3 new forest panoramics

[Enda Cavanagh]

Howdy folks.

Here are 3 new 360 degree forest panoramics I thought I'd show you.

The 1st image is from one of my favourite forest locations in the country. It's the lovely Gougane Barra forest Park in County Cork. A really special place. If you are ever in Cork, you really should head there. It's so accessible and there is a nice old school hotel near the entrance. (The hotel itself is located in an amazing location beside this church)



This one is from a small woodland called Cascade Wood in County Cork. You have to go onto private property to access the wood. When I drove up to the house owner I initially startled her but I convinced the poor old lady that I wasn't a threat. It tuned out she is an artist. We chatted for ages and she unlocked a gate and showed me exactly where I needed to go.



The last one is a revisit to Lough Key Forest Park to get the photo I initially wanted but thanks to leaving my extra memory cards in the car that was a no no on the 1st time.



The images are a bit lost at this size. You can check all 3 here on my website. Make sure to click "View Larger image" each time.

All photos were taken with a Hasselblad H3D 39 on an Arca Swiss RL3Di using either a Schneider 28mm xl or 35mm xl. An Arca Swiss Cube is very useful for these shots

[Chairman Bill]

Very nice. I've done a few forest panoramas myself, but nothing quite as good as these.

[JohnBrew]

Enda, I went on your website to view the first one larger. And the reason was that the shadows seemed screwy. And, yes, they are going several different directions so the image is not cohesive. I like #2.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Enda, I went on your website to view the first one larger. And the reason was that the shadows seemed screwy. And, yes, they are going several different directions so the image is not cohesive.

Hi John,

They are 360 degree panoramas, so they will always look different in a flat plane.

Cheers,
Bart

[luxborealis]

Beautiful work, Enda; as expected!

[dkosiur]

Wonderful! The first panorama reminds me of some of David Hockney's paintings.

[LesPalenik]

Enda, I went on your website to view the first one larger. And the reason was that the shadows seemed screwy. And, yes, they are going several different directions so the image is not cohesive. I like #2.

I like also #2 best, followed by #3. Not necessarily because of the monochrome treatment, but for the free and wild shapes of trees. 
 

[Paulo Bizarro]

Very good work and set of images. I like all of them; #1 for the "order" of the tree patterns, the others for the "randomness".

[francois]

Bravo, no need to say more!

[thierrylegros396]

My preference goes to the first followed by the 2nd.

I'm not a specialist of B/W, but I find this one really well done.

Thierry

[Enda Cavanagh]

Enda, I went on your website to view the first one larger. And the reason was that the shadows seemed screwy. And, yes, they are going several different directions so the image is not cohesive. I like #2.

John
You make a very fair point. It was pointed out by Bart that it is a rotational 360 degree panoramic but I also don't like making the viewer consciously think that they are looking at a 360. Once you get direct sunlight (with objects around you) throughout the entire image capture than you are going to run into shadows going in different directions and that does complicate things.

I spent the morning working on the image to remove the 3 tree shadows that were the main culprits. (Happy to send a upload a high res crop of the area) The brightness level in the highlights is toned down too a bit. At the end I added a a layer in multiply mode to darken the entire area back town. I toned it back to 30%. I felt if it was all at the highlight level it just confuses the look still.

I left the shadows on the 3 middle trees mostly as they were bar a few minor tweaks.  This is the images on my site also if you want to look at the larger size.

[sdwilsonsct]

Great stuff, Enda. Sorry,  but I like the shadows in the first version, they pull me into the scene.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Great stuff, Enda. Sorry,  but I like the shadows in the first version, they pull me into the scene.

Me too. All nice, but the first is special.

[Arlen]

Me too. All nice, but the first is special.

Me three. The first one is the one that draws me in, and though I appreciate the conundrum of shadow direction, the original version feels far more compelling.

[Bob_B]

Yes to the first image, shadows and all. As someone said, the shadows pull me into the shot, and I rather like the 'conflicting' shadow angles. They keep my eye interested in the scene.