- We've covered a lot of ground.
We've talked about uses for panoramic photography.
We've talked about some of the technical requirements
and all of the gear,
as well as how to put the pieces together.
I think you can tell that we're both a little bit nerdy
about this, but we do love it,
and I really think this is a great way
to take your photography to a new level.
Ron, do you have any parting advice to folks
as they sort of head out into their panoramic careers?
- [Ron] Well I would encourage anyone watching
to go out and do what I did.
Go out with the equipment that you have,
have some fun, make all the mistakes
and then you're going to develop your own style,
and I want you to only invest in those things
that most interest you and, again, just have fun with it.
- After all, a lot of equipment can be rented,
so you can try it out,
and of course if you belong to a local photo club
or have friends in the industry,
you could trade and share gear.
We have a lot of equipment here, Ron,
and at the end of the day,
you could spend as much or as little as you want here
and still get good results.
I think the important thing to realize
is that as you invest in your tools, it's as you move up.
So when you started with panoramic photography,
you just made it work with what you had.
- That's right.
- [Rich] Now that you're out there shooting,
you have some of your own favorite equipment
that you use all of the time,
but that took a little while
to become really comfortable with, right?
- Quite a while, from a budget standpoint
and just from an educational standpoint.
Once I found what works for me
and I developed those kinds of clients I wanted to go after
and the kinds of results I wanted to achieve,
that sort of drove me to what I use now,
and that's only going to continue over time.
- And the other good thing,
now that you've learned some of these essential skills
with making 360 degree photography, is this.
If you can make a 360 degree pano, you can make any pano.
So this means that if you can do the hardest one,
any of those other great wide-angle views
are gonna be at your fingertips.
Plus this was a great chance to get familiar
with the technical benefits of HDR photography.
A lot of times HDR gets a little bit of a bad rap
because people bluntly do it wrong.
They run it as a cheesy effect or they overdo it.
But when you use it the right way,
you get some pretty good results.
Ron, I know you're a bit biased having done a lot of work
directly with Photomatix through the years,
but I think it's important
that folks really take that message home, right?
That HDR photography is essential to this,
and they should probably dig a bit deeper
into the online library to learn more.
- [Ron] I think so, I think HDR photography is essential
for panoramic photography.
After all, us panoramic photographers brought HDR
into the photography world, literally.
And so I would encourage that,
make that a part of your panoramic process.
- I distinctly remember Ron saying that he can get by
with just the most basic equipment,
so I'm gonna take all of this and Ron, this is yours, right?
- Thanks very much, Rich.
- Yeah, so get out there, have fun shooting.
My name's Rich Harrington.
- My name's Ron Pepper.
- And thanks for watching.