Panorama with my 50mm

For the last several years, I have been delving into the world of panorama photography. The main lens I have used has been the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 . This is an amazing lens, and you can get broad-sweeping panoramas with it at 14mm. However, lately, I have been using my 50mm f/1.8 . While I have been very unhappy with this lens' performance in a studio setting, it has served me well in landscape photography.

Below are a couple of the panoramas that I recently shot with my 50mm lens. Immediately below is a petroglyph that can be found on the McConkie Ranch outside of Vernal, Utah. I was just several feet away when I snapped this panorama. It's a 60-photo, 49-degree (FOV) HDR panorama. Just a side note: It's a quick trip to the ranch from Vernal, and it's a great place to see ancient rock art, if you're into the natural history gambit. I am.

The next pano I shot was of Independence Monument, located in Colorado National Monument. This gem of park can be found just outside of Grand Junction, Colo. While I was a few feet away from the rock art, I was several hundred feet back from the rock monuement. Both are panoramas but the distance from camera to subject make for a dramatic difference in the photo composition.

To see what I use to shoot my panoramas, go... here!

All White...

So, last fall I took a photo class on stock photography, and have since been approved to sell stock photos on istock.com.

I think the one thing I took away from the class was the importance of shooting on a white backdrop (when necessary). To have a solid, consistent white in the background is important, and can make your photo more appealing to designers (as it makes it easier to drop it out).

While I don't have the fancy studio set-up, I do have three speedlights: two Nikon SB-600's (Which are okay;) and one Nikon SB-900, which is fantastic.

With those three lights, a folding card table, a white bed sheet, and the Nikon CLS (Creative Lighting System)... I can create a miniature studio to shoot still life. Suffice to say, my 60-pound dog is too big for this rig.

After many, "not-even-close" shots. I was able to get the hang of it and captured these shots:



This is a pine cone on white, looking at it from the top down. This is a 3-light set up. I have a key light photo right, and two pointed at the backdrop to boost the white up towards the 255 range.



Again, a 3-light set up but powered so that the glass casts a "late-afternoon" type of shadow



Same as above...

And now... here was my first stab at shooting on all white... which I could call a failure. Well, it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, so it's nothing I'd use!



For the complete set of photos that I have shot on white, go here!

I plan to shoot more on white... and hope to get more on to my istock account. What I have also learned is that 8 photos in your istock portfolio DOES NOT make you a prolific photographer.