Mount Whitney and Alabama Hills, Eastern California

These spectacular views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains were taken early morning in June 2003.  On our trip up 395 from Los Angeles to Gardnerville, we stayed overnight in Lone Pine, CA, the gateway to Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the continental USA.  The next morning, we decided to make a quick run up to Whitney Portal.  We captured the Alabama Hills panoramas on the way up, and the waterfalls panoramas while at Whitney Portal.  Afterwards, we enjoyed a hearty breakfast at Whitney Portal.  The pancakes are big enough to feed a family, and the hospitality is wonderful.

The equipment used was my Canon EOS Elan camera, with my 28-135 mm Image Stabilized lens, using the now extinct Kodak Royal Gold 100.  I was still using up a cache of film out of the freezer, and had not yet discovered that Kodak had discontinued the film due to "low sales."  I see the writing on the wall...  I am now going to be forced to use Fuji film, but I see a Canon 1Ds in my future... the images are incredible!  Finally, a digital camera that can replace my film camera!

I have returned to using PowerStitch as my primary panorama tool, as I have discovered it gives superior results to Panorama Factory.  Unfortunately, this means I must run it on my old Windows 98 machine... since the product was abandoned, and never upgraded to work with Windows 2000 or XP.  This means it is slow, but the results are worth while.  What happens when my old Dell dies?

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

Panorama MW1:  Alabama Hills in Early Morning Light

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

This panorama was captured as six portrait images, stitched with PowerStitch into an image over 6600 x 2900 pixels, or over 55 MB in size. The morning was hot and bright, but the shadow detail gives this image a sense of dramatic dimensionality.

Panorama MW2:  Alabama Hills Rock Formations

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

This panorama was captured with seven portrait images, stitched with PowerStitch into an image over 8400 x 2400 pixels, or more than 68 MB in size.  It was captured at 135 mm using my 28-135 mm IS lens.  This image gives you the feeling of mystery - the arrangement of the rocks is intriguing at the least.. you expect an arrow whizzing by your ear any moment.  This is the location where many westerns were filmed.

Panorama MW3:  Whitney Portal Falls

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

This beautiful waterfalls is located at the end of the loop at Whitney Portal, the gateway to Mount Whitney.  You have to climb a few rocks to get this view, and with the spring thaw still bringing melted snow, this falls is a spectacular sight!  This was captured with four landscape images, resulting in an image over 2900 x 5000 pixels, nearly 43 MB in size.  Captured at 28 mm.

Panorama MW4:  Whitney Portal Falls 2

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