Nature & Travel Photography by Justin Reznick

Creating panoramas was a major theme for me this year. I absolutely love the format, especially for printing and presenting. I have been embracing 60 to 90 inch long metal panos and displaying them at art shows. It was a goal of mine in 2014 to expand my panorama portfolio and I am pleased with the images I made this past year. I wanted to share with you my 14 favorites from 2014. I hope you enjoy them. If you are interested in ordering any of these images as a metal print or canvas gallery wrap please let me know. I specialize in printing on both mediums.

Let’s start off with vertical panoramas. These are extremely rare in the landscape photography genre and they don’t display particularly well online. But in person, they are amazing. And if you look around your own home, it’s surprising how much wall space caters towards vertical panoramas. This was taken in Lower Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona. Being in confined spaces makes it difficult to create panoramas. I used a Canon 24mm tilt shift lens, an incredibly useful and simple tool for creating panoramas in tight spaces, to make this image. One of the benefits of making panoramas in difficult environments is originality. You can make images in iconic locations that have never been made before.

Next up is a vertical panorama of Bryce Canyon National Park. I have been incorporating people in my nature photography lately to show scale. I waited for the perfect subject, in this case a young girl with a bright hat, to walk the path of hoodoos.

I’ve struggled for years to photograph this iconic rock in Coyote Buttes South in a compelling way. It’s a fantastic subject but I’ve never seen it nor could I compose it in an interesting way. In the end it was the confined 2×3 format that was the obstacle. By creating a vertical panorama I was able to make an image that pleases me. In addition, I’ve grown somewhat tiresome of fiery sunrise and sunset skies and more interested in other forms of light. Mid-day light with interesting clouds I find incredibly appealing, especially when you execute the scene without any harsh light. In addition, I love the blue against the colors of sandstone. The clouds lined up perfectly here, creating a volcanic like explosion from the top of the sandstone formation.

Moving on to the more standard horizontal panoramas, we definitely see more subjects in nature work for this format. I was fortunate to experience an incredible 10 mile hike through Landmannalaugar (the Highlands in Iceland) with fantastic conditions. This panorama illustrates the multi-colored mountains and patches of snow that make the region so photogenic.

I didn’t have the most productive trip to Moravia in the Czech Republic this year, but I did manage to create a few images that appealed to me including this panorama of multi-colored crops, rolling hills and trees during sunrise.

The Palouse is panorama heaven. This is one of my all time favorites from the region. I love the flowing brown ribbons through the rolling green hills. This was made with a telephoto lens, the easiest lens to use for making panoramas.

This image of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Telč was the most difficult panorama I made all year. Because the town square was so confined, I couldn’t get far enough back to make a pano without extreme distortion. To make this pano, I shot with a mid-range lens and walked across the whole scene, shooting along the way. Stitching was incredibly difficult, but I was able to make it work using the powerful program, PTGUI. Take a look online at other panoramas of Telč and you will see the extreme distortion that is commonplace. I’m very proud of this image.

Namibia is a landscape photographer’s dream location. It truly is. I recommend every one make the journey one day if it’s at all a possibility. This was taken in the NamibRand Nature Reserve and it’s unlike anything I had seen before.

It doesn’t get much more iconic than the Wave in Coyote Buttes North. But how many up close and personal panoramas are there out there? Most panos of the Wave are taken from further back. By getting in close with a tilt shift lens I was able to isolate the subject and make the image I had envisioned.

White Sands National Monument is amazing! White sand dunes as far as the eye can see. I was there shortly after my Namibia trip, and it was quite a contrast to the orange and red dunes of Africa. This image was created by shooting into the sunrise, a favorite technique of mine.

This is my favorite image from Namibia. Dappled light like this can’t be recreated. it’s a singular moment that may never exist quite like this again. Timing is crucial and everything lined up perfectly.

This has become my best-selling panorama. It’s a simple yet striking image with incredible color contrast. It’s surreal and yet minimally processed. The Deadvei is like no place on Earth.

The sure volume of hoodoos in Bryce Canyon National Park is astounding. Through stitching more than one image together, you can really emphasis the number of hoodoos with incredible resolution. I look forward to printing this large one day!

White Pocket is an incredibly surreal sandstone formation that feels like another planet. With this panorama, I was able to tell the story of many of its interesting features, including the brain rock and red swirls.

Thank you for viewing my favorite panoramas of the year. I encourage you to experiment with the format in 2015 and see what you can create. Happy New Year!