Panoramas of Death Valley: Trona Pinnacles

For some reason, whenever we travel I can never get far enough away from
what I want to shoot. So I've taken to shooting a lot of panoramas, which
of course never look like the actual scene (all kinds of distortions
happen). But they are an art form unto themselves, it turns out.

On the way to Death Valley via the southern route, you'll probably pass
Trona & The Pinnacles without stopping. Bzzt. Take the turnoff!
I think this pic is about eight images composited, and covers about 110
degrees or so. The light was pretty even, which is important to avoid
some weird effects, but just the same you can see it brighten to the right.

A much more complicated shot, covering about 200 degrees. This does give
something of an idea how weird the Trona Pinnacles look, and also hints
at the complications that uneven light can present. The sky is almost
always a mess, and has to be fussed with. Shh: don't tell.

The last pic is pretty big: 6821x385 pixels, so I just made a link
for the more adventurous among you. The really cool thing about it is,
as I kept expanding the pans there, I just couldn't resist doing a 360
to see what it would look like. Weird, I guess, is the best way to
put it. If you have a resizing viewer, download it and fuss around.
Notice how the light changes as you go "around."

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