Panorama Photos
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.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Eat at Joes! VR
I've been working more on restaurant photography lately.
And, recently I got a request for a print of Joe's Cafe,
a local landmark. At some point early in my search through old slides
I realized it would be much MUCH more fun to just go take some new shots!
Any excuse to get out with my camera makes me happy.
This is one of the first shots. I have a few other angles I'm working with
but it is going to take a couple of trips down there when the lighting
is just right.
If you have any favorite Santa Barbara spots (or anywhere up to Monterey
for that matter) you'd like to see, feel free to drop me a note
with the form at the bottom of the page.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens Gazebo VR
When I posted the image of the day on the sixth
there was a little disapponintment that it was not
a 360° image. Well here it is! Takes a little more
time to build this kind of image.
Of course, this
is across the lake from the other shot, in the gazebo.
This is one of my favorite spots in Santa Barbara.
If you are new to the site and like the 3D images
be sure to check out another one of my favorite Santa Barbara spots.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Alice Keck Panorama
Click the main image for a larger view.
A couple days ago I was working on a particularly
difficult statistics problem. (mmm math what a concept.)
In the midst of my preparations to fling my computer out the window
my wife suggested a nice walk at Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.
Or as we like to call it... Alice Keck Park Park.
The clouds were beautiful and it was a wonderful evening.
I wish I could say I came home and solved the problem right away,
but at least I got a lot of really beautiful shots out of
it. And I was much happier continuing on my statistics project.
Oh yeah, I've also been tinkering with some other images that are not my own. I have not been able to figure out how to get my own camera there yet so I had to work with what was available.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish 360° view
Back to Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Montecito.
This was actually the first image I took with my
new panoramic tripod head. But as I mentioned in an
earlier post it took me a bit of time to finish all
of the shots and in the time it took the light had
changed quite a bit. I did not think I was going to be
able to stitch it together right. But now that I have had
a little practice I was able to get it to work.
Of course that brought up some new problems. The image
is so large I kept getting "Hard drive full" errors.
Strange seeing as how there was 500 gig of space.
In the end I realized that the format of the hard drive
only allows a maximum of four gigabyte files. Yeah,
it's a big picture... ten feet wide actually.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Cottage Inn
Well, there were some technical difficulties
with publishing to the site so I'm sorry for the wait!
I have quite a few images that should
be posted in the near future, but with several big projects and
tax day (what fun!) it has been hard to get to the maintenance of my site.
A few days ago we were in Pismo Beach for a project.
When I went out to get breakfast the morning fog was just breaking up.
I thought about skipping breakfast to take pictures, but
I finally thought better of it so I would have some energy for the
drive home. (Besides they have REALLY good waffles.)
The timing was perfect though. This was right after breakfast.
All of the clouds in this shot are actually wispy remnants of
the morning costal fog. They are almost close enough that you could reach out
and touch them.
Not 20 minutes later the fog was back thicker than ever.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Santa Barbara Harbor Sunset view from the Breakwater
Another beautiful sunset and another massive image. If you look closely you can see stearns wharf in the image off to the right. (if you have Flash 9 installed, you can use the up arrow to zoom in)





