HDR and panorama during Mantralaya visit

Here are some HDR and panorama shots taken during our yearly visit to Mantralaya temple. Few years back, torrential rains and floods from Tungabhadra river, had ruined the temple very badly. Later, many volunteers thronged to help in reconstruction of the town including temple. As a result of many years of work, the temple has beautiful look now. This panorama stitch is of temple front view. Of-course one could see barrel distortion and it is expected when you grab panorama shots non-linearly. Even some UWL lenses exhibit this nature but not noticeable as below. Enjoy the full front view of temple.

MANTRALAYA TEMPLE

Evening time, we spent considerable amount of time in Tungabhadra river basin. I wanted to stay till the Sunset and achieved it too ;-). Before sunset, I wanted to grab landscape picture with coracle. As expected, the high energy SUN eats up all the luminosity in picture consequently under-exposing the surroundings. Hence time to grab HDR shot. 5 exposure shot gave me perfect image exposing both coracle and Sun eventually :-).

CORACLE AND SUN ;-)

Next is golden hour picture just before sunset. We were expecting beautiful Sunset, however clouds suddenly turned up and spoiled our enthusiasm :-(. Nevertheless, the nature never betrays. The Sun behind clouds was waving rays through the clouds :-). That created some beautiful colors too! This is perfect for HDR shot. Here is one more 5 image bracketed HDR. I am really happy with the image. The clouds, colors and rocks are perfectly exposed. Also my one more intention was to expose those distant power masts which was achieved in image. The only problematic part is the distant landscape did not come up with good colors. After inspecting all 5 images, I realized more dynamic was required. This is the case where one needs 7 exposures to have great dynamic range. Eventually, I am happy with the result.

GOLDEN HOUR HDR OF TUNGABHADRA RIVER, MANTRALAYA

HDR and panorama from Shringeri.

After sailing through Kuduremukh western ghats, we reached Shringeri on 21-09-2013. It was hardly 2hrs journey mainly due to ghat section. It is really mesmerizing experience driving through western ghats during monsoon season. Rolling back to mainstream, father wanted to visit Shringeri to spend some time in temple town. Despite, being only 2hr journey, lot of hurdles made us to refrain from visiting the beautiful Malnad temple. This time the visit was pre-planned and we made it too. As always, I did some experiments with my favorite partner ;-). I did not try much except for some HDR and panorama. Last time, I did shoot a HDR of preserved ancient temple which is documented here. This time, there were thick clouds over sky which tempted me to grab a HDR with Tunga River. So here is HDR bracketed with 3 exposures. I happy with clouds, vegetation and water being exposed in image except for the colors which would have been more greener if there were more bracketed shots (may be 5).

TUNGA RIVER BASIN, SHRINGERI

Settings:

Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus Point: Auto
Aperture: f/9.0
ISO: 100
Picture Style: Landscape
White Balance: Cloudy
Metering: Center weighted average
No of images:3
Exposures: --2,0,+2(1/200s for middle one)
ML Firmware: v2.3
Softwares: Luminance HDR (Fatal operator), GIMP

From this blog onwards, I am modifying setting details slightly. HDRs are always bracketed in 'Manual focus' mode and hence I am shifting from Focus to Focus point. Sometimes we will have to make manual focus points to concentrate on subject of interest. I will mention the focus point explicitly if set to manual

Next is panorama of Tunga river nearby temple. Since the monsoon has almost ended, not much water could be seen. My intention was to grab wider image of the river with hillocks. Here is 5 image stitch of sweet Tunga river of Shringeri!

PANORAMIC VIEW OF SWEET TUNGA RIVER BASIN

HDR and Panorama during monsoon visit to Murudeshwara

The stretch between Udupi to Karwar is one of my favorite travel route. Those ravishing hillocks, Arabian sea, konkan railway tunnels and not to miss plenty of rivers give heavenly feeling especially during monsoon season. Of them, the stretch between Kundapur to Gokarna is truly marvelous. Also not miss the gorgeous site near Shiroor where one can see both western ghats and Arabian sea from highway. I could not grab any picture of this site due to lack of time :-(.

I can never miss few minutes break at glorious Maravanthe beach where Souparnika river teases arabian sea. During our recent visit to Anegudde siddhivinayak temple and Murudeshwar, I stopped at Maravanthe beach for quite some time to enjoy the full flowing river and roaring sea. From many days, I wanted to capture panoramic view of beautiful Maravanthe beach. This time I achieved the same. Hope you will enjoy this six image stitch of the sight.

NATURE MAGIC AT MARAVANTHE BEACH, KUNDAPURA

Next is 5 image stitch of hills near Murudeshwar. Just casual shot, nothing specific in mind.

HILLS NEARBY MURUDESHWARA

Apsarakonda was not in our plan. However due to bad roads we reached Murudeshwar around 1:30PM. The temple is closed from 1PM to 3PM. Hence we visited apsarakonda falls which is 17km from here. The road in this stretch was very good. As we reached the site, I was tempted to grab HDR of Kasarkod beach. This is one beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Also there was heavy rain too ;-) due to which we were the only visitor :D. It was delightful to watch the full flourishing apsarakonda waterfalls. Last time when we visited during December time-frame, it looked like tap water. This time, it had full glory :-). I was really excited to see the waterfall site. Will share some pics when I find time. So here is HDR of the evergreen Kasarkod beach from Apsarakonda waterfall parking lot. I am happy that clouds, paddy fields and sea are properly exposed in picture. The massive clouds poured for nearly 30 minutes later. Unfortunately due to dearth of time, we could not reach top of hill to have magnificent view of Kasarkod beach. Also we missed majestic Sharavati river basin at Honavar and Idagunji temple. I have some plans to visit these places this winter.

MAGNIFICENT KASARKOD BEACH, HONAVAR

The next HDR is of hillocks viewed from top of pinnacle at Murudeshwar. HDR was shot to get greater dynamic range. I was never knowing that we can reach the top floor of pinnacle. This time I observed the lift at the entrance and had good aerial view of the Murudeshwar (including Shiva statue) from top of pinnacle. Here is HDR of aerial view of Murudeswar with lush green western ghats at the backdrop.

MURUDESHWARA TOWN!

With this write-up, I am celebrating 100th post in blogger. Hope you enjoyed the small write-ups throughout.

HDR and Panorama during Shivanasamudra revisit with cheap CPL filter

Visitors were not allowed to step down during my last visit to Shivanasamudra. That was quite obvious too! Also I had to face ire of our usual travel gang when I went alone :D. Hence time to revisit the falls to have some excursion :-). I carried my cheap CPL filter with me since the day was hazy and believe me, it did very very good job. Almost removed 70% of haze in picture when used 90 degree from SUN axis! I was really excited since sky did not turn white in pictures :-). Most of the pictures which were shot at an angle ranging from 30-90 degrees from Sun's axis had clearly exposed SKY :-). Will share some pictures at some point later in blog.

We had hired taxi to visit Shivanasamudra and Talakaadu this time. I faced wrath of mother when traveled alone in bike last time :D. This time we were four and hence taxi would be convenient and cheap. More than our expectation, we had full fun at Bharachukki falls with water and monkeys :-). The boys enjoyed in water and I enjoyed with camera ;-). I have lot of milky ways too ;-). We had coracle ride close to main waterfall and completely drenched :D.

Back to primary topic ;-). The first is HDR shot of one of our friend watching one of divisions of Bharachukki falls. This is 5 bracketed HDR shot ranging from -2 to +2 in increments of +1EV. The camera light meter was exposing only the water but not our friend and hence I grabbed HDR shot ;-). In composed final image we have both person and waterfall properly exposed! The bright sky is magic of CPL filter ;-).

FRIEND LOOKING INTO THE WATERFALLS!

Settings:

Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Focal Length: 18mm
Focus: Manual
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Picture Style: Neutral
White Balance: Daylight
Metering: Center weighted average
No of images: 5
Exposures: -2.-1,0,+1,+2 (1/30s for middle one)
ML Firmware: v2.3
Softwares: Luminance HDR (Fatal operator), GIMP

While stepping up back from Bharachukki falls, I was tempted to capture full view of Bharachukki falls. Again 18mm was not enough :(. The only option was to take multiple shots and stitch them. This is 6 shot panorama picture. The weird sky is again because of CPL filter! The sky is bit weird mainly because the camera was not at proper angle from which CPL filter could be used faithfully from axis of SUN. Of-course due to changing position, it was impossible too! The final image stitched with Hugin panorama creator did turn out very well ;-). The settings were f/11 (Av mode), ISO 100 and 'daylight' white balance. Hope you will enjoy the image. The image is best viewed in full size.

PANORAMA OF BHARACHUKKI FALLS

In order to know how CPL filters work, you need to know the light physics with electromagnetic waves. There are lot articles in internet if you are interested ;-). I will be using the filter in future extensively after seeing results especially in Kaup beach :-). I did buy it long time back. Just wondering what I was doing keeping it idle. Fortunately at-least I am enlightened now ;-)

Comments and critiques are always welcome.

Some HDR and Panorama during Jog Falls visit

Western ghats are the best place to visit during Monsoon time. Despite of inclement weather, once reached, they are heaven. During our day long stay in Jog falls, I did some trial HDR and panorama. In real terms, HDR was not required at falls site since overcast weather provided some good lighting. The only reason I bracketed HDR shots was to get nice colors on image :-).

The first is the panorama shot of Jog falls from bungalow view point (not british bungalow) located nearby. We wanted some good elevated view point to enjoy the jog falls entirely. As we were roaming around, we could spot this as perfect place. We were relaxing for some time after concluding individual photo-shoots :-). Later it started raining and we went inside the bungalow premises. The view of falls was so gorgeous. However apart from the 4 falls, there was also gowri-shankar falls which is alive only during monsoon. After rain receded, a thought entered into my mind to grab panorama shot including gowri-shankar falls. I took six shots by fixing up white balance as well as aperture. The final image stitching was straight forward with Hugin Panorama creator. The overcast weather made sure the lighting to be uniform in all images. The SUN would have altered exposure bias atleast in few of images.

PANORAMIC JOG FALL VIEW. LEFT MOST IS GOWRI-SHANKAR FALLS

We had hired taxi to visit other view points nearby Jog falls. On the way, we stopped on the Sharavati bridge for some time. The flow control of the river is based on the water outflow from Linganamakki Dam. The same path plunges as Jog falls after few distance. Eventually the Sharavati river meets Arabian sea in Honavar which is 60kms from here. I personally feel you should never miss the Konkan railway journey along beautiful Sharavati river basin near Honavar.

I composed HDR shots nearby bridge totaling 5 shots ranging from -2 to +2 in increments of 1EV.  The reason behind composing HDR was, camera's light meter either used to expose sky or the river. Not both at a time. The final image turned out to be OK but huge haze at background. Probably I required CPL filter here.

SHARAVATI RIVER BASIN NEAR JOG!

Next HDR is of Jog falls itself. As I mentioned earlier, there was no requirement of HDR. I just wanted those bright colors in final image. Again 5 shots ranging from -2 to +2 with increments of 1EV. I increased the green color balance and some applied few color corrections on image. The main interest in image is the clouds which would have not been exposed in normal shots. The Raja falls was plummeting towards narrow gorge which generated misty envelop around the area. Due to this it was difficult to predict when would sight become totally clear. When it cleared, people were thronging to view and shoot the waterfall including us :-).

MAJESTIC JOG FALLS AND WESTERN GHATS

Revisiting the Panorama Art and HDR of Chunchi falls

It has been long time since I composed panorama shots. Earlier when I was extensively using pocket camera SX210IS, I used to compose many panorama shots. It had option of panorama bracketing which made things very easy. I am not using pocket camera to that extent and left it at home town for quick shooting. Nowadays even mobile camera has HDR and panorama options. However, EOS550D does not have one. The only option is to have Ultra Wide Angle lens. But the UWL lenses are bit expensive to buy as of now. I need to wait some more time until I pile up some budget to buy it. Till then only option is to be contended with 18mm focal length.

During my visit to Chunchi falls, I encountered many beautiful landscapes en-route. They were delightful to watch. It is at that time when I felt 18mm also not enough to compose the beautiful landscape in a frame. Finally decided to compose panorama shots manually and hand-held. My prediction was at-least 80% of subject would be properly aligned in final composition (40% area each from center axis). At some places, 6shots were taken and at some I went till 9 shots.

The problem with this approach is varying lighting. Hence one has to fix up the white balance as well as depth of field properly before proceeding with bracketing. I fixed the white balance to cloudy and probably depth of field to f/11. I also made sure that focus point was infinity. This technique is difficult to apply when things are moving and they are in frame always like sea waves or waterfalls. Hence I did not compose any panorama of waterfall site. I have tried panorama of Kaup beach many times but changing wave position misalign final image. However in the images I composed nothing was moving except clouds. The clouds move out of frame after sometime and also were moving slowly. Hence panorama was pretty much easy. Hope you will enjoy the pictures. I will try out few more in coming days. Enlarge and view to have real feel of the pictures.

The panorama shots were stitched together with beautiful open source software, Hugin panorama creator. It is also available for windows. It has got many features like exposure correction, manual control point selection etc.. I am yet to explore more on the features of software.

This image was taken from parking place of waterfall site. It came out to be bit tricky. It consisted of 6 shots out of which first one had less exposure bias. In final image, the left half turned out to be too much under-exposed and right half was proper. I had to turn off the exposure correction in software and increased the exposure bias of first image to match with other images. Finally the composed image turned out well. My main interests were the hills and channel.

LANDSCAPE NEAR WATERFALLS AREA

This image was straight forward. My only expectation was to keep both bulls and hills in the frame which I was able to achieve.

THE HILLS AND THE BULLS

This came out really well. I am happy with hills, clouds and road in image. The only problematic portion is that road should have not clipped in the middle. It is not software's mistake but mine. I should have framed images properly.

CHUNCHI FALLS CROSS ON THE WAY TO SANGAMA

There was nothing to capture as HDR in Chunchi falls since lighting was perfect. Still I tried HDR shot. The composed image really came out well. The final image has more colors than the normal LDR shot we take. Only concern is, the waterfall filled lesser portion of frame. The greenery of trees is spread well throughout the image which would not have been possible with normal shots and also rocks have showed up natural color. The picture was taken from view point located at a distance from waterfalls. No RAW this time too :(

CHUNCHI FALLS FROM VIEW POINT

Settings:

Camera: Canon EOS 550D
Lens: 18-55mm kit lens
Focal Length: 28mm
Focus: Manual
Aperture: f/25 (You know why!)
ISO: 100
Picture Style: Neutral
Metering: Center weighted average
No of images: 3
Exposures: -2,0,+2 (1/15s for middle one)
ML Firmware: v2.3
Softwares: Luminance HDR (Fatal operator), GIMP

As always, feedback and critiques are highly appreciated.