Happy New Year!

OK, let's get back to work!

To kick off the new year, here are a couple of panoramas from New Year's Eve in Rio de Janiero. I found these on the PanotoolsNG Yahoo group.

Willy Kamena

Ayrton Carmago

Willy Kamena of Bremen, Germany was visiting Ayrton Camargo of Rio de Janiero, and the two went to the beach for the New Year's Eve fireworks. You can see both Ayrton and Willy at work in these two images.

Note they are both using fill flash (absolutely necessary in this situation), Ayrton's fill balance is just about perfect with the light provided by the fireworks. A reader on the Panotools NG group asked him about his flash rig, here's what he had to say: "I use the Gary Fong diffuser, always pointing to the sky. Doesnt matter where I'm (at) if there's a ceiling or not! And I put the flash NOT on TTL. Always use on A (automatic)."

Ayrton is using a pole rig to get his camera up higher. Willy is using a monopod, but at eye level.

Also note the use of simple ambient sounds embedded in the full-screen html. I think this adds to the "being there" effect.

Why are these panos cool? These photographers are using the techniques we need to shoot photojournalistic panoramas. They're traveling fast and light, using monopods and poles rather than tripods. They're using fill flash to reveal content in areas where there is nothing but darkness. And they're working under difficult lighting conditions with moving subjects.