Yesterday we went mountain biking near Pisgah National Forest and it was pretty cool. I quickly realized that I am in pretty bad shape and had to hike a lot more than I should. Even with this and the fact it was raining it was still a great ride. The leaves are a million different shades of brown to red and back; even a smidgen of violet thrown in for good measure. I took some picture along one of the scenic drives up to Pisgah. I remembered to bring my tripod on this trip so I could get some good panoramics by strapping multiple shots together. I will show the before and afters on here when I finish. Last time I came I was able to take that shot you all see at the top of this page! That shot is actually around 11 individual pictures combined into one using PS. It took a whle to get good at doing that. This time I knew the tricks to doing it well:

- Use a tripod, it makes lining up the skyline much easier.

- Find your focus, f-stop, shutter speed and lock them in for all the shots. If you leave it in automatic mode you will get differing brightness and contrast that you will have a hard time correcting later.

- Take the shots vertically not horizontally, this gives more perspective and a broader point of view.

- Overlap the shots by at least 50%, this gives you plenty of room to use your blending tools and make up for differences in lighting, etc.

- Do the whole thing twice at two different shutter speeds. A littlle brighter isn't a bad thing as you will be making it all darker in the end when you blend the shots together.

- Take the shots in the largest format that your computer and camera can handle. This makes editing easier and you can also print a large panoramic canvas print for your house when your done.

Tommorrow I am going to try to take some more landscape shots showing the beautifull fall leaves. Lookout for pictures coming soon!