Dance of the Damsels, a Panorama
28-Mar-2015 Back to Image Gallery
There is something very compelling about panoramas. Perhaps it’s the vista that we dream of, wide pristine spaces often denied to us in our overcrowded world. Perhaps it’s the release from narrow minded views. Or, maybe it’s just that the binocular construction of human eyes have evolved to see primarily laterally so such compositions are appealing to us. Regardless, I love panoramas and they can be created more easily than you might imagine. On a drift dive along the pristine coral reefs of Nusa Lembongan there were thousands of damselfish crowded down among the corals. In a conventional shot the empty water above and surplus of coral below the fish would have looked uninspiring, but I could see the potential for a panorama.
Photo Data: Location: Mangroves Dive Site, Nusa Lembongan, Bali Genre: Wide Angle with Single Strobe Photo Data: Nikon D800, Nikkor 16-35mm zoom Lens, Seacam Housing, Single Seacam Strobe, and Manual Exposure Mode. ISO 100 Exposure f @ 1/th sec. Image by Kevin Deacon.
Photo Hints: Panoramas can be complicated to shoot if you choose to use techniques involving multiple images stitched together in computer software. However, if you don’t need a large image file to produce very large prints you can produce some nice panorama by just using your software cropping tool to crop a normal image down to a panorama style image. The secret to doing this well is simply look for subjects that might suit cropping to a panorama format. When you compose the image, ensure that cropping of the top, and or bottom of the frame will leave you with the key subjects of the image. Its simpler than it sounds so don’t be afraid to try it. Just copy what I have done here.
Interesting Facts: Well it’s kind of an interesting fact that you can control the behaviour of many small schooling fish like damsels or anthias with your breathing. If you pause your breathing they will school high above the coral creating a good composition in the water column for conventional images.
