Sierra Nevada Mountains, Eastern California

These spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains were taken at late afternoon on May 4, 2003, while we were returning home to Gardnerville, NV from San Jose, CA.  We were traveling over route 88, the most direct route.  Often, route 88 is closed due to snowfall.  However, the road was clear, and the snow was recent and still falling in some areas.

The equipment used was my Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P9 Digital Camera.  I took six portrait images, and stitched them using Panorama Factory.  Since the Sony does not have the easy access to exposure control that my Canon Elan does, I did not attempt to manually set the capture parameters to ensure consistent white balance and exposure.  Thus, I needed to use some Photoshop tricks, including low opacity "color" layers to correct color balance.  However, I can carry the P9 with me easily, thereby enabling the capture of shots otherwise missed.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a larger version of the image.

Panorama SN1:  Silver Lake Winter Wonderland

Copyright (c) 2003 by Eric C. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

The full-size image is 5900 x 2200 pixels - over 37 MB.  This is an example of what is possible with a fairly inexpensive digital camera, some Photoshop work, and of course Panorama Factory.  The details in the full-size image are not quite as clear as would be the case with film-based capture with Photo-CD scan, however.  This is due to the reconstruction filter limitations for CCD capture.

This image was captured near Carson Pass, at over 8000 feet elevation.  The sun was setting in the west, and snow clouds were swirling about.  Fresh snow had been falling for several days.  This was taken with six portrait captures, but was cropped heavily because the rightmost capture was blurry - no doubt due to operator error.  It is more difficult with a tiny camera to keep from moving it when you press the shutter button than it is with a larger camera.  No doubt I rely on my IS (image stabilization) more than I realize...

Panorama SN2:  Carson Pass Snow Sunset

Copyright (c) 2003 by Eric C. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

The full-size image is 3400 x 1800 pixels - over 17 MB.  This is not much different in resolution from a single frame capture using 35mm film and Photo-CD scan, although the aspect ratio is different.

Caples lake is farther west along route 88 than Silver Lake, and somewhat more difficult to capture in a pleasing manner due to the lay of the land.  However, the panorama below shows a very interesting scene with snow still on the mountains in the distance, and along the shore across the lake.  This was captured late afternoon, facing east.

Panorama SN3:  Caples Lake Spring

Copyright (c) 2003 by Eric C. Anderson
All Rights Reserved

The full-size image is over 5000 x 2100 pixels - over 60 MB.  This was captured with my Sony digital, with 6 portrait captures, using automatic exposure.

Hope valley is a place of beautiful alpine meadows with mountain backgrounds.  This is an image of the West Fork of the Carson River in Hope Valley, captured in late summer 2000.

Panorama SN4:  Hope Valley:  West Fork Carson River