Recently I posted about the challenges of landscape photography and the thought and planning it takes in A Wider View. Today I thought I would share something a bit more touristy – no thought of the light being right, no aperture settings, no shutter speeds – just me and my iPhone.
I love to play with the panorama feature. I can shoot panos with my good camera, but it requires stitching them together in another program, so there’s no instant gratification. With the iPhone you just get a good footing and rotate. Sometimes the bumps show up and the exposure settings are based on that first frame, but it can give you a sense of the vastness of a place. Go ahead and click on the images so you get a better sense of the panorama.
This is the first panorama I took, it’s in the observation car as we traveled along the Columbia River towards the Portland station. There is a bump in the middle – trains experience bumps, but it does give you a sense of what that car is like in the morning.
This is Klaloch, in my earlier post I shot the two sides of the beach as separate images – the panorama really compresses the scene when you are up high like this. The scene was much more open than this, but it does give a good sense of the height. A stunning place.
We took a ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville to cut a few hours off our trip to Northern Cascades and Mount Rainier. I shot this on the deck. The process is pretty cool, it’s basically a floating parking lot. The air on the sound was wonderful as it blew across the decks, like the ocean without the waves.
Deception Pass, this was another spot that was elevated – again, it compresses the space. It does give a sense of all that’s going on at this spot, rocks, cliffs, bridge, island, water – you really can’t get this all in one traditional shot.
Mount Rainier above the Nisqualy River. This spot was amazing for more than the mountain and the river – the sound was wonderful too. So I took the opportunity to record a bit of it, using my iPhone again, so that I could experience it any time I like.
Ahhhhh, Crater Lake. I shot this right next to the lodge. I had to climb up on a short rock fence to get a view over the snow bank. No photos capture the full beauty of this spot, but I’ve looked at this one over and over reliving the details.
One last look at Crater Lake, I shot this at the vantage point above Wizard Island – it was as far as the rim drive had been plowed. This has the distortion created by the pivot, bit it does shot the lake surface like glass, the clouds in both the sky and the lake, the snow, the pines – pretty much everything but the cold air.
Sometimes it’s good to put the kit down and just be a tourist.
the eff stop 
Terrific. And I loved listening to the river.
However my mother potty trained us by running water so I will sign off now. (I curse her every time I’m out hiking!)
Haha! So I guess kayaking is out then?
Actually I love ocean kayaking. I could do river and lake but whitewater? Ummmm nope!
Awwwww – that is really to bad, such a rush. I love lake kayaking though. We once convinced a newbie that the sponge you take along with you was for relieving yourself in the kayak. What a rube.
!
I love these wide views. They really give one the feeling of actually being there.
Thanks – the west is so wide open – it just begs for panoramas.
Nice!
Thanks!
Excellent photos… I love that part of the country. Nothing better than the Pacific Northwest…and the panoramic shots do it justice. Great point, it is good to sometimes get out of the SLR mind set and be a tourist (and have a handy phone-camera or point & shoot just in case).
Thanks – When I have my eye up to the viewfinder I miss a lot – the iPhone requires you to see the full picture. I haven’t carried a P&S in a while but have been thinking about it – just for simplicity sake. You are so right about the Pacific Northwest – it’s just stunning.
Great shots and thanks for putting the sound in that shot of the rock bed and water. It really does help bring the scene to life.
That trip you did looks amazing. Thanks for sharing.
It was a great trip – I’m having to adjust to the plain old ozarks 🙂 I posted a video clip of stream a few weeks ago on FB and everyone asked for a longer clip – so when I had the chance I had to do it again. Modern tech gives us so many ways to preserve the memories we experience.
I’ve never wanted an iphone and now I want one just for this reason! The Deception Pass photo is amazing, what a lovely mural it would make if someone painted it large scale!
Haha – the iPhone is the simplest camera every and it takes pretty fair photos. I loved that spot – so much going on in one small area.
I never have the latest of anything, but the idea of an ipad is becoming appealing to me now. I wonder if I could do everything on one of those; pictures, videos, update blog, etc….
You seriously could – I make most of my posts from my iPad. I check my photos on it and do minor editing, I keep email, Powerpoint presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs – really just about everything – plus I keep books and movies on it too. I rarely use my laptop anymore and the iPad is so much lighter.
and it could replace the notepad and pen in my purse, I tell myself!
Absolutely – I keep all my notes in the Note app – they are instantly updated on my desktop and my phone – you can dictate notes. My pop got one of the first ones and decided he never needed to use his real computer again. We skyped on it and messaged on it too. I carry mine in my camera bag
The photos really do show something else about the places you visited. Good reminder to keep the fun in photography.
Thanks – I wish I had thought to start these earlier in the trip.