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Not sure whether this is a first on EPZ, but it's a first for me.
It's 12 shots taken with a Lensbaby composer, that's 4 landscape shots bracketed 3 times, then put through PT GUI, photomatix and finally photoshop.
So it's a lensbaby-hdr-pano
it appeared as a V2 yesterday, hiding behind a more traditional shot of the dock, it got a bit of positive feedback so thought I'd give it an official airing up front 
it's taken with the composer and the F5.6 aperture ring so the sweet (i.e. sharp) spot is pretty small and the blur reasonably pronounced.
On this one I kept the sweet spot central on each shot and made sure that the whole of the tower had some sharpness in each shot, so PTGui could create its control points. Hence the tower's pretty sharp whereas the rest is kinda trippy.
People have told me on more than one occasion that you can do all this in Photoshop afterwards, why bother with the hassle of the Lensbaby....
One word to them
Whooosh!!! 
| Camera: | Canon EOS 5D |
| Lens: | Lensbaby Composer |
| Recording media: | JPEG (digital) |
| Title: | Lensbaby HDR PANO - Clarence Dock |
| Username: | 
ade_mcfade |
| Uploaded: | 14 Jan 2009 - 10:52 AM |
| Tags: | Architecture, Clarence dock, Hdr, Landscape / travel, Leeds, Lensbaby, Pano, Specialist / abstract, Yorkshire |
| VS Mode Rating |
Unrated These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | 37 |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
Comments
a vertical pano Rog
started off pointing at the foot of the building, then moved up a bit, then a bit more,then the last set was at the top.
some of the best X-PAN shots I've seen have been vertical
Cheers Ann - that's really the aim of the shot, it's not a shiney perfectly sharp shot like yesterdays, but a more experimental and dreamy shot that I hope challenges people's ideas on photography a little.
we're all used to images that use standard lenses, so you get front-to-back sharpness, or some forum of blur related to the aperture's DOF, but here it's different in a way, the light is "slurred" rather than traditionally "burred".
I'm bobbing into Leeds after work to have a go at a few thing tonight Ian - though I forsee the need for lots of PANO shots as 50mm for architecture work isn't ideal.
The one thing that is exciting me is doing outdoor night portraits with off camera flash and the creative aperture kit - you can get things like traffic lights to look like stars, hearts or whatever you can come up with - then keep the person in the sweet spot so they're sharp.
Lots of potential, and more importantly, it's something new and makes me think - which is something I'd not had to do for ages really!
Now this is special Ade, very original in its conception, if not the subject. PTGui must have had a few grumbles about bad control points. I think the lensbaby has helped with the selective blur in masking the join marks as try as I might I cant see any (On re looking I think I can see the hint of one) I don't think I've seen a pano yet without a trace of one.
Only slight comment is maybe too much space at the bottom, but the blur movement certailny help this. This I think would look good as a very large print
This is being shortlisted. Now a lensbaby pano, with people movement, now that would be special.
Well I like it lots but then I am a fan of the Lensbaby, although judging from the comments in the "Most Useless Photograhic Purchase" topic, many are not. Just like a lot of other things in photography really....some do/some don't.
Anyway, back to this image. It's different and in pano/Lensbaby combo you get the feeling of rushing forward over the water flying towards the building beyond.
Regards
Roy
Cheers folks
Maybe fortune does favour the brave on EPZ.... occaisionally
I've a lot of ideas for the lensbaby believe me, and most of them can be just rehashes of what I've done in Leeds already - it's a bit like when HDR came along, I re-trod my steps and came up with a book of images of the city as a result.
This is different - with HDR you compose the shot as you'd do for a 1-shot, and just take more shots and use more software
with the lensbaby everything changes at the moment you start to compose the shot.
What if I'd zig-zagged the sweet spot from left to right up this shot?
It introduces ideas like that when you're out taking shots, not just when you're processing them. Doesn't appeal to everyone, but to a creative mind it's like gold dust
Just coming back to this Ade, couldn't this be achieved with a conventional lens at a wide aperture, focusing on the tower. As its in one plane i.e. furthest back. I know LB is designed for selective focal plane focus, where I think it will come into its own for the portrait work etc. If you could get the gangway in focus as well, now that would be effective, but I guess that would need even more PS work (or focus stacking).
I'd hate to do all that on a pano.
I miss read the 4 landscapes for the pano, for others I think you meen 4 landscapes on top of each other with overlap - it also explains why one of the buildings on the RHS looks to curve in - but the other buildings dont. I guess its the distortion created by LB that causes this - I like this and is probably the main reason it sets it apart for me.
even with an F1.2 lens I don't think you'd get the buildings left and right to blur - they're not that far apart at all, not enough for the DOF at 250 yards away to have any major effect anyway. If the side buildings were close to the camera and the tower far away, then you're right, but in this instance, you may get a slight softening of the side buildings, but nothing like this
best way to find out is try it. Got a fast lens to try if with? I've got a f1.4 we can try it with
The thing with the lensbaby is that the focal plane is curved apparently. Different to a TS lens, where that's flat and you can tilt it to any angle. The curved focal plane causes a "spot" of sharpness rather than a "plane" of sharpness. The spot grows with smaller apertures.
So the reason things are blurred here is because of the curvature of the focal plane, not the standard DOF/straight focal plane effects we see.
4 landscapes = 4 triplets in a horizontal orientation.
i.e. point the camera at the foot of the shot in landscape orientation. take 3 shots, each 2 stops apart
vertically move the camera so it's shooting the lower part of the building in landscape orientation. take 3 shots, each 2 stops apart
etc.
Have I stumbled upon a foreign language website by mistake? have to admit I preferred the more "traditional" V1 yesterday, this however works really well on it's own. I do like the look of the Lensbaby. HDR on the otherhand is a complete mystery to me.
One thing I love with the lensbaby are the effects they have on water, especially moving and you don`t even need long exposures.
Always believed you would enjoy the Hdr possibilities with the lens and its about the only thing I have yet to try, I just never seem to find the time 
These lensbabies really get you seeing in another way`s and I can see you are Ade, congrats and full marks on this one.
Paul
Yep, all good.
One thing I'd like to see is multiple sweet spots. So what about a wide pano with something interesting on the left side somewhere and something on the right somewhere. Overlaying multiple lensbaby shots perhaps? I suppose you'd have to do the blurry bit in the middle with no sweet spot though, not sue how possible this is. Not even sure you'll get what I mean!
Slightly different to HDR I guess but the opportunities are endless. Inspiring.
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