Grand Prismatic Springs and BAA Bulletin #341 « Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

Grand Prismatic Springs and BAA Bulletin #341

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The three frames that I used to create this stitched panorama were created with the with the tripod-mounted Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 200. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop: 1/30 sec. at f/20 set manually. When creating the images for a stitched pano I fist level the tripod by centering the floating bubble on the top of the Mongoose M3.6 in the scribed circle. I do this by adjusting the legs individually. Next I rotate the lens in the tripod mount while checking the double bubble level in my hot shoe to ensure that everything is square to the world as I pan and overlap the images.

I did extensive clean-up work here removing more than a few tree tops from the lower edge of the frame, a large tree on the right hand side, and about half a dozen folks from the boardwalk. I will make another version with the boardwalk removed. So far the clean-up required about two hours of painstaking work; to do the job right, you need to work at high magnifications. I used the Clone Stamp Tool, the Patch Tool, and about 50 small Quick Masks all as described in detail in Digital Basics and in APTATS I.

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This is the image before cropping and clean-up.

Grand Prismatic Springs

Thanks to both Dale Robert Franz and Roman Kurywczak who shared directions to the spot that afforded the spectacular view of Grand Prismatic Springs in the Midway Geyser area of Yellowstone National Park. The climb up a very large hill (or a small mountain) was extremely difficult. Denise Ippolito was kind enough to help me both on the way up and on the way down. Up was more strenuous due to the elevation and the rough terrain, down was far more difficult because of the steepness and the loose rocks and gravel. On the way up I was breathing hard and resting often–the vertical climb was probably about 500 feet. On the way down I was motivated by fear; for the last half of that climb I spent most of the time on my butt. After the climb up and down both Denise and I felt exhilarated. I will be back soon to share more of our Yellowstone experiences. You can see some of Denise’s images on her blog, A Creative Adventure.

BAA Bulletin #341

BAA Bulletin #341 is on line and can be viewed here.

Here is a list of the features:

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
STUFF YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO HEAR & MORE
DIFFERENT TAKES….
INTERESTING SW FLA (and other) IPT QUESTIONS
A GUIDE TO PLEASING BLURS
POSSE NEWS/ROBERT AMORUSO
IPT UPDATES

Shopper’s Guide

Here is the gear that I used on our climb:

Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS II lens
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body

And from the BAA On-line Store:

Double Bubble Spirit Level
Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head

If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.

4 comments to Grand Prismatic Springs and BAA Bulletin #341

  • Hi Artie, very nice pano! If you intend to do many more of these panoramics, I’d highly suggest purchasing the Manfrotto 438 video leveler. It inserts between your tripod and head and allows quickly adjusting the tilt (leveling the head) without having to make leg adjustments. You may find a picture here of my setup. This is also invaluable for leveling DSLRs for creating videos, which you may want to try eventually.

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150178695145022&set=a.10150178686525022.428564.356594440021&ref=fbx_album

    Cheers, Ken

    • Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

      Hi Ken, Good to see you stopping by. We actually sell something quite similar but I have resisted using it to save weight. After almost 28 years I have gotten really good at leveling with the legs in just a few seconds 🙂 I may need to go there if I start doing some real video and I hope to do that soon…

  • Elizabeth Lodwick

    This is such a beautiful place and this picture does it justice. Wonderful angle, worth what you went through to get it. The original picture is amazing and the post is masterful. Thanks for sharing

    Elizabeth Lodwick

  • Pat Fishburne

    ART! YOUR GRAND PRISMATIC SPRING IS DYNAMITE! THAT IS SUCH A HUGE SPRING. I’VE ONLY SEEN COMPARABLE IMAGES TAKEN FROM THE AIR.

    PAT FISHBURNE