Now it is time for the images to speak...

Well, the time has come, the toys have been replaced and time to make some images worth sharing.

Sometimes a single frame capture is enough. Sometimes it simply isn't.

All in South Africa's beautiful Port Elizabeth will know this view very well. Coming past there yesterday on what was a picture-perfect day I thought I'd test one or two ideas. I wanted to see exactly how far I could push things with a 10-stop filter...

It was a pretty view on a BEAUTIFUL day...and so I played.

The above image is the result of 9 portrait-orientation images with about 30% overlap stitched. It covers a field of view of about 150-160 degrees.

In file size it is pocket change short of 2Gb. Remember that this is the jpeg version. The raw file version will be larger. Much larger... For those who wish to know, the image is around 8000 pixels high and 22 700 pixels wide.

Here is a 100% view sample showing the Cape Recife lighthouse.

But what about one single frame capture?

Port Elizabeth's Cape Recife seen from Secret Beach looking north-east. Canon 16-35 f/4 at 35mm.

Port Elizabeth's Cape Recife seen from Secret Beach looking north-east. Canon 16-35 f/4 at 16mm.

Well, these are 15 second exposures in the most harsh midday sun possible. I was able to do a 15 second exposure getting blurred water in this light because I had a 10-stop Nisi filter on the front of the lens. I get my stuff from this amazing team here.

I got the resulting effect I wanted with plenty of room for more experimentation. But single frames simply don't do justice to the view...

The easy way out is to take a series of overlapping images and stitch them in Photoshop. To do this you will obviously need a tripod. A decent sturdy tripod.

You have a tripod? Great! Now it gets complex going to the next step. You will start hearing about things like panorama tripod heads and nodal sliders.

If you wish to take your landscape photography to the next level I seriously recommend this video by Gary Gough here. In fact, subscribe while you are there because this guy has some seriously good stuff.

The BOTTOM LINE?

You DON'T need those things. I chose to buy them anyway because I like stuff. But seriously, I choose to use it because it slows me down and forces me to work more systematically. Doing a good panorama image with a regular STURDY tripod is totally doable.

The most important thing is getting out there and bringing home usable images to produce that nice print you want. And obviously to have fun doing it!

Happy shooting!

Anton