autofantasia's photos with the keyword: panorama

Following on from the shots I took for this week's Sunday Challenge I thought some of you might enjoy seeing this panorama of the first walled garden at Thornton Hall. Created from 11 individual images and stitched together in Photoshop it gives a good idea of what this great place is like to visit. Please view large for best effect or better still go to See All Sizes where you can select from various options. The original file was absolutely massive as is the case with these creations, so I created a smaller JPEG version for uploading, but even that is fairly big at 18,527 x 4,520 and is over 57 MB in size. So you may well need to zoom out on your browser a little bit to find a happy medium of detail and viewability. www.thorntonhallgardens.co.uk

Created from 10 individual shots and merged together in Photoshop. This is Kiplin Hall , in North Yorkshire, an intriguing Jacobean house. It was built for George Calvert, Secretary of State to James I and founder of Maryland, USA. Since it was built way back in 1619, the house has belonged to four fascinating families, connected by blood or marriage, and some of the former owners even had royal connections. The last owner was Bridget Talbot who from 1937 until 1958 tried to interest the National Trust in taking over Kiplin, but they remained largely indifferent, considering the Hall of little historical significance and insisting that the north and south wings, which were later additions, would have to be demolished - something Miss Talbot was very much against. Then in February 1968, Miss Talbot set up the Kiplin Hall Trust, its purpose being to preserve Kiplin Hall for the benefit of the nation as a place historical and architectural interest. Bridget Talbot died in November 1971, leaving the contents of the Hall to the Trust, which still cares for the Hall and the surrounding estate today. Please view on black for best effect.

The second of my panorama shots from our trip to Dalgety Bay and Queensferry. This one has been created from 17 (no that's not a typo) images stitched together in Photoshop and shows the full expanse of the infamous rail bridge that stretches across the River Forth. As with the last one the size and the detail in the original file is pretty impressive, but once again I've had to reduce it somewhat for upload which sadly means a lot of the detail is lost. Still, I hope there's enough left for you guys to get some enjoyment from seeing it. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge and considered to be both an iconic structure and a symbol of Scotland. It was designed by the English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker, work on it began in 1882 and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With a total length of 8,094 feet (2,467m) it was the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world until 1917 when the Quebec Bridge in Canada was completed. It continues to be the world's second-longest single cantilever span and it was a pleasure to get time to photograph it. Please try it large on black for best effect.

When we went to Dalgety Bay earlier this year I managed to pop across to Queensferry to get some snaps and to have another go at panoramas. This is one such attempt and has been created from 8 images stitched together in Photoshop. The main subject of the shot is the existing road bridge that stretches across the River Forth. However, if you look closely you might be able to see the beginnings of the Queensferry Crossing. This bridge is being built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and will carry the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between South Queensferry and North Queensferry. You can read more about it by following the link below: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queensferry_Crossing Please view large on black for best effect or go to View All Sizes.

The view from Sutton Bank looking west towards Thirsk. Created from 10 separate images stitched together in Photoshop, a technique I'm still experimenting with, but I think this one works okay. For those that may not be familiar with this Yorkshire landmark, Sutton Bank (also known as Roulston Scar) is in the Hambleton District of the North York Moors National Park. The A170 road runs nearby with a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%), and including a hairpin bend. Not surprisingly then vehicles have to keep in low gear whist travelling up or down the bank and caravans are banned from using this section of the road. At the foot of Sutton Bank lies the little village of Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, which at 27 letters long has (according to Wikipedia) the longest hyphenated place name in England. For the Sight and Sound group, what else, but Dire Straits ... So Far Away So Far Away Please view large on black for best effect.

Okay, here's the last of the 'nearly ran' entries for this week's Sunday Challenge for which the theme was simply May 7th . It's another of my first real attempts at taking panoramas and once again features Fountains Abbey . This one is produced from 6 shots taken on the day and then stitched together in Photoshop. In some way this is my favourite, but again I forgot to shoot it in portrait as opposed to landscape mode. There's a lot crammed into this one so it's perhaps best viewed large on black for best effect. Thanks once again to Graham Chance for all the advice and encouragement he has given me regarding tackling panoramas, both before and since this shoot. I hope I can learn from the experience and go on to produce more effective images of this type in the future.

Another 'nearly ran' for this week's Sunday Challenge for which the theme was simply May 7th . It's another of my first real attempts at taking panoramas and once again features Fountains Abbey , but this time we're on the opposite side of the ruins. This one is produced from 6 shots taken on the day and then stitched together in Photoshop. I like this one, but feel it could have been better and I know I didn't help myself by absentmindedly shooting it in landscape as opposed to portrait mode. Some of the vertical lines are also way off and the highlights in the sky in certain areas are blown ... as the kids might say #stilllearning .

A 'nearly ran' for this week's Sunday Challenge for which the theme was simply May 7th . It's another of my first real attempts at taking panoramas and once again features Fountains Abbey , but this time we're much closer to the ruins. This one was produced from 9 shots taken on the day and then once again stitched together in Photoshop. Please view on black for best effect if you have a minute to spare.

For this week's Sunday Challenge for which the theme was simply May 7th ... either something you did on that day (i.e. yesterday) or something related to that day perhaps in history. At first I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. I looked online for something that had happened in the past on that day that sparked an idea of an image, but that didn't really produce any inspiration. Then I looked to see if I had any unpublished archive shots that had perhaps been taken on that day in previous years, but again came up with nothing ... oh how I wish I'd undertaken a 365 challenge! However, a meet up with our good friend Gillian for earlier in the week at Fountains Abbey had to be rescheduled and so I decided to use that as an opportunity to take some photos I could perhaps use for the challenge. In addition to taking shots of individual subjects I also had a notion of trying some panorama shots. This is a technique I've long admired, but never tackled before this week. However, Graham Chance was kind enough to offer me some advice and encouraged by what he said I felt I was at least able to give it a go, which is just what I did. I did one through the week of the borders in our back garden just to get a feel for what is involved and I might post it in time if only to show my very first attempt. This particular one is the result of 10 separate images shot at Fountains Abbey yesterday (each one taken in portrait mode) and then stitched together in Photoshop. I was amazed at how easy it was to actually do as Photoshop does most of the initial work for you and the automatically merged image was fairly pleasing, although I did go on to tweak the perspective and do some basic editing. I have another 3 panorama shots from the day so I might also post them in due course. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy seeing this one. It isn't perfect by any stretch, but I feel for my first attempt out in the real world it's not too bad. As for Fountains Abbey itself, it is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It's owned by the National Trust, located approximately 3 miles south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, and was founded in 1132. One-of-a-kind, this special place is now recognised as a World Heritage Site. Please hit 'z' on your keyboard to view large on black for best effect.