Valles Caldera, NM is such a gorgeous venue, a giant valley ridged by pine forests. It just recently got approved to be turned into a national park.

This pano turned out to be huge, the full-size is ~35000x4000 pixels. I was impressed by photoshop/lightroom's capability to handle it.

Any tips to improve this? I haven't done to many panoramic shots before, but this valley was begging for one.

[GeoJerry]

Pano's are always hard to view online in the detail they deserve. I think I would have added a bit more saturation and contrast to this, but that's just personal taste. Did you do a lens correction in Lightroom? I don't know to what extent the downward sloping surfaces on both sides are real topography, wide angle lens distortion, or a bit of both. I think from the angle of the tree trunks that this is natural topography?

Anyway, great shot!

[debakarma]

looks gorgeously expansive. how many shots did you stitch?

[jeffshaddix]

Thanks guys for the comments.

That is real topography causing the slanting on the sides. It is a 13.7 mile wide volcanic crater (caldera) which is now a massive meadow at 11,500 ft (3,400 m).

I stitched about 20 portrait shots at 35mm for that. Lightroom didn't get the stitching right, but photoshop did. I don't think there's much lens distortion going on, but that is a good point.

I agree on the saturation and contrast. I'll up it a little, but I don't want to go too far out from what it really looked like.