For those of you who have been following for a while know, I can't pass up an opportunity to capture panoramic pictures of the places I visit. We recently took our holiday vacation to Park City, Utah where we stayed at the Westgate Resort in the Canyons Village Ski Complex.
Given that this was my first time seeing snow in about 20 years, that was way back before I took up photography as a hobby, not even 5 degree weather and -6 windchill was going to stop me from getting out and photographing the incredible scenery.
Photography a winter scene has very similar challenges to a bright sunny beach scene. The extreme contrast between lights and darks is a constant fight within the the camera's light metering system. This is something you can work out within a set frame of reference, but is a wicked challenge to balance when doing panoramic shots since you need to sweep across the snowy landscape that may have intense whites, and deep shadows.
In the first 2 views of the resort complex, I had to let the camera meter to a "middle ground" area of brightness, hold the shutter, then rotate to my start point and then begin the capture. It worked out pretty well, but still needed a little bit of brightness balancing in Photoshop to finalize the images.
This was a full 180 degree view from the balcony of our suite, luckily the sun was blocked by the roof at the time so the balance and colors came out perfect.
This was a lucky "break" while riding the ski lift gondola back down to the resort. The lift was stopped for about 3 minutes to help other people on/off that the bottom, so I took advantage of the stop to open the windows and snap some photos. Of course it took a minute to settle down and I needed everyone to sit still while I did this. :-)
This last image shows the pink sunset reflecting in the snow, I am happy I noticed this and got the shot just in time.
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