Above: Looking into the Adirondack high peaks from Adirondack Loj Road at 4:08 pm on Thursday, September 22. Aspect ratio = 4:1
One of the most difficult photographic genres for a viewer to be able to appreciate as ‘art’ is the landscape image. I don’t consider myself to be a landscape photographer, per se, though I do photograph landscapes. As with any image I take, I endeavor to convey more than simply a visual. My goal is to connect with the viewer emotionally.
During this trip I had purposed to experiment with methods for achieving detailed panoramic images. The image above is actually composed of six separate images that I merged together later in Photoshop. Combining multiple photographs into one helps eliminate distortion and generates an extremely high-resolution image.
I elected to include the width-to-height aspect ratio that I cropped each image, for those, like me, who might actually care, as well as the time each image was taken because I like the stories they help to weave of the photo shoots.
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Sunday, September 18.
Above: Long Lake looking to the south southwest from the ridge between Mount Donaldson and Mount Emmons on the Seward Range. Aspect ratio = 4:1
Above: Another view of Long Lake further along the ridge just minutes after the photo above was taken. I kid you not that I had to tone-down the colors in this image! Aspect ratio = 3:1
____________________Tuesday, September 20.
This was my second recovery day from my 18 mile hike of the Seward Mountain Range on Sunday. The image above captures mountain light at the end of the day off Route 73 heading toward Keene/Keene Valley. Aspect ratio = 4:1.
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Wednesday, September 21.
I had hoped to climb The Great Range on this day, but had to settle for some pictures of it instead. Several key trails were still closed due to Hurricane Irene flood damage. In changing my sites I hit the trailhead for Big Slide Mountain early in order to capture first light.
I had hoped to climb The Great Range on this day, but had to settle for some pictures of it instead. Several key trails were still closed due to Hurricane Irene flood damage. In changing my sites I hit the trailhead for Big Slide Mountain early in order to capture first light.
Above: Image of the Great Range shortly after sunrise, at 7:36 am, from First Brother on my ascent up Big Slide Mountain. Aspect ratio = 4:1
More images from this hike to come.
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Thursday, September 22.
After spending the morning working on my laptop at Ashley's Cafe in Lake Placid, I saw that the rain had been replaced with spotty sun and clouds, so I headed out. I ended up on Adirondack Loj Road where I spent four hours watching the landscape transform continuously before me as sun, clouds, and rain all jockeyed for supremacy—each had its moments.
After spending the morning working on my laptop at Ashley's Cafe in Lake Placid, I saw that the rain had been replaced with spotty sun and clouds, so I headed out. I ended up on Adirondack Loj Road where I spent four hours watching the landscape transform continuously before me as sun, clouds, and rain all jockeyed for supremacy—each had its moments.
Above: Image taken from Adirondack Loj Road at 5:48 pm on the same day as the first image in this post. Aspect ratio = 4:1
More images from this photo shoot to come.
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Friday, September 30—Morning Shoot.
Through taking-up conversation with an area life-time resident in his mid seventies, two nights earlier at the Saranac Lake McDonalds, I learned of a rare location that offered near 360-degree panoramic views. The next eight images came out of that morning’s photo shoot.
Above: Image taken at 7:31 am. This was the first picture I took upon arriving at this location. This is a single photograph image. Aspect ratio = 3:1
Above: This image is a compilation of three photographs taken at 7:33 am. Aspect ratio = 3:1
Above: This is another compilation image that was taken at 7:49 am. Aspect ratio = 3:1
I spent 49 minutes capturing images from a two-hundred-yard stretch of road before I zoomed back into Saranac Lake to work on a 5:00 pm deadline I needed to meet.
Above: Image taken at 7:51 am. This is another single photograph image. Aspect ratio = 3:1
Above: I pulled-back my lens as the lighting changed to help me capture the bigger picture (ha!). Taken at 7:55 am, this image is cropped at an aspect ratio of 5:1 and required seven photographs to create it. Note the detail in the bottom-right-hand corner of this image, that's the area I was focused-in on for the previous four images.
It’s worth mentioning here that the more dramatic the aspect ratio being photographed (i.e. the longer and thinner the image will be) the greater attention the photographer needs to be paying at the time of image capture to maintain a smooth alignment across all images to be merged. One slip too high or too low and the desired (merged) image will be compromised.
Above: Image taken at 8:13 am, this is a different view all together. I really like the sense of majesty and subtlety conveyed through this image . . . is it just me? Aspect ratio = 3:1
Above: Image taken at 8:18 am. Aspect ratio = 4:1
Above: Image taken at 8:19 am—one minute before I packed-up and headed back to town. Aspect ratio = 3:1
____________________Friday, September 30—Evening Shoot.
With my deadline completed and behind me, I made tracks for Saint Regis Mountain with hopes of a quick climb to capture the day’s closing and the 6:52 pm sunset. Inspiration for this little jaunt came from my friend, Dave Johnson (see September 23 post), who told me that I wouldn’t be disappointed. The next four images are the fruits of that evening’s hike.
Above: Image taken at 6:17 pm. I took this image compilation just a few minutes after arriving at the summit. Aspect ratio = 4:1
When I arrived at the Mountain’s trailhead at 5:09 I received a bit of a surprise. I had thought I was in for a 1.5 mile hike, but the trailhead sign said it was 3.3 miles to the summit—whoops. Long story, short, I made it to the top of Saint Regis in an hour and six minutes to witness spectacular end-of-day light.
Above: Image taken at 6:19 pm. I swung slightly to my right from the previous image, made an exposure adjustment, and captured this. The image is composed of eight separate photographs. Aspect ratio = 5:1
Above: I captured the eight images that it took to create this panorama at 6:28 pm. Aspect ratio = 4:1.
Above: This image, taken at 6:30 pm, looking to the East, holds the record for utilizing 12 photographs to construct the composite. Aspect ratio = 4:1.
By 6:50 pm, just 40 minutes after reaching the summit, I was packed-up and heading down the mountain. I made it back to the trailhead by 7:49 pm. I will likely post one or two more panos from this evening’s hike in the near future.
More to come . . .
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