York Hall - Version 2.0

(Click to Enlarge)

On my first attempt to create this panorama I got almost what I was after. It was late in the afternoon when I made the original pictures, and I didn't want to get too carried away, so I stood close to the auditorium and only made six exposures. But those six stitched together pretty well, and I wanted to try a wider view.

For this shot I was there earlier in the morning, around nine AM. I stood much further back than for the first picture, and I spent some time altering my exact position so that I'd have three distinct vanishing points going straight up to the horizon, as well as keeping the large building off in the distance on the left within the break in the trees. My own shadow was unavoidable, I'm afraid, but it does add its own charm to the final picture.

I was standing for these shots, shooting vertical and keeping the lens parallel to the ground. For the pano in the link I was lying on the ground, shooting upwards. I had to do that in order to keep the entire tree in the picture, given how much closer I was, and as a result there's very little in the way of foreground. For this new one I moved back about thirty feet so as to be able to include the sidewalks (actually a single sidewalk that comes up from the street on the left and curves down along the roadway on the right) and steps leading to the hall. This gives just about a 180 degree view.

Ultimately I'm going to have to come back here with a stepladder, and stand it even further back, so I can capture the entire sidewalk sweeping in an arc in the foreground. I'll need the ladder due to the undulating topography, since the roadway is a few feet below the sidewalks. I'll also come a little later in the morning, when the shadows aren't so long.

(Click to Enlarge)

Here are the eleven individual images that make up this panorama. The final size of the stitched version is 32" x 10", though the magic of rasterization could easily double that.