Not really a trail

I went up toward Baldy today, not all the way up because it was pretty late in the day, but enough to get an awesome view or two. The whole trail would have taken me at least another hour, which would have put me on the decent at night...not the best idea. So I called it a day where I was and turned around.

After I took a few pictures of course.

I stopped at an overlook, and there was this cool little rock knoll that sloped down along the ridge. I thought it would just be perfect for a panorama. There was even a little dead tree on the right side to put in the frame!

With photos like this, it's nice to have a foreground element to ground everything. It helps create 3D space, and also really helps frame the photo, keeping everything together. Even though the edge of the frame is farther than the tree, the tree keeps your eye from wondering too far from the center of the image.

I tried out a couple different places for me to ride, but the one I liked the best was just in front of the camera. The distortion from using a 10mm lens really stretched me out, which I think helps add to the depth of the image. Everything is pointing toward the "trail," and then the mountains behind. I was a little unsure of blocking the mountains with my body, but I think the positioning works better than having me farther down the trail.

This is a three image panorama....10mm lens. Not much to say about that. In Ps, I had to use puppet warp a bit to bring the right lower edge back into the frame. Not anything advanced. Just set some point so that you don't warp the whole thing too much.

For editing, I upped the clarity and vibrance a bit, as well as the shadows. Not too much because I wanted to keep it very natural looking. Just enough that it compensates for the camera's inability to see the full dynamic range that the eye can see.

Question to think about, what if we could see the full range of light. No blown out suns or shadows too dark to see in....

See you tomorrow!