Ho Ho Ho!

First of all let me wish you a happy Christmas! No matter how or why you celebrate over the festive period I do hope you a good time doing it. Even though I've written this blog post before Christmas day I can feel pretty sure I had a good time at Christmas myself. It's fair to say I'm probably a little fatter but also a little happier for having spent some time with my family. Besides, a little time away from the camera can also be beneficial.

I didn't write this blog post just to tell you how fat I've got but rather to tell you about a recent trip to Dartmoor I had and how the images I captured didn't exactly work out. Don't worry though, it's not a long tale of disasters and epic challenges that will take you half an hour to read. I just thought I'd briefly share the story of that morning. I'll have you back to mince pies and brandy before you know it.

Creating Panoramic Images

The reason I was up on Belstone Common was that I was looking for new locations to capture panoramic images, with a view of creating a video to show how I got about capturing them. My original plan was to shoot the video when I was up in Scotland at the end of October, but rubbish weather put a stop to that. Never mind though, it's not as if Dartmoor doesn't have any locations worth visiting is it!

Belstone Common is one of my favourite places on Dartmoor to capture landscape photographs but I don't ever remember going up there to take panoramic images. As I was already familiar with the location capturing panoramic images would be easy, right? Well, I hadn't really given much thought as to how different it would be and so when I got up to the location an obvious panoramic composition didn't jump out to me as I thought it might.

Belstone Panorama #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 28mm, f/13, 1.3 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7. — **Belstone Panorama #1, Dartmoor, Devon** - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 28mm, f/13, 1.3 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7.

What I was finding was that just because I had a viewpoint that would normally work well with a wide angle lens, that didn’t mean I could also make a panoramic out of it. The main challenge was that the locations where I would normally stand were close to some of the tors, but I couldn’t get far enough away to make a panoramic image work, without losing sight of the tors. This was going to be more difficult than I thought. Difficult but not impossible though.

As I was up there for sunrise the conditions were changing quickly so I got myself in a bit of panic as I struggled to find a suitable composition. This is where the problems can start. Being in a rush is never a good thing for photography. I kept second guessing myself as to where I should be so I would take my shots in a bit of a rush. In addition it was also freezing up on Dartmoor. There was a bit of a wind and I was trying not to wear gloves so I could use the camera more easily (and quickly).

Belstone Panorama #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 65mm, f/13, 1/4th second at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7. — **Belstone Panorama #2, Dartmoor, Devon** - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 65mm, f/13, 1/4th second at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7.

So here lies the problem with the images you see on this blog post. While I know the compositions still need a little work, they are technically flawed. You might not even notice the flaws with the resolution you are looking at them but trust me they are a little bit "soft". This purely down to poor technique because I was rushing things. I should have taken into account the strength of the wind, and also let the camera settle down between frames. All stuff I already knew I had to do.

Why am I telling you this and sharing these imperfect panoramas? This blog has always been about sharing my successes and failures. We all get things wrong every now and again, and I'm no different. Photography isn't all about 5 star images. In fact sometimes it's not even about 2 star images! So don't worry if you've got something wrong and a shoot went badly. It happens to everyone and it's part of being a photographer.

Belstone Panorama #3, Dartmoor, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 25mm, f/13, 0.4 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7. — **Belstone Panorama #3, Dartmoor, Devon** - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105mm f/4 at 25mm, f/13, 0.4 seconds at ISO 100, Kase Filters CPL. Seven vertical image panorama at 16:7.

So was my trip to Belstone a waste of time? No. Being outside to witness the start of a new day on Dartmoor is never a bad thing. Have you had any photography disasters? Have you been out on a shoot that just went wrong? Let me know in the comments below.