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Thought I'd share this with any of you who like shooting while on the bike.

I carry with me around my neck a small point-n-shoot digital camera for those moments I can't stop to shoot. They happen so frequently and often times produce some of my most favorite shots.

And to make shooting easier with gloves on, I glued a small plastic knob to the shutter release button. Since the camera has a wide angle view, I just hold the camera with my left hand and point at what I'm shooting rather than a risky attempt to look through the viewfinder or LCD screen while riding. Afterwards on my computer, I can crop, straighten the horizon, photoshop my thumb out of the frame , etc...Works great!

I've been tryingn to figure out how to operate my shutter with gloves...ta muchly! BTW do you ever stitch images together? I've just been involved in producing those 360 panoramas for work with some great results.

chris wrote:BTW do you ever stitch images together? I've juust been involved in producing those 360 panoramas for work with some great results.

Hi Chris,

Yes, once in awhile I stitch together a photo - usually when I don't have the proper lens with me to do it in one frame. Here's an example on my recent trip to Crater Lake, Oregon. http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=7527 It's a photo of a lenticular cloud over Mt Shasta.



I needed a 70mm for the composition I was after however, I had a gap between my 35mm and 100mm so I just used the 100mm and made the above photo in 3 frames stitched together in Photoshop.

Never tried a 360 panorama although I think they look pretty cool. Would love to see some of yours.

If you have broadband I could mail you one, about 2.5mb file size.

Found a way to host some movies. Try these (LARGE FILE WARNING!)
The first is a full 360 on the campsite we were at last week in Normandy.
Second is further south from the top of the Aiguille du Midi cable car on Mont Blanc from Chamonix. No claims of having climbed the thing!

http://beakster.jot.com/WikiHome/Haizes.mov

http://beakster.jot.com/WikiHome/MontBlanc.mov

Chris :

Link takes me to a page that says "Node has been deleted" however there is a link below that that says : "View how the page looked before it was deleted" and it shows your campsite pano (which is very cool by the way). I can't seem to find the other panorama photo.

Hi Michael, try them again, was buggering about trying to get the right files up there!

Beautiful work Chris!

Thanks! If you want to try it out send me some images to stitch and I'll turn them into a movie for you.

Hey Chris..where did you find a place to load a movie?

DJ

Great stuff, Chris. What software program is it?

Back in the day when I fancied myself a serious amateur photographer, my favorite lense to slap on my trusty Nikkormat was a 24mm. I used to love those wide panaramic shots and the deep, deep depth of field! Didn't need to stich any of those shots together!

Edited to add - Wow! Nice shots Chris!

And has anyone tried to mount a camera to a Ram-mount on the handlebars and attempted shots while moving? Yes, I know, it has potential to be a crash, but so many times on group rides I have come back only with shots of everyone standing around talking because it is so hard to get a group to stop for photos and take the time to do it right. I thought I could reach up and snap a shot quickly while crusing down the road.

wncbmw wrote:And has anyone tried to mount a camera to a Ram-mount on the handlebars and attempted shots while moving?

I have Vann. Check out an earlier thread of mine to see some photos I took of fellow riders and scroll down to the bottom of the page for how I mounted the camera. I still prefer having a camera around my neck rather than pointing forward all of the time.

http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=6632

Thanks for the kind comments!

DJ,
it's part of a free wiki site http://www.jot.com/ I was playing with, just uploaded the images to the file storage and linked to them and to my surprise it worked!

LonestaRR,
there are 2 programs which are very cheap if you want to try it.
http://www.ptgui.com/ is the stitching software and
http://www.pano2qtvr.com/ is the movie convertor.
Both are downloadable and functional so you can try them out free.

If anyone tries out the software and gets stuck just shout and I'll try to help you out. It's great fun once you get it and not difficult at all.

These are just taken with a small Canon A85 but for work I use a Fuji S2 pro and a Sigma 10-20mm lens which has phenomenal field of view!

Michael - thanks for the link! That is exactly what I am talking about and exactly the results I want! When I meet up with board members for riding, the side stands are always down in the photos, no action shots! I want to change that. Seems like the around the neck thing would require more coordination than I have!

Nice shots and ride in the link, BTW. Looks like one of our Mid-Atlantic group get-togethers, except you had a mountain road plus an ocean involved!

If you'd like to see some more great 360 panoramic photos, check this site out :

http://www.virtualparks.org/html/gallery.html

taosports wrote: Here's an example on my recent trip to Crater Lake, Oregon. http://r1150r.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=7527 It's a photo of a lenticular cloud over Mt Shasta.



I needed a 70mm for the composition I was after however, I had a gap between my 35mm and 100mm so I just used the 100mm and made the above photo in 3 frames stitched together in Photoshop.

Never tried a 360 panorama although I think they look pretty cool. Would love to see some of yours.

AH HA! Michael, I said when that one first appeared how spectacular it seemed. ( I think maybe I just said I liked it alot!)

Now I learn more. You good photographers are keeping technique secrets from us regular guys!

But it is a really impressive shot.

MikeCam