the South Hills Open Space is part of San Luis Obispo .

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IMG_4919+ HDR Panorama A
Made by .RGB.
This is the first of three variants. It was cropped from a composite of 234 photos: 3 exposures at each of 78 different directions. When merged together, they produced an irregularly shaped panorama with three distinct aspect ratios that could be cropped out of it. This was actually partially a mistake, as the last section of photos taken was meant to be its own, small panorama, but just so happened to overlap with the other photos, which allowed for a massively wide shot (Variant C).


IMG_5276
Made by .RGB.
I just threw this one in there in case someone happens to browse through this set and wonders What's with all the HDR? What a cheap gimmick! Yes, it frequently gets overdone, but it doesn' always have to be bad. I think the difference between this photo and the next, HDR-ified version shows how you can pull out a little extra something special from a photo without having to make it look like clown vomit (probably the funniest description I've read about your typical HDR photo).


IMG_4919+ HDR Panorama
Made by .RGB.
And just for anyone interested in the uncropped source of the previous panoramas, here it is. This image is a composite of 234 images: 3 different exposures at each of 78 different directions. It has been resized, once to fit within the JPEG spec (<30,000 pixels in a dimension), and then again further resized and compressed to fit within Flickr's upload limits. Original image resolution is 37644×7883 pixels.


South Hills Open Area
Made by jhapeman
The South Hills Open Area is a park in San Luis Obispo, CA. Its a large set of hills composed of serpentine, with the characteristic poor soils of this rock. There are a number of rare and endemic species found here, including Calochortus obispoensis, which was the plant I went there to photograph.


whimsy
Made by strobe_n
mid-day summer weeds, using a technique inspired by . Step 1: place the camera near the subject without looking through the viewfinder. Step 2: select a pre-set focus distance. Step 3: move the camera toward the subject while firing the shutter many times and hope for the best.


IMG_4919+ HDR Panorama C
Made by .RGB.
This is the third of three variants of one particularly large mass of photos. I wasn't trying to make all the panoramas overlap, but they did, allowing for one continuous section that ran all the way from left to right.


IMG_5279+ Panorama
Made by .RGB.
Again, showing what the previous photo would look like without the HDR, going simply with what the camera says to have zero exposure compensation. Pretty boring if you ask me.


IMG_5276+ HDR
Made by .RGB.
The grass looks a bit off, but it HDR nicely lightens up the rocks in the foreground and brings out a ton of detail in the clouds.


IMG_4919+ HDR Panorama B
Made by .RGB.
The second of three variants of a large number of overlapping shots, this one offers a bit wider but shorter field of view.


IMG_5517+ HDR Panorama
Made by .RGB.
Cerro San Luis, or commonly referred to as Madonna Mountain even though that is neither its name, nor is it a mountain.


Jason
Made by bgautrey
Took this while hiking in south hills. Don't usually do Black and Whites, but this one just turned out better that way.


IMG_5391+ HDR
Made by .RGB.
My friend Nick who joined me on this little hike. He hates having his picture taken, but I caught him off guard. :-)


IMG_5646+ HDR
Made by .RGB.
A bit random, but this rock along the path caught my eye.


San Luis Mariposa Lily
Made by jhapeman
Taken at the South Hills Open Area, San Luis Obispo, CA.


Cerro San Luis
Made by bgautrey
Cerro San Luis from South Hills right around sunset.


IMG_5246+ HDR Panorama
Made by .RGB.
The other side of the tracks.


IMG_5595+ HDR Panorama
Made by .RGB.
Downtown San Luis Obispo


IMG_5550+ HDR Panorama
Made by .RGB.
Madonna Inn