360° Panoramas!

I’ve been playing with 360° photography for several months. For me, this is a fun new way of doing photography.

The simplified explanation of the process is to shoot enough images to capture all directions, then stitch these images together (I’m using a program called PTGui) into a special format. To create the image below, I shot from a drone at 200′, in RAW to capture the wide range of brightness from shadows to sun reflections, then processed the images in Lightroom, sent these processed images to PTGui to generate the panorama, cleaned up the sky a bit in Photoshop (there’s a hole where the drone is – the camera can’t shoot straight up), then generated the final image using PTGui.

To see all of the panoramas I have published, check out my Panorama Page at roundme.com/@garystebbins. When on that page, click the “TOURS” button to see the images I have published.
Some images have been shot with my camera on a tripod, while others have been shot from a drone. I’m still experimenting and learning.

The image below is a snapshot from a panorama that was shot from a drone at 200′ above the beach just north of Brackett’s Landing. I can’t display a 360° panorama directly in this blog, so you will need to click on the image to open it in a 360° Panorama viewer. For fun, open this from a tablet, like an iPad, and be more immersed in the experience! 🙂

Edmonds Waterfront 360 Snapshot
Edmonds Waterfront 360 Snapshot

Sunset Over Edmonds Waterfront

The evening of July 13 (2014), I walked out my front door and was struck by the odd lighting. Looking up at the sky, I saw what appeared to be a spectacular sunset approaching. I grabbed my camera and jogged down to the Edmonds waterfront (a few minutes away). There was a storm approaching from the south, which provided the interesting clouds to go with the brilliant colors.

Spectacular Sunset from Edmonds, WA, Waterfront
Spectacular Sunset from Edmonds, WA, Waterfront

Coyote near Shell Creek

I’ve heard for years that there are coyotes along Shell Creek. I didn’t doubt that, but never saw one until several weeks ago. This healthy guy (or gal) was splashing through the creek, no doubt hunting, then stopped for a photo op in this grassy area. If you live near Shell Creek, this would be a very good reason to keep your cats indoors! (August 22, 2015)

Coyote near Shell Creek, Edmonds, WA
Coyote near Shell Creek, Edmonds, WA

International Space Station

This photo is of the night skies over Edmonds as the International Space Station (ISS) passed over June 10, 2015. It is actually 5 photos combined. Each photo was shot at ISO 1250, f/5.6, approximately 30 seconds, using a 10mm lens on a Pentax K-3 (35mm equivalent 15mm) then combined in Photoshop. You can clearly see the big dipper (cup down) just left of the middle of the photo. You can find out when you can see the ISS at your location at NASA’s “Spot the Station” site.

International Space Station from Edmonds, WA, Waterfront
International Space Station from Edmonds, WA, Waterfront