Another Yosemite Pano (click for larger image)
OK, does it matter that this pano isn’t a number of photos merged together, and instead it’s just a panoramic crop? (in other words; it’s a regular photo and I just cropped off a lot of the top and bottom to create the panoramic look). Now, if that makes you feel kinda cheated, does it really matter which tool I used to create the panorama? Whether I used the Crop tool or Photomerge, it’s still been edited in Photoshop, like every other photo I take, and as you might guess, I’m totally cool with editing photos in Photoshop. So….how do you feel about it? Did I cheat by just cropping rather than stitching multiple photos together? I’m curious, because I have to tell you, I feel a little “dirty,” because it’s not “the real deal.” Does is matter how I came up with the pano? I guess it does, because if not I wouldn’t feel “dirty.” This is going to keep me up tonight, isn’t it?
Hi again Scott,
I see your book Photoshop CS3 for Digital Photographers is now available on Amazon as pre order as is Photoshop CS3 Down and Dirty Tricks. As no description of these books is yet available I wonder if you could take a moment to state briefly the difference between the two. Thanks, and best wishes from Germany.
Scott –
Do you think an 8×10 cropped from a full frame image is “cheating”?
I didn’t think so….
I don’t think your Pano is a “cheat”. As long as you are true to your vision of how you think the subject should be presented – it’s fine. Sometimes an image will “tell you” how it should look- some demand to be printed large, others small – and some as panoramics.
If any one gives you any grief ( besides yourself) tell them the photo told you to do it!
Don’t get me wrong here, I always advocate getting it right in the camera, but sometimes the camera can’t give you what you are seeing as your vision of the final image. Photography has the same rules as a street fight, one rule…
I think the cropping makes for a better image so it works for me. You made the image cleaner, clearier and more focuesd. Don’t feel “dirty” for ever making something of beauty. Nicely done image, I wish I took it.
V
It certainly never stopped Ansel Adams.
When it comes to photography I live by a simple motto:
If it looks good who cares how you got there?!
Scott,
You could coin your technique “Kelbyscope”.
I agree with these guys, its not cheating. Getting it right in the camera is something we all want to achieve, but usually your work has only just begun. It doesn’t matter how it was cropped or “put together” as long as you convey your vision to the person viewing it.
It’s a great shot!
Scott,
It is a great shot and I like it that you aren’t following any rules! It makes me feel better knowing that you do things like this too.
I am about 1/2 way thru with the PSE5 for Digital Photographers book and it is fantastic. I am learning so much. Also…I appreciate the humor you interject…it makes it more fun!
Keep up the great work!
Susan D
I just checked the official rule-book and the refs are going to let you off on a technicality with a warning not to do it again. Now go take a shower.
To my mind, real panorama looks a bit different, beacuse of perspective things, when more than three photos are stiched to together. However, if there is a 2 photo panorama it looks like it would be a normal photo. Well, I don’t think it’s cheating to crop, but it don’e give the feel what, say, a 6 photo pano gives.
Like Nuno Ferreira said earlier: If it looks good who cares how you got there?!
I don’t think it’s cheating, but I agree with the previous comment that a panoramic pic created by stitching images together would have wider and slightly disorted perspective look to it. At the end of the day, if you’re happier with this crop as opposed to the ‘full-frame’ then why worry.
“A thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.”
– W. C. Fields
Scott,
Do we really need to say anything after VV has spoken? And he is right…
Every generation has seen advances in photography that the prior generation thinks is ‘cheating’ (that term was spoken to me the other day by a 40 year shutterbugh vet). But it isn’t. You simply use the tools that are available at a given point in time (raise your hand if you think we shouldn’t use robots to build cars…).
Twenty years from now are we going to sit around and poopoo the next generation for the amazing stuff they generate with the tools at their disposal???
Let’s hope not. I’d prefer to be in that group that says “That is SOOO Cool!”
Enjoy your creation. Lord know we will…
Rich Gibson
The beauty of a panorama is not the length but rather the lack of height, which means howsoever you get there is legit. I actually make stitched panoramas as much to avoid the distortions of wide-angle lenses, and even more to capture all that additional detail that may be enlarged much more than a single frame alone.
It’s about time you confessed your multitudinous sins!!
There is no way every scene or every vision will fit inside of whatever format you are shooting. Cropping is part of almost every shot I take! So, no, you did not cheat.
Scott:
Great picture. Period.
You selected the location. You composed the shot, You decided what should be left in… and what should be left out. You decided the on the amount of light to be captured in the scene. And you decided which portion of the picture to show to us. Thanks for sharing a great photo and telling the story behind it!
…whatever gets you through the night, is alright, is alright… –J. Lennon
…whatever gets you through the light, is alright, is alright…me
To everybody who posted comments here: thank you! I feel MUCH better (relieved actually) hearing how you all feel about the concept of cropping in Photoshop to create a pano.
Seriously, thanks to you all for your feedback. I love hearing from other photographers about stuff like this, so thanks for taking the time to share your comments.
Now I can finally get some sleep!
-Scott
Up too late in St. Louis
You know — I looked at the image, clicked on it and viewed it against the dark uncluttered environment (background.) For a moment, I was transported to a place I desperately want to see some day (when I’m rich and famous.) I had a moment in time, and I shared a vision with another human. I returned to a discussion of panos. How vulgar — it was spoiled. It sounds judgmental the term vulgar, but I mean to say how common. I was enjoying the image and suddenly hit a brick wall.
In the grand scheme of things you are an artist sharing a moment or your reaction to the moment. Whether you “cheat and don’t draw it yourself” or “don’t stitch it together” is of no consequence. You saved an experience and chose to share it — that counts — only that.
“How you did it” is for sharing “how you did it” with colleagues and/or students who have their own visions and might someday need your technique to express their vision.
Photography / Photoshop is art and that’s the big picture.
Sleep well grasshopper and share more visions.