A Tree of Darkness and Light
December woods, light and dark split at the eve fell, as did the trees.
My first panorama 100% done (stitched, colours, etc.) in Affinity Photo.
The image was shot on an iPhone 5s using ProCam 3 in 5 parts to maximise the iPhone’s resolution by getting closer to the subject as the trunk was fairly small. By using the iPhone with it's 4.15mm lens the stump looked quite a bit larger than it actually was. Which opened up some interesting perspectives.
Would I do it again? Sure. The iPhone can go places where you just can’t put a camera and handle it as well. For this I was on my knees in naturally formed drain in between branches, hunched under another tree’s wind-ravaged roots. Using ProCam’s manual-ish focusing I could maintain a rather stable focus plane while shooting all 5 parts. The resolution was set to maximum which meant a 4x3 aspect ratio. Also good, the closer you can get to a square without cropping, the better the stitch will be in any stitcher. Cropping the image can throw off the de-lensing process that straightens up the image before it gets projected into one for merging. Always pick the maximum natural image size, never one that crops into the image.
It looks reasonably decent on screen. I just ordered some 20 x 37cm prints at Fuji’s Pro store, we’ll see how well the process holds up in the end.
The shot up on 500px has solarisation issues, I asked 500px to replace the image with the one I supplied. A bit strange that I can’t do this myself, considering I pay for the service.
They don't really care much about paying customers, the only way to get some service is if you're posting to their Marketplace. Even then, it's sparse. So no-go on the updated image there.
The pearl paper stock is stunning. The glossy surface is less fingerprint prone than other glossy stock I had in the past. More durable, but don't over do it. I like the pearl a little better than Kodak's Metallic. It's different. For these shots it worked well. The Pearl gives a little coloured iridescence to side lights. Metallic adds a silver-ish shimmer to your image's colours. For nature with thick green tones I find the Pearl to be nicer, for metal and concrete it's Metallic. And then again it's like colour, what do you want your image to feel like. It's cheap to test, so go ahead, the water's nice 😋.
Sidenote: For the Fuji Pearl at Fuji Pro Labs, lift your blacks just a touch, not more than 2-3%, it likes detail and it's very contrasty.
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