Work outside

After the test run of January 23, 2010 we prepared for the attempt to provide the single pictures for the biggest picture of the world again on a ski tour in the foothills of the Swiss Alps. The suitable day seemed to be March 13, 2010. Avalanche bulletin and weather forecast made us feel confident. Before daybreak we began to climb in Trüschhübel, Eriz, (approx. altitude: 1145m) to the summit of Sieben Hengste in the foothills of the Bernese Alps, Switzerland (altitude: 1955m). The climb turned out to be more strenuous than expected. The reason was probably our daily form which did not feel too good this day. However, we were compensated by the unique scenery our route led to. Of course we were motivated by the aim of this ski tour: The admission of the raw data for a very large panoramic picture.

View to the summit

Photographer with about 10 kg of photo equipment.

Photographer: Concentrated with his work

After about 2:45 hours of climbing we reached the summit of Sieben Hengste (altitude: 1955m, foothills of the Bernese Alps, Switzerland). The conditions looked good: The view was clear, it was practically calm and the temperatures were still tolerable with a few degrees under zero. Only in front of the Bernese Alps there lay a bank of mist which motivated me to hurry up. I feared that the bank of mist could soon resolve and convert into source clouds.

During the admission (direction of east)

He has done it!

Companion: Ready to the departure

Therefore, after a short break I built up the tripod and began with the admission of the Gigapixel-panoramic picture. For safety's sake I first began taking the pictures below the horizon. Then I took a photo of the Bernese Alps with aforesaid bank of mist, however, still without annoying source clouds. Then in the second round the picture rows about the horizon were photographed. All together I provided 20 picture rows with totally over 2700 single pictures. The action turned out to be right: The bank of mist really resolved and soon small source clouds formed before the Bernese Alps.

The camera was postponed for every admission by hand. The manual postponement of the camera requires a high concentration. Too big rotation of the camera between the admission of two pictures, gaps would originate in the panoramic picture. To be able to keep up this concentration after a climb of several hours is one of my challenges in the panoramic photography.

After done work we allowed ourselves a rest at the summit. Afterwards we turned to the valley on sky.

We are fascinated by standing on a mountain and creating a panoramic picture with the self-carried photo equipment. Besides, it does not matter whether it concerns a small or large panoramic picture.