Big Sky Country

[Rusty]

I'm just back from a 2-week road trip. We were off to visit our daughter and I have never seen the Great Plains (flyovers don't count) so I wanted to go by car this time. We took US-2 which runs straight as an arrow right across the top of North Dakota and Montana - no more than 40 or 50 miles from the Canada border all the way.

WOW - it was spectacular. Some might say boring after the first 500 miles or so, I thought it was wonderful! The sky was just magnificant.

This is my first attempt at a Panorama. This is about a 180-degree scan and this is not an example of exposure variations. The sky really did change that much from shot-to-shot. It was late afternoon and the sun was still bright low in the sky on the left (due west); there was a huge block of blue in the middle (northwest); and it was fading to gray on the right (northeast).

I should have continued the scan past my car to the other side of the road where there were several hundred black cows :)

I'm not sure how well this is going to come out, I got all sorts of warnings when I clicked "save for web" telling me the size was not appropriate :)

Rusty

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1WhwNhBpjf2yJOhEiEVuSsja5t5uW0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1WhwNhBpjf2yJOhEiEVuSsja5t5uW0)

[NMarti]

Wow is right! Gorgeous!!!

[lindajay]

What a terrific job you did on that panorama! I've never tried one going 180 degrees, but now I'm tempted to try it!

[Rusty]

Linda, my P&S is a Nikon Coolpix; it has a "panorama assist setting". After you select that you tell the camera which direction you are going to pan. As you take each picture, about 30 to 35% of the previous image shows in the viewfinder on the proper side of the view for the next picture. This makes it a snap to line up each shot and get a proper overlap. It would obviously be better to use a tripod w/pan head but this subject was so easy with that straight-line horizon I simply went hand-held.

Rusty

[Wendy]

Wow that is amazing !! :)

Wendy

[kimh]

It came out wonderful!
Great job!
kimh

[karen donnybrook]

Rusty,

I love the variations in the sky - well done.

Karen :)

[Rusty]

Just before entering Montana I drove thru the area of western North Dakota called the Badlands. I didn't know what to expect but supposed it would be similar to the southwest with colorful cliffs and mesas. Well, au contraire, it's holes in the ground! Gullies and gulchs worn away over the centuries by water.

These pictures were taken a few minutes before 5 o'clock in the afternoon - and it was dark at 5:30 (the sun sure does go down fast out on the plains). The setting sun was catching the high points; the rest was shadowed.

Thank You, Kimi, I followed your contrast mask instructions and really liked the results :) The lower right image shows the shadows w/out the contrast mask routine.

Rusty

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1ruPfsVZXsLhcdxlM0dHPuLYRAvt3_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ruPfsVZXsLhcdxlM0dHPuLYRAvt3)

[ront]

Very nice picture Rusty!

Ron

[Rusty]

Thanks, Ron, I'm glad you liked it. You are from Spokane so I know you understand exactly what I was talking about in comments about how fast it gets dark out there. I was sorry to have arrived so late in the day. In fact, the Ranger was taking down the flag from in front of the small Reception Office when we arrived.

I think the enhancement routine Kimi described a few days ago turned some OK pictures into good pictures :)

Rusty

[ront]

Sundown in Spokane right now is about 4:00. The days are pretty short right now and it get dark fast.

Ron