The Rise of Ra - Revisited

An older shot taken last year, which is still one of my favorites. It originally took 30 hours to process this shot, but with a new workflow and technique, it only took 4 hours this time. I think the results are better too.

Probably the most unique sunrise I have ever captured.

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The 4-hour version is beautiful as well. Your comments are intriguing and I can't help but ask for more info about how this came together. Was this a multi-exposure blend or were all 30 images just a simple pano? What caused this to be a 30-hour project initially, and what did you do to make the workflow more efficient? I'm not asking for any secret sauces, just the main concepts employed here. Thanks!

David Arbogast wrote in post #15249966
The 4-hour version is beautiful as well. Your comments are intriguing and I can't help but ask for more info about how this came together. Was this a multi-exposure blend or were all 30 images just a simple pano? What caused this to be a 30-hour project initially, and what did you do to make the workflow more efficient? I'm not asking for any secret sauces, just the main concepts employed here. Thanks!

30+ shots bracketed, single row, exposure blended by hand.

It also helps to use ACR 7 instead of the donkey turd that is DPP, which I used last time. I can get the RAW files looking closer to the final product straight out of ACR 7 into CS6. 30 hours before was trying to deal with how craptastic DPP is. It's a real steaming pile for the work I do where pulling in major DR is crucial.

BTW, did you know I hate using DPP?

So do you do all your blending on each bracketed shot and then stich at the end?

Wonderful shot.

Laramie wrote in post #15250143
So do you do all your blending on each bracketed shot and then stich at the end?

Wonderful shot.

No, that would be nearly impossible to get a good result. Stitched and then blended.

Not sure how other people would do this. I'm pretty much 100% self taught through trial and error over the course of 60,000 + images taken.

Canon_Lover wrote in post #15250221
No, that would be nearly impossible to get a good result. Stitched and then blended.

Not sure how other people would do this. I'm pretty much 100% self taught through trial and error over the course of 60,000 + images taken.

I see. My confusion is with the layers. How do you stitch while maintaining control over the 3 bracketed shots for each segment of the final pano? I've only ever done panos with single raw files. If that's getting too much into your "workflow" and you'd rather not share, I understand. I just find the processing very interesting and a great technique.

Laramie wrote in post #15250249
I see. My confusion is with the layers. How do you stitch while maintaining control over the 3 bracketed shots for each segment of the final pano? I've only ever done panos with single raw files. If that's getting too much into your "workflow" and you'd rather not share, I understand. I just find the processing very interesting and a great technique.

When shooting the pano just take the shots like a normal pano, only each shot is bracketed. Then stitch all the "underexposed" brackets together, all the "overexposed" brackets together, and all the base-exposed brackets together, which gives you three (assuming you took 3 AEB brackets) single fully-stitched images from each bracketed shot. From there it's just whatever exposure-blending methods you prefer (HDR, manual-layer blending, or luminosity masking).

David Arbogast wrote in post #15250369
When shooting the pano just take the shots like a normal pano, only each shot is bracketed. Then stitch all the "underexposed" brackets together, all the "overexposed" brackets together, and all the base-exposed brackets together, which gives you three (assuming you took 3 AEB brackets) single fully-stitched images from each bracketed shot. From there it's just whatever exposure-blending methods you prefer (HDR, manual-layer blending, or luminosity masking).

Thank you. That's so easy I feel silly asking now. Don't mind me. I'll be in my corner with the dunce cap.

Great image!

Awesome job, and a relatively simple sounding process.

2n10 wrote in post #15250546
Awesome job, and a relatively simple sounding process.

The basic outline of the process might be simple, but executing it to perfection, is anything but. Canon Lover's execution here is masterful!

great job and thanks for the process info.

Thanks for looking guys!

Yes, this is vastly more complex than just slapping some layers together in PS. Combining everything into one final image with this many exposures can be a nightmare from hell when you have a scene like this with so many fine details on the edges of trees. My second time through would have taken longer than 4 hours, but since I had worked the images a few times before, I knew exactly what I wanted first try.

I would never recommend doing this process if you don't print large, and need the extra resolution from stitching. It runs a high risk of never coming together at all, which has happened to me on other occasions where I get too ambitious and lose the whole event.

Don't think I'd have the patience, but that's a WONDERFUL result!

Really nice! This makes for a very calm photo. Well worth the frame to hang on the wall.