What I learned at the CS3 Power Tour Part 2

Okay, I’m reasonably recuperated from my early morning porch shoot, so here’s my second installment in this series. (Ooh, look at me, sounding all important and stuff. Don’t mind me, I’m slightly delusional. I think it might be the decongestants. That, or the Kahlua in my chai last night. Or maybe both.)

What I learned at the CS3 Power Tour:

2. Panoramic images are ridiculously simple. (And this entry is ridiculously short.)

Heading to the seminar last week via the ferry from New Jersey was absolutely the best way to get there. I didn’t have to deal with Lincoln Tunnel traffic, the five-minute trip across the Hudson River was unrushed and relaxing, I didn’t have to find parking in midtown, and oh, I didn’t have to deal with Lincoln Tunnel traffic.

But by far, that evening after the seminar, ferrying back to where my car was in Lincoln Harbor brought just about the coolest perk you can get right after a Photoshop seminar. Not only did I get to see my mom (who let me use her parking spot at her condo), but I also got to hang out a bit at her place, which offers an unobstructed and private view of the entire Manhattan skyline. And it was a clear night.

So, with Scott Kelby’s encouragement to “go shoot panos!” here are a few shots of the skyline that evening:

Getting those photos stitched together was going to take me all of – ready for this? – three steps.

Okay, maybe four, but hey, the third one’s Auto, so it kinda doesn’t count much. Oh, and the first step was choosing the photos, which is really a no-brainer. And the last one was to crop off any rough edges, which is also sort of a no-brainer. And the second one was clicking on the Photomerge command, which again doesn’t really require much thinking.

So I guess what I’m saying is that yeah, creating panoramic images is so ridiculously simple that you almost don’t need a brain.

(click on the image to view a larger version – warning: it’s a large file!)

Easy and seamless.

Sigh. If only housework were this simple.

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Addendum: Taking the photos is just as simple. With CS3, you don’t even have to use a tripod. You can totally hand hold your camera, and as long as you have noticeable overlap between photos, you’re good to go.