Kick these photos up a notch :)

[Pepper]

I learned a new skill of panoramic photography while I spent several months in Spain. The link below is from outside of where I lived. If you don't know Plaza Olavide, I suggest it as a very fun place to relax in the summer. I miss being able to go downstairs to the terrace for a sangria!

http://www.panoramanetwork.com/pop_ups/city_tours/olavide.htm

[Ben]

Great picture! Is it hard to do? Do you need a special camera or is the secret in the tripod?

It is a lovely Plaza by the way, and one that I somehow constantly forget about on my wanders through Madrid.

[Greg]

I love 360-degree panoramas...they sometimes give you much more of the "feel" of a spot than a 2D image. I took a stab at doing some in Barcelona a couple of years ago, but now I can only find this one:

http://www.gladman.com/greg/panoramas/plazaconcordia.html

It's a bit small, but it's interesting to see how the area has changed in just a couple of years. Having a tripod is important, as is spacing out the shots so that you don't get "ghosts" as people walk from one part of the scene to another. All this assuming that you don't have a special panorama camera, that is. :)

Pepper, the little girl at the bottom of the panorama is a cute touch. Anyone else have some panoramas from around Spain? If so, post away!

[Pepper]

I actually started learning panoramic photography in Barcelona. I am self taught so I had a bunch of terribly done panoramas that were for trial and error. I do like this one, and it prints in black and white nicely. I'll have to dig into some old hard drives to see if I have anything else from there.

http://www.panoramanetwork.com/pop_ups/city_tours/quell.htm

Like Greg said, having a special tripod head is very important because you have to keep the camera (practically any wide angle setup will do) set precisely so that it rotates around a very specific point in the lens. These days there are some more high tech ways of dealing with the 'ghosting' that happens with people or other things moving around between shots. Another way of dealing with it is that there are some rigs that you shoot one photo for the whole 360 degrees. All of these have their pros and cons.

If anyone goes to Olavide, try to have a clara at Arco Iris. I used to live directly upstairs from there and owners also owned our flat. They rule! :smug:

[Ben]

These are great. Greg, the group of people talking in the plaza is wonderful, and the couple on the bench... a very peaceful scene.

[Alan]

The wee lass directly underneath is my favourite :)

[ValenciaSon]

Fantastic photo of the plaza and its ambience. Seems like the perfect day for hanging out on the plaza. That little girl is such a cutie! Very nice! Thanks!:)