City Walls of Bokhara
Bokhara, Uzbekistan 2012
I’d learned Scott Kelby’s technique for shooting panoramas and decided I had the perfect subject with the huge walls of Bokhara. Scott has an unusual technique, which is to shoot verticals and not horizontals. Of course, you must overlap your shots. I think he recommended a 20% overlap. I tried to do that although it was hard for me to estimate.
Another important thing: before the first shot, hold your hand in front of the lens with only one finger and at the end of your shots hold up your hand with two fingers. Now you know where to start and end. Otherwise, when you get home, you look at a bunch of similar shots and wonder “what was I doing here?”
Photoshop will fit all of your shots together for you…and presto, you have a beautiful panorama all done while you make a cup of coffee.
I can’t remember the exact number of shots I took here, but at least eight but more probably ten: due to being anxious about exactly how much was 20% overlap. The finished file is huge. 185 MB and 54 inches long by 23 inches high. I won’t be printing it full size.
You can see some people in the shot. That gives you and idea of how massive the walls are. These walls were reconstructed by the Russians who bombed and ruined them in the 1920’s. Over on the left you can see the entrance to what is called the Ark. The Emir’s palace and other historical government buildings are here.
Now that I’ve done one panorama, I’ll do others. First, I’ll reread Scott’s latest digital photography book. I have all of his books and I recommend them. For simple, straight forward information, you can’t beat them.
Visit Old Bokhara with Penelope at www.uzbekjourneys.com If you are interested in the history of the region, subscribe to her blog where you will find all sorts of fascinating facts about Central Asia.