1.6. Stage 6

1.6.1. Finishing the panorama

I saved the picture in Photoshop to preserve all the layers, then flattened it. I then applied Filter→Sharpen→Unsharp Mask, set the values for eventual printing, and saved the final photograph in TIFF format.

The resulting file was 29.5 × 9.8 in. (75 × 25 cm) at 300 dpi. In an uncompressed TIFF format, it was 74.8 MB!

I achieved exactly what I'd envisioned and hoped for before I started shooting. I chose the locale for the contrast in color and textures between the foreground and the mountain in the distance. The hard part was mentally visualizing exactly how I would overlap photographs to cover a 200° field of view.

To check the final picture's quality, I made a film-based proof from my digital file, and ran off a little presentation sample in poster format at 13 × 37 in. (33 × 95 cm). Printed on glossy paper, the result was spectacular!

Fressinière Valley, Hautes-Alpes, Bertrand Bodin