cheers.

H

[RB]

Gorgeous panorama Alex.

[Phil Hart]

just found this alex.. lovely shot.

i spent last saturday evening down around port campbell taking some night shots too.. inspired partly by some of your previous work (esp cape otway).

any chance you can make it to heathcote with other mpas boys for the june long weekend? the foregrounds aren't so great but the sky is dark :-)

phil

[alexch]

Thanks, Phil. A praise from you is especially motivating.

I am soo jealous about Port Campbell :) I have been watching the weather since March around new moon and did not have the guts to go yet. Please share your work :)

I'd love to go to Heathcote and do some visual observing again. Please let me know when you are going for the long weekend.

Cheers,
Alex

[Phil Hart]

sounds like we're both playing the same game alex.. we should go stay down there together some time!

Steve Mohr and several others from MPAS are already booked in for the June long weekend at Heathcote.. I will be there whichever nights out of Fri 11th - Sun 13th are clear.

will post some photos from port campbell whenever i can get around to processing them.. have a backlog from SPSP as well.. i make time to take photos but gets busy quick when i'm back home! was gibbous moon for the shots i took.. would like to do it another time with a lot less moonlight but i couldn't rearrange our friends 40th birthday escape weekend :-)

email me direct at hello .at. philhart.com

Phil

[DavidTrap]

I like the midground and background parts of the image, but the foreground doesn't add to it IMHO.

I did a landscape photography workshop at Cradle Mountain and the best pics from that definitely had the three elements.

Would a crop of the bottom rocky ground improve things???

DT

[alexch]

Hi David,

I guess it is a matter of personal preference as I quite like the surreal look of the moonlit rocks at the foreground. For me, without them the foreground disappears in the shadows, the bottom centre of the frame looks unbalanced and the whirlpool effect created by the clouds and shoreline is lost.

Thanks for the comments anyway as it is very difficult to judge your own images objectively.

Alex

[DavidTrap]

I agree it needs something in the foreground - I was holding my hands up to the screen to block out the rocks, but wasn't sure if the result was pleasing or not.

DT