After "chasing" sunsets for over two years now, I got to the point where I can approximate how the sunset is going to look like - whether it's going to be pretty, or the clouds are going to completely cover the sun, or they are going to disappear before the "magic" light comes on.

Yesterday was such a day, and I couldn't have been happier I had my camera with me at MTSU, where I teach part time, two afternoons a week. As soon as my class was over, I ran to my car, drove a couple of blocks, and took a couple of photos, a series of which made it into this panorama shot.

I don't know about you, but when I see something strange happening weather-wise, I sometimes tend to panic because I don't know where to go and take the photo. I try to stay away from taking photos from the same location all the time, and when you live in a town that doesn't have much water, open space, or impressive buildings, it's hard to come up with new places every time. And when I left my class yesterday, I knew I didn't have time to go anywhere off campus, so I decided to try capturing the sunset with a landmark of MTSU in the background. And if you are familiar with the MTSU campus, you will (I hope) immediately recognize the Honors Building Tower.

In terms of post-processing, I spent quite a few hours trying to get the perfect perspective. The shot is a composite of 6 different vertical shots, taken at 18mm, f/5.6, somewhere around 1/30s, stitched in Photoshop CS4, using the cylindrical panorama feature. As far as color goes, I only added two contrast curves in the sky, and adjusted the vibration in a couple of clouds. The rest was pretty much as shot. I wish I had my 11mm lens with me, but I don't like to carry too much equipment with me everywhere I go... it tends to get in the way of shooting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Titus