Trying my hand at Panoramas

SoCalChris · October 4, 2006

These were all taken in the Paradise Valley area of Montana, which stretches from Gardiner, MT to Livingston, MT 50 miles to the North. Almost all of these were taken near the middle of the valley, near Emigrant. Emigrant is where the rural scenes of "A River Runs Through It" and "The Horse Whisperer" were filmed.

Click the photos for a larger image than the thumbnail. I can't host the full size pictures on my site due to bandwidth, but if anyone wants the full size images, send me a message and I'll see what I can do for you.

All of the pictures were taken with a Fuji FinePix S5200 digital camera. The panoramas were all created with AutoStitch, Hugin, Photoshop, or any combination of those tools.

Please don't copy these pictures, or post them elsewhere without my permission.

This was taken in the Snowbank campground of the Gallatin National Forest. The little path through the middle of the trees is an awesome place to sled. You can't tell from the picture, but the large rock in the middle is sticking up 300-400 feet above where I was standing. It's a pretty awesome sight, this picture doesn't do it justice.

The picture was stiched together from 13 photos, and the final picture is 6,516 x 3,365 pixels, and 13MB in size.

This picture is where Trail Creek Road meets with Old Yellowstone Trail. Old Yellowstone Trail is the original road from Livingston to Yellowstone, and was replaced by US-89. The road is now a small local road that locals use to get to Bozeman. The mountains in the background are the Absaroka-Beartooth Range.

The final picture is 9,073 x 1,663 pixels, and 7MB in size.

This is steam rising off of the Yellowstone River on a cold morning about a week ago. It wasn't too cold, but this time of year we get this scene a lot. The mountains in the background are the Absaroka-Beartooth range, with Emigrant Peak on the right.

The final picture is 9,321 x 2,461 pixels, and 10MB in size.

This is the Yellowstone River at Mallard's Rest fishing access point, with the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains in the background. The river is pretty shallow this time of year, it's only a foot or two deep in most spots. You can see the bank where the river is normally at, and how much lower it is now.

Another interesting thing about this picture is that it has a very wide field of view. I'd guess that it is over 200 degrees. The small valley that you can see towards the left of the photo is "The Wineglass", and is where US-89 passes through to get to Livingston. To the far right of the photo is the "Yankee Jim Canyon" area, which US-89 passes through to get to Gardiner and Yellowstone. Because of how wide the picture is, the mountains look much smaller than they really are. Most of the peaks in that picture are around 10,000 feet, and the picture was taken at around 5,000 feet.

The final picture is 14,068 x 2,378 pixels, and 20MB in size.

This is a double rainbow that we saw in our front yard, following a recent hail storm. I'm still finishing stiching this picture together, but thought it was too nice to not include here. The mountains in the background are the Absaroka-Beartooth range.

The picture is 12,310 x 5,303 pixels, and 22MB in size.

This is my truck, taken in front of the Mallard's Rest fishing spot on the Yellowstone River. It's basically the same picture as the one above, but with a narrower field of view, and I stepped back some to include my truck in the picture.

The final picture is 7,116 x 1,246 pixels, and 5MB in size.

This is the sun setting over the Gallatin Range, and the Gallatin National Forest. The picture was taken from our back porch. You can't see it in this picture, but most of the area in this shot was burned in a fire that started on July 29th, and is still burning. The fire came to within less than a mile of our home.

The final picture is 1,699 x 523 pixels, and 0.5MB in size.

This is the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains and Emigrant Peak, taken from our front porch. The line of trees that you can see running along the middle of the picture is where the Yellowstone River runs.

The final picture is 27,465 x 2,649 pixels, and 42MB in size.

I know they aren't really truck related pictures, but I hope you enjoyed them. I certainly enjoyed creating them.

carneyman · October 4, 2006

Very nice!

SilveradoLAX7 · October 5, 2006

Great pics Chris...Thanks for posting 'em

-Jay

Dana_15 · October 5, 2006

Very nice pics, we don't have scenery like that out here.

curly · October 5, 2006

Great work.... the one with the steam rising off the water looks like something you would see in a magazine. Keep them coming because the land is pretty flat here, we just don't have that kind of scenery.

KJsDenali · October 7, 2006

Those are amazing pics!

Clavin78 · October 7, 2006

Wow...that is just great

Wingnut · October 8, 2006

Good jorb!

mmmikkke · October 8, 2006

I had no idea...

Elwood 2000 · October 9, 2006

Keep posting pictures! I love seeing them. The wife and I have been wanting to travel west for a while now and keep ending up on a beach. I love the scenery out there. Simply amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

Wirenut · October 9, 2006

Absolutely Stunning Photos! Have you entered any contest with those?

SoCalChris · October 10, 2006

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad everyone is enjoying the pictures. Here's a few more.

I took my oldest son out "exploring" on Saturday up into the mountains. There was a storm that had been going all night, so the weather wasn't really all that great for taking panoramas. I did get one good one though, and a few good regular photos.

This is Six Mile Creek, right on the border of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness area. I couldn't go any farther, because the creek was too deep, and I didn't want to get myself stranded up there with a 4 year old. The road only goes a few hundred more feet beyond where I took this picture, and then it ends at the Six Mile Creek trailhead, which takes you deep into the wilderness area.

The final picture is 11,853 x 2,248 pixels, and 15MB in size.

On the way back from taking that picture, we almost got stuck in mud. It was about 4 inches deep, and we had just enough momentum to get through it. Who says you have to have a 4x4 to have fun???

Here's one that I took on the way home from work today. It was taken on Trail Creek Road. We had a pretty good snowfall last night, but unfortunately most of it had melted by the time I took it.

And here's one more regular photo I took on the way home. I happened to look in my rearview mirror, and see this huge storm cloud coming over the horizon, and thought it was interesting enough to take a picture of. It looked like a wall of clouds coming up the valley.

Thanks again for all the positive comments. If people are interested, I'll post more as I take them.

Wingnut · October 10, 2006

Fuji cameras don't get enough praise. I've got a FinePix 3800 (I think that's the model anyway) for my point and shoot carry-around....And it takes some GREAT pictures for what it is. Nothing like my big camera...But I don't like it rolling around the backseat or getting tossed in the backpack.

That said...The person behind the glass is what makes 90% of the photo...And you done good my man

SoCalChris · October 10, 2006

Thanks, and I agree with you 100% with the comment on the Fuji cameras.

Mine was less than $350 for the camera, and a 1GB memory card. The prices have come down even more since I bought mine. For that price, I got a camera that has a 10X optical zoon, full manual control of aperature, ISO & shutter speed settings, manual & auto focus, and a CMOS sensor that takes awesome pictures in low light situations.

I had gone back and forth over getting this camera, or a Canon DSLR that was around $900. For the price difference, I just couldn't justify it. Maybe in the future, I'll get a full DSLR, but for now, I'm 100% happy with this camera.

edit:

I just looked at Amazon, and this camera is now selling for $229. A 1GB memory card is also available for $39. If anyone wants a nice digital camera, but doesn't want to pay up for a full DSLR, I highly recommend this setup.

http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-Finepix-S52...0359314?ie=UTF8