Milky Way Fails
Over the last few months the PhotoCpl web log and mail has become really surf centric. That's ok, it is that time of the year, and anyway who are we kidding- it's what I love to do! But there's also a huge other side of photography, the beach-scapes and pano's. There's a real passion for panoramic photography, the 1 to 3 ratio of a pano, of shooting in a format that matches most people's peripheral view.
The Fotoman 617 Pano Camera- you sexy beast
There's not been much done lately, except for a couple of exciting commercial commissions. They were technically demanding jobs and in a way they kicked in the Pano passion again. I reckon just after a book release, you're in a bit of a creative flux, besides which, it is is the time to present the finished works. The latest book The Big Little Beach Book featured panos taken with the Fotoman heavily like this one...
And it's the Pano work which has landed all the international awards like this one above, again a film shot, taken on Kodak T-Max 100- love that film stock!
So how do you get proficient at something? Easy, make mistakes. I make lots of mistakes, in fact I make more mistakes than getting it right. To be brutally honest when I start getting it right I get bored and wanna move onto the next thing. I'm thinking this is not a great trait to be writing about in an post huh? But making mistakes and then debriefing and learning from them is good. Here's this week's clanger of a pano...
Yep that there is a WTF moment for sure. How to make a Milky Way digital pano resemble a map of Oz. It should look like this a bit more...
The shooting star is cool, the balance of moon light on the Lion is about right, but to correct the 'Oz map' factor the file had too be pushed waaaay too far. The goal is always to get it right in camera at the time of shooting, any post work is should be minor. Debrief, wait for the next clear sky night for another play. I did like this shot from the same night though...
The Big Install
One of the key reasons for shooting film panos is this right here. MASSIVE installations. The confidence that a client can get an image as big as they dare go. You couldn't shoot this as a digital stitch pano because there are waves moving through the scene. Gareth from Blank Canvas Sign Co and Shane from Upfront Graphics managed this installation for Ola Products- it's a whopping 4.65 metres wide.
And there's that sexy beast 617 camera in place on the session the above pano was taken
The OLA Giveaway
OLA Products are the proud Kiwi distributors of premium products such as Sex Wax, Phix Doctor ding repair kits and the exceptional Otis Eyewear ... glass lenses, not plastic. OLA have given me this $300.00 pack of goodies to give to YOU.
It's that easy. Non subscribers will have to subscribe HERE to be eligible. Only one entry counts, draw will be done using random.org's randomiser at 5pm 10 May 2017. ... that's next Wednesday.
I'll give you a heads up too, you'd be surprised how few subscribers enter Giveaway Draws- it's $300.00 of essentials you NEED!
From The Galleries
By Popular Demand.. over 600 people [across social media] liked this image. So keeping instep with that, it is now available via the Wave Gallery. If you wanna see it larger, or BUY IT, Or LIKE it, just click on the image