Will I Sneeze?

A panoramic view (four image composite picture) of the field of oilseed rape next to one of the lanes we walk from time to time. This is the field where the farmer was using kite bird scarers some weeks ago.



When I get too close to this lovely yellow display each year I usually end up with a day or two sneezing.

Alongside some nice sunny mornings we have also had our share of heavy rain showers and electrical storms throughout the week.

Brrrrr

First thing yesterday morning saw the temperature dropping to -3.6C



During the day it almost reached +3C with a slightly hazy sky and lots of Sunlight.



At least that meant no more snow but where many footpaths had been clear the day before, snow showers the previous evening gave them a covering again. That soon turned to ice as the snow was compressed by pedestrians. I'm getting good value from the ice spikes this year.

On our morning walkies we had a look down a track between fields



Standing in one field entrance I took a panoramic view looking towards the Lincolnshire Wolds



The 287 feet high tower and steeple of St. James,Louth parish church, was easily visible poking up. (a closer crop of the above photo) I've not seen it so clearly on a photo taken from 6Km (3.7 miles) away.



On the return journey the Winter Sun was casting long shadows



Back home and a quick look at the raised pond complete with alligator and rabbit.



Yes. Frozen over as expected. Looking forward to Monday when temperatures are forecast to rise again. Last night they dipped down to -7.1C. All photos taken with a Canon G5X Mkii.

Just When I Though it was All Over

After tea madam sprawls out until she hears the magic words "Time to get ready". We went through to the kitchen and were greeted with the sight of .....



We have hardly had more that a few flakes all day until then. In fact it was the heaviest shower seen here this week. Once it was over we again walked to the end of the lane. I took a few photos with the Canon GX5 using the built in panorama facility. This was about the best:



Then we made a detour on to the cricket field



Anyone for cricket? The snow showers continued on and off all evening.

Wider and Wider

While out for our morning walk I found the panorama setting on the Canon G5X MkII so gave it a whirl. I soon found out that I needed to focus on the main part of the panorama area I was about to shoot. Then move the camera to the start position. Once the shutter button is fully pressed it rapidly keeps taking and stitching photos as the camera is moved round until the button is released. The panorama is produced almost instantly for review.

These are uncropped, as taken apart from a bit of added clarity.
Unfortunately panoramas are shot in jpg so not as amenable to tweaking as RAW photos.

 



 

Blue Sky, White Clouds

Yesterday was one of my regular visits to The Wagon and Horses at South Reston to meet up with a friend and enjoy what are probably the best fish and chips anywhere around.

I always drive the back roads as it is half the distance compared with taking the main road. Along one straight stretch there is an unofficial layby where many a white van driver can be found taking a breather as I am usually passing about midday. Yesterday I had the space to myself. As it is next to a field entrance it is a good open spot to see across the farmland:



The view was perfect, lots of Sunlight and cloud formations. The above is six hand held photos auto stitched using iFoto Stitcher for OS X. Clicking on the photo takes you to Flickr where a larger version can be seen.

Cloudy Panorama

Taken a couple of days ago between heavy rain showers.
Three stitched photos using Autostitch (Mac) to make a panoramic view.

Enhanced slightly to show more detail in the shadows using Elements 10:



Almost sepia with just a bit of colour left in:



As always clicking on a photo takes you to Flickr where larger views can be seen.

Panolapse - Part 3

I downloaded the new version of Panolapse yesterday. I couldn't find a description of what is different, added or improved but did notice a tick box for zoom which I hadn't noticed before. In fact the description on the site had previously said that zoom could be added using a normal video processing program. Now it can be done in Panolapse.

Yesterday I took a series of six shots with the Nikon looking across to the Lincolnshire Wolds from one of our usual walks. I used Hugin to stitch them - much better results than the Serif program I usually use.

 


Next I made 308 copies of that to load in Panolapse.

For this first video panorama I forgot to change the aspect ratio offered in Panolapse so it ended up more CinemaScope than widescreen and I didn't use the zoom feature. Panolapse produced 308 stills which were made into a video using ImageToVideo.



Finally I started Panolapse again and chose 16:9 as the aspect ratio and zoomed in the start of the sequence and let it zoom out as it panned across the panorama:



All the programs I used are free and took a bit of experimenting to get them to do what I want - but that goes for any newly acquired complex program really. What I need now is a new PC with heftier processing capabilities - more memory, faster processor, etc. as the present one is working slowly and flat out when it comes to working with videos.

Nestbox News

It can't be long now before the first baby plucks up courage to leave the nest. Lots of wing exercising going on and at least one has taken a peek through the entrance.

Clouds and Sun Dogs

While out for our after tea walk I noticed a Sun Dog - where a group of clouds show the colours of the rainbow. It had disappeared by the time we got back home but I kept an eye in that direction in case it should appear again. Patience was rewarded as two appeared, one each side  of the Sun and at about the same elevation. They were not as well defined as the ones I saw last year so I took lots of shots in the hope that I could capture the event.

South side Sun Dog                                                   North side Sun Dog
  

The red part of the spectrum is on the side nearest the Sun.
You can read about how Sun Dogs are formed HERE.

There was quite a variety of cloud formations and, inspired by Adrian of Adrian's Images, I tried a few panoramic compositions taking three shots with the TZ7 on its widest angle setting. The first was taken while the Sun was above the horizon but behind the trees. It was processed using Serif Panorama Plus 2, which is a free program.

 

The resulting panorama was then tweaked with the ReDynaMix plug-in in Photoshop Elements 10:



For some reason the set of three shots taken as the Sun started to set were rejected by Serif's program so were stitched in Elements and tweaked as before:



On days like yesterday where the cloud shapes and movement show how winds at various levels move in different directions it is easy to see why weather prediction can still be very hit and miss, especially on a local level.

Two iPhone Panorama apps Compared (Photosynth, DMD Panorama)

I have two panorama photo apps on my iPhone so the other day I decided to test them with a couple of views each taken on both apps.  The apps in question are Photosynth, a free app from Microsoft, and DMD Panorama produced by Dermandar. £1.49 at the time of writing though the price does drop to free from time to time. Both are available for download in the iTunes app store. Both apps automatically take the series of shots and stitch the result automatically with no opportunity for the photographer to have any say in what is going on.
These panoramas are exactly as produced by the apps on my iPhone4.

First view taken at the end of my lane where the track peters out to arable fields.

Photosynth:


DMD Panorama:


The second view is across the field from the lane which is about two feet below the level of the field:

Photosynth:


DMD Panorama:


The first thing which stands out is the difficulty I had keeping the phone level for each shot with DMD Panorama. This results in an uneven horizon which should have been virtually flat in both views. The reason for this is the way each app is presented on screen while taking the panorama.

Photosynth shows what has been taken in a white rectangle and the latest view in a green rectangle. The idea is to keep the rectangles level with each other. As you move round the white rectangle moves and when the green dot meets the edge of the white rectangle the next photo is taken. I find it easy to concentrate on the rectangles and keep them reasonable well lined up. Also they are easy to see in bright conditions.


By contrast DMP Panorama shows only the present full view. Near the top of the screen are Yin and Yang symbols. These move together as you rotate the phone and the next photo is taken when they meet up. The problem I found was they were very hard to see against a bright sky and concentrating on those it was hard to keep the phone level with the resulting uneven horizon. There are text warning on screen about keeping the phone vertical but they are hard to read in bright light and I found them distracting.


From the point of view of ease of use I found Photosynth better - but - it did make a mess on stitching the sky on the second panorama view. This could be easily 'fixed' with a bit of Photoshopping but it would have been nice if the app had done a better job here. All in all though there is little to grumble about with Photosynth considering it is always a free app.

Panorama on the iPhone - revisited

Not just on the iPhone but also on iPads which have a camera.


DMD Panorama app
Yesterday I came across this interesting app for the iPhone / iPad which takes panoramic photos. This app normally costs between 69p and £1.49 but for a short time each month it is available free on the iTunes app store. Anything which is free is worth a try. Wow. Such an easy app to use and so very fast at producing the final result.

This is a quick twirl round my scruffy back garden in early morning low sunlight.
First the photo produced:



Now that will be a bit difficult to see what is what without going to Flickr and enlarging it. The final 360 degree photo is 5843 x 800 pixels.

But - on the iPhone or iPad the photo can be scrolled inside the app. Also the people at Dermandar who wrote the app  give the facility to have a free account where you can upload the photo and then get a code from the site to embed it on your blog / website with the ability to view full screen. (Click on the arrow at the top right hand corner of the flash view.) The mouse can be used to move the view left or right.  Two codes are given:

Javascript / HTML5 / Flash (which doesn't seem to work for me)



and Flash:




I can see this being useful for lovely scenic views which should be more pleasing to the eye than scruffy back gardens. If you visit dermandar dot com you can browse lots of panorama shots which people have taken with this app. A right click on the flash view gives a menu you can use to visit their site.

When I looked on the iTunes app store this morning the app was still free to download but this will probably change soon.

iPhone4 Panorama 2nd Trial + Now We Are Seven

While we were out for our afternoon walk, dodging the showers, I took a 180 degree panorama shot with the iPhone4 using the free app Photosynth. The resultant panorama was tweaked in Photoshop Elements 10 as the ground was very dark on the original. It gives a good view of the cloudy conditions over the Lincolnshire Wolds which are about four miles away. My biggest disappointment is the overall lack of sharpness though that said the iPhone4 cameras are not the best in the world, especially when compared with those used in Sony Ericsson phones. In this day and age 5 Mpixels is a bit on the stingy side and is the thing which put me off buying an iPhone for a long while. (the iPhone4S camera has 8Mpixels which should give better sharpness)

Another 'problem' which shows is the change in brightness which can occur in the individual shots which make up the panorama as the camera is using auto exposure. Interesting to note that the stitching is done at an angle to the vertical. These are particularly noticeable on the left hand side of this panorama.



Clicking on the photo will take you to Flickr where larger views can be seen.


Great Tit Nest

It looks as though the final count is seven eggs this year (six last year, of which only four hatched). Mrs GT has been spending long periods out of the nest leaving the eggs uncovered but incubation seemed to start late yesterday and is continuing today with Mr GT bringing Mrs GT food.

Now we are seven as can be seen in this snapshot from the video feed:

 

iPhone Panorama

Free from Microsoft, would you believe, is an app for the iPhone (3GS, 4, 4S with iOS 4.2 or later) called Photosynth. This automatically takes panoramic photos. Well the process is auto though the operator has to turn round. You set up the first view and start the app. As you slowly turn round a real time view is shown on the screen. As this view passes the appropriate point, shown by a moving dotted line on the screen, it automatically takes the next photo. Once a full circle of photos have been saved you click 'finish' and the app stitches the photos together to make the panorama. It is a lot faster doing this than I expected and the result can be saved to the camera roll and / or uploaded to Bing Maps, Facebook or Twitter.

This is a test shot of my unruly back garden:
You can have the raw panorama as stitched in the app:
It looks a bit wavy as I found it difficult to keep the phone level whilst doing a twirl with bright sunlight on the screen.
 

or automatically cropped in the app:


Clicking on the above photos will take you to Flickr where larger views can be seen.

You don't have to take a full circular view. If it only takes a few photos to get something on 'film' then the stitching process can be started at any time by clicking 'finish'. The app will work in any direction, left to right, up and down and it is possible to build up a photo from a block of 2x2 or 3x3 etc. shots.

 Photosynth can be found as a free download on the iTunes app store. It is also compatible with the iPad 2 and 3.