Panorama Photos
Friday, July 2, 2010
Pepper Tree Inn Virtual Tour
A beautiful spot on upper State Street in Santa Barbara,
this is the Best Western Pepper Tree Inn.
It was a great spot to do a tour. Be sure to look
around closely for the arrows to move around and see the rest of the
beautiful grounds.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Monday, June 21, 2010
Newburyport Massachusetts Sunset
Another hand-held shot from our
trip to Massachusetts. It was a beautiful
evening. So many brick buildings! Of course
that kind of architecture works in a place
where the ground doesn't shake under
your feet all the time.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Santa Barbara Historical Museum Virtual Tour
The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is a wonderful bit of history
right in the middle of town. Just waling through their courtyard is like stepping back in time.
And if you ever have the opportunity to be there in the evening the
experience is even more magical.
This is a tour of their courtyard. Not a tour in the way you would systematically
tour a commercial space for an online marketing campaign. But
this is just me wandering around looking for the angles that interest me.
If you click on the arrows on the ground you can wander aroud
the beautiful courtyard with me.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Moonlit Massachusetts Town Square
Recently we had the opportunity to spend a
few quick days touring New England.
This was a cute little town in Massachusetts
we stopped in long enough to have dinner
and snap a few photos. In an attempt to travel
light I did not take a tripod, so this was shot
totally hand-held. I was actually surprised
at how well it came out for as late as it was.
Hopefully we'll get back in the fall one year when the
leaves are doing their show.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Natural Cafe Virtual Tour
A beautiful restaurant with great food!
This is the Natural Cafe on Hitchcock
in Santa Barbara. This tour was taken
while I was there doing a shoot for
a magazine article on the Natural Cafe.
As long as I was shooting the interior
I thought I would have some fun with it.
Click and drag to view in any direction and
be sure to click on the arrows on the floor
to navigate around the restaurant!
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Monday, May 17, 2010
Vedanta Temple Sunset Panorama
One of the many beautiful images I can credt to feedback from kind people
around Santa Barbara who read one of the various sites (Santa Barbara View) I contribute to.
I found out about this spot about a year ago and I have been there several
times, but the evening I took this shot was the best by far. In fact it was
one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.
If you have a spot around Santa Barbara County you would love to see I would
love to hear about it. Just post it here or the
main contact page on my site.
Controls from left to right:
+ Zoom in;
- Zoom out;
change the way the view moves when you drag;
toggle full screen
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Sunset over Santa Barbara from Butterfly Beach
If you've looked around my sites much you probably already know that Butterfly Beach is my favorite beach in Santa Barbara. It's a beautiful place to wander and relax. Sunset is my favorite time, it's always beautiful, but Sunday (the day this was taken) was something truly special!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunset Clouds Over The Clock Tower
This is a little bit different angle on the Courthouse from the sunken gardens. Of course the main star of the show was the amazing sunset clouds. They were moving very quickly and the light was changing fast. In only a few minutes they were gone. But I'm very happy with the results!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Santa Barbara Historical Museum 360 Panorama
Some days you look for a nice lighting for the subject you are interested in. Then there are the days that the lighting itself is the real star of the show. Actually, most great shots are more about the lighting than the subject but not usually this literally or obviously.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Mission Sunset Fog
Click on the main image for a larger view.
Once again we are having a fire in the area. Fortunately for
us here in the city it's a little further away this time.
Of course that's not much consolation to the over-worked firefighters on the
front lines.
As always, the fire is making for some nice sunsets. And I had
a project specifically looking for a nice wide straight
shot of the mission. This looked like my opportunity, but
I thought the fog was going to roll in
too thick to get the photo. In the end the fog
swirled right behind the mission with the beautiful colors of the sunset
making for an amazing backdrop.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Knapp's Castle 360 VR
This is one of the most beautiful spots I can think of in the
Santa Barbara area. Knapp's Castle
was a beautiful mansion in the early 1900's. But even the impressive
construction from those days could not stand up to the wild fires
we have in the mountains here. A few arches and stone walls are
all that remains of the mansion. Fortunately the panoramic view of
the Santa Ynez Valley is as breathtaking as ever.
Part of this image was on the photo of the day before,
Storybook Castle Sunset. But I recently
had a chance to work on the high resolution image again when I was working
on my 2010 Santa Barbara Calendar.
This is the September image. In the process I was also able to finish
the whole 360° view.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Butterfly Beach Sunset VR
Like I mentioned on yesterday's Photo of the Day, the sky was beautiful in every direction. Which of course is a perfect opportunity to take a 360° VR photo. The only problem is I did not have any kind of tripod or my normal tools. But the sky was too good to pass up so I gave it a try hand-held and I'm pretty happy with the results.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Sunset Over the Rose Garden Bench
Usually when I'm in the Mission rose garden I'm focusing on the Mission, or even the roses. But this time was something special. I was there to get an image for an anniversary gift. You see, one of the rose garden benches is where he chose to propose to her. He came to me looking for just the right image and had just about selected one of my older panoramic Mission Photographs. But listening to his story, I thought I could create something a little more fitting. Of course, it's not all up to me. I had to hope for just the right backdrop. Wednesday evening I saw my chance!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Storybook Castle Sunset
Click on the main image for a larger view.
One more shot from the mountains. And, if I had to choose,
I think this would be my favorite. I really like the way
the wall frames the stairway.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Queen of the Missions Fountain Test VR
This is the rest of the image from my lens test at the Mission Santa Barbara the other day. Actually, most of the recent photos of the day have full 360° panorams to go with them that I will get online soon. Usually the panoramas start out based around one nice shot. Of course the challenge is to find a point of view on that nice shot that also looks good in all directions.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Church of the Wayfarer VR
We spent a couple days in Monterey and Carmel this week. Like the Mission here in Santa Barbara, I have my favorite spots in Carmel to tinker with new camera equipment. This is the Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel by the Sea. This beautiful little church and a bakery on Ocean street where you can get some of the biggest Coconut Macroons you can imagine are two of our regular stops as soon as we get to the Monterey area.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunset over Knapp's Castle
This was one of the last shots as we were starting
our walk back to the car from Knapp's Castle. I had put most of my camera gear away
at this point and just looked back as I was walking away.
For a test shoot I ended up with quite a few images
that I'm really happy with.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Knapp's Castle Sunset Panorama
Click main image for a larger view
This is another one of the "test" shots
from the hike up the mountain the other
day. Well, OK, actually more of a drive up
the mountain followed by a half-mile hike on a nice trail.
Regardless, it was a beautiful evening!
These two shots were exactly what I had in mind
before I got there. I still have some ideas
for a later evening shot or two, but I'm going
to have to find some warmer clothing before
I go back up for that.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Misty Morning Courthouse
This is another image from my recent Courthouse shoot.
When I posted my previous courthouse shot I thought that
was the one the client chose. But they are leaning toward this
one now.
A massive panorama taken in the first glow of the morning.
The fog was so thick when I was driving there I thought I would not
be able to get the shot. But it actually made for some interesting
lighting. The light on the left cast shadows up from the building
through the fog.
A few projects have been taking a lot of my time lately.
To top it off, my main backup drive crashed. With just under
a Terabyte of images on there I'm feeling pretty lucky at this
point to have everything safe with the exception of one large image
that I was working on at the time of the crash.
I did find an interesting thing though. When your backup drive crashes
it is very nerve racking until you find a way to get everything
backed up again. Of course, the only way to backup a terabyte of
data fast is to put it anywhere and everywhere there is space.
I started posting this image on the fifteenth, but it's taken me a week
since the full size image is 2.6 gigabytes. But I finally got things
moved off onto new hard drives so I actually have some scratch disk space.
TWO terabyte backup drives so everything
is double backed up. With every drive crash I get more paranoid.
But it's a healthy paranoia that keeps my favorite images safe.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Mission Portico 360° VR
This is an image that took a while to process. One slice of it was a previous photo of the day. But I wanted to finish the whole view. This is standing on the portico (long patio behind the archways) at the Mission Santa Barbara. This is a series of long exposures just after sunset. It was a beautiful evening to get a little different perspective on the Mission. With a little luck I'll get some time in the next week or two to spend some more time in the mission gardens to get some shots for an upcoming project. If I do you'll see them here first!
Monday, December 15, 2008
State Street Spiral Stairway 360° VR
Well it's been a busy holiday season. The photo of the day has been the
photo of the month lately. That's not to say I have not been working
on the site at all. There has been a lot of behind the scenes work
one of the results of which is the new "browse" link at the upper right.
And, at least I have been pretty happy
with the few images that I have been working on. Most of them
have been massive 100+ image panoramas like this one. It takes my computer more
than a day to stitch them together after I do my work. But no more
excuses!
This is a shot that I got one night when I was taking a
break from the Joe's Cafe shoot. My wife and I were wandering on State
Street a few blocks up from Joe's when we passed this cool entryway.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Joe's Cafe
This is from Tuesday night. Tuesdays are farmers' market nights on lower State Street. You can see the booths at the left. The street is closed so it makes it safer, and more interesting, to be down there with my camera. This is about my fourth attempt to get the image I was looking for. There is a large tree (at the left) in front of Joe's. The tree makes for nice pictures, but it makes it a little hard to get a full shot of the front of the building where you can see the whole logo. But, I love a challenge. And this Tuesday my art director (my wife) went with me so that always helps!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
La Arcada 360° VR
This is a nice little shopping center called La Arcada where I've spent a bit of time in the past with my camera. It was a fun night of shooting. I got so many shots it is going to take days to sort and process them all. I hope you like it, 'cause you'll probably see more! The response to the evening Santa Barbara shots has been very good lately so I'm betting that won't be a problem.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Brophy Brothers at the Santa Barbara Harbor
Click the main image for a larger view.
We were feeling like a harbor walk the other evening.
And, it was looking like a nice night for some pictures.
Of course I think every night is a nice night to take
pictures. Even when it's raining... especially when
it's raining. Looking outside right now, I might get some
rain shots sometime in the near future. Although the last couple
of nights it has waited until quite late to shower.
Anyway, the building at the left has, among other things,
a great restaurant called Brophy Brothers where you can sit
on the veranda up stairs
and look out over the harbor. Been a while since I
had a meal there. But I still remember the clam chowder. It was
quite good. And the view is worth the trip too.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Hotel Santa Barbara VR
This is another shot (or series of them really) from last night. It was a really great evening to take pictures. Maybe I'll Spend some more time on state street with my camera in the near future.





