Montana Panoramas

[Dale D]

As most of you are aware I am having a great drone and photographic opportunity to capture the beautiful scenery of the State of Montana. Here are some panoramas made by stitching anywhere from 3 to 12 Nikon DSLR and drone images into a panorama using Adobe Photoshop's amazing "Merge to Panorama" function. I find these panos much easier and much better in quality than the panoramas created by the DJI software. My technique is to put the drone straight up above my head about 100 feet or so, and then only using the Yaw of the left stick, shooting each image with a 30% overlap. The grid is turned on for guidance. I then put these images into a folder on my desktop, open the images in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), (select all or CTRL+A), then, right click one of the images and click on the Merge button, and the software does the rest. Once the final image is created I can then edit it to my taste.

In the case of the Nikon DSLR, all images are shot hand held (no tripod), and shot in the vertical mode. I only wish that a vertical view could be taken with the drone but apparently it could not.

Here are a few more MONTANA images done on a 7 1/2 mile hike yesterday on the property of Ted Turner (CNN) , who owns this amazingly huge track of the most gorgeous land I have ever seen! The Turner Ranch is a working ranch of 613,000 acres (The Flying D Ranch).

 

[Lens]

Beautiful motion blur on the waterfall. Wonderful pics Dale, great job.

 

[Dale D]

Beautiful motion blur on the waterfall. Wonderful pics Dale, great job.

The waterfall was done with the Lee Filter Big Stopper,and 10 stop filter, and adapter ring for my 77 mm lens. The exposure was about 20 seconds using tripod and cable release. www.leefilters.com
I did the 7 1/2 mile hike carrying the Nikon D750 and lens and tripod with me in the back pack!! A lot of work for one image!!!

 

[Lens]

That is a good haul with that equipment. Sounds and looks like you're having a great time. Its a feeling of accomplishment when you set out on a journey that ends with creative memories.

 

[macfawlty]

Nicely done Dale. The Pioneer waterfall is well-captured and worthy of the effort. That’s what it takes; a good location, worthy subject, well composed, time of day and the right equipment to capture it.
Looks like there’s some chromatic aberration with the magenta in the clouds.
Why do you use Adobe Camera Raw instead of Lightroom?

 

[DanaMc]

As most of you are aware I am having a great drone and photographic opportunity to capture the beautiful scenery of the State of Montana. Here are some panoramas made by stitching anywhere from 3 to 12 Nikon DSLR and drone images into a panorama using Adobe Photoshop's amazing "Merge to Panorama" function. I find these panos much easier and much better in quality than the panoramas created by the DJI software. My technique is to put the drone straight up above my head about 100 feet or so, and then only using the Yaw of the left stick, shooting each image with a 30% overlap. The grid is turned on for guidance. I then put these images into a folder on my desktop, open the images in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), (select all or CTRL+A), then, right click one of the images and click on the Merge button, and the software does the rest. Once the final image is created I can then edit it to my taste.

In the case of the Nikon DSLR, all images are shot hand held (no tripod), and shot in the vertical mode. I only wish that a vertical view could be taken with the drone but apparently it could not.

Here are a few more MONTANA images done on a 7 1/2 mile hike yesterday on the property of Ted Turner (CNN) , who owns this amazingly huge track of the most gorgeous land I have ever seen! The Turner Ranch is a working ranch of 613,000 acres (The Flying D Ranch).

Magnificent views and photography. ?

 

[DashSolo]

Not too far from Dale D

Missison Falls is above Mission Reseviour. About a three hour...

Missison Falls is above Mission Reseviour. About a three hour hike, the trail is steep and rugged, the last quarter mile. Peel back your layers before that last part. Mission Falls is fed by Mission Creek as is Elizabeth Falls about 2000 ft above these falls. The headwaters for the creek is...

kuula.co

 

[Photo Beaty]

Dale, thanks for sharing those wonderful photos and for letting us know your methods. That is something I can use.

 

[Dale D]

Nicely done Dale. The Pioneer waterfall is well-captured and worthy of the effort. That’s what it takes; a good location, worthy subject, well composed, time of day and the right equipment to capture it.
Looks like there’s some chromatic aberration with the magenta in the clouds.
Why do you use Adobe Camera Raw instead of Lightroom?

I've been editing in Photoshop for my photography since it was invented, and have purchased just about every edition until it went to subscription format. I still purchased Adobe CC suite, including Photoshop, Lightgroom, Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. I am most comfortable with Adobe Photoshop CC 2020. Updates arrive almost weekly.

Lightroom was always the more basic software, and now, Lightroom has upped their game so that, I believe, Lightroom used the same exact engine or software. So it is really whatever you are comfortable with. I find that Photoshop is still the most powerful of the two for selective (e.g.: not global) editing. I make frequent use of the GRADIENT filter in Photoshop, because either the sky or the foreground need adjustment. This is especially true with the drone images. I find that the tools in Photoshop are far more extensive than Lightroom. My tool box is filled with spot healing brush (eliminates power lines), dodge, and burn brushes , clone stamp, etc. No question in my mind that Photoshop is superior for editing details, whereas Lightroom is best for global (e.g.:entire image) adjustments.

I still use Lightroom exclusively for my LRTimelapse timelapse videos.as in this example

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[Dale D]

Not too far from Dale D

Missison Falls is above Mission Reseviour. About a three hour...

Missison Falls is above Mission Reseviour. About a three hour hike, the trail is steep and rugged, the last quarter mile. Peel back your layers before that last part. Mission Falls is fed by Mission Creek as is Elizabeth Falls about 2000 ft above these falls. The headwaters for the creek is...

kuula.co

Love the Flathead area. Tons of gorgeous scenery up there, not to mention Glacier National Park. We rented a
B and B in Whitefish one summer and also, North 40 Lodge on the road to Glacier. National parks now are a mess of humanity and we are staying away from Glacier and Yellowstone mobs.

 

[DashSolo]

Love the Flathead area. Tons of gorgeous scenery up there, not to mention Glacier National Park. We rented a
B and B in Whitefish one summer and also, North 40 Lodge on the road to Glacier. National parks now are a mess of humanity and we are staying away from Glacier and Yellowstone mobs.

We were up there on Saturday at Logan Pass and some clown with a KARMA was hiking past us and told him if a ranger see's him with it he will be fined and it will be confiscated, he turned around back to the parking lot. We were about 1000 ft above the road on the trail. The Hidden Lake boardwalk was closed because of bear activity.

 

[Dale D]

We were up there on Saturday at Logan Pass and some clown with a KARMA was hiking past us and told him if a ranger see's him with it he will be fined and it will be confiscated, he turned around back to the parking lot. We were about 1000 ft above the road on the trail. The Hidden Lake boardwalk was closed because of bear activity.

That is funny! We had the same exact experience on Logan Pass boardwalk- thousands of people not able to go down to Hidden Lake due to bear activity last summer.

Droning in Glacier would be so wonderful but I don't want trouble with law enforcement. We manage to find Glacier-like scenery elsewhere in Montana such as the examples I have been submitting in this forum discussion. The Idaho/Montana border area of Centennial Mountains would be a great example. Vast open areas, gorgeous mountains, and no body to bother you at all.

 

[Harro]

Really well done, loved the photos!.

 

[Dale D]

Really well done, loved the photos!.

Thank a lot. This place is a jewel!! Highly recommend the great state of Montana for scenery, photography, drones, NICE people, great human beings who respect each other (not like my home grown Miami-ugh!). I Could live here if not for the bitter winters.

 

[Proffy]

Amazing nature!