The photos displayed in the gallery below are highly compressed versions of some very large (up to 100 megapixel) images that I took while on vacation in Spain and France over New Year's 2008-2009.

The images are composed over several (up to about twenty) individual digital photographs taken by handholding my camera and using manual exposure control to ensure consistent exposure across the entire image. The images were then assembled by the use of Adobe Photoshop CS3, which is much better at this than prior versions. In particular, the software is able to adjust for small exposure and white balance inconsistancies between the constituent photographs.

If you want to try this technique at home, just take a series of partially overlaping, equally exposed digital photographs and use the "Photomerge" too in PHotoshop, by clicking File->Automate->Photomerge.

Photo Gallery

Click on any photo to view the full image (expect long download times). All images are the copyright of David Reid Jacobson, 2009

Palacio Real, Madrid - This is the ceremonial residence of the king of Spain, Juan Carlos II. This image is composed from three images arranged as a panorama.

Retiro Park, Madrid - It was unusually warm, for just an hour or two, when we visited this famous park: Madrid's answer to central park.

City Gate at Sunset, Madrid - This panorama of three images was taken standing in the traffic median of one of the large avenues surrounding Retire Park, and about thirty minutes after the prior image.

The Aqueduct of Segovia - The Romans made it all the way to spain, and built this impressive structure for carrying water across the large valley that houses Segovia. Obviously, the aqueduct is not actually curved, this is an artifact of the way the image was taken. (Namely, of the fact that the image is being taken in a spherical fashion).

Plaza Zocodover, Toledo - The central plaza of the touristy, and ancient, city of Toledo. The advantage of not using a tripod for your photography is portability, the disadvantage is that your have to find creative places to set your camera for night photography. Obviously, whatever surface I found for this photo was not flat.

Plaza Nuevo, Granada - This turned out to be a very odd and interestign picture. It is what I call a "contact sheet", not a panorama, since it is composed of multiple in mages in both dimensions. I was standing very close to the building on the left, so it is heavily distorted. Also, I had to do some touchup work, because the people in the photo kept moving as I took the component images. This is the largest image in the set

Alhambra I, Granada - The capital of Al Andaluz in its waning years, taken from the summer palace.

Albyzin, Granada - The Albyzin and Socromonte sections of Granada as seen from the Alhambra. This is another "contact sheet" image, and is the largest in this set (weighing in at 107 megapixels).

Alhambra II, Granada - This images is taken from the Albyzin section of the city, from a terrace housing the last of world's hippies.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles - Composed from three vertically aligned images, this photo needs no description.

Snowcover, Versailles - We spent a great deal of time (several hours), wandering lost through the snowy grounds of Versailles. We finally made our way back to the Chateu at sunset.

Champs de Mars, Paris - The park at the base of the Eiffel Tower, as seen from halfway up. Also composed of vertically aligned images.

Eiffel Tower, Paris - The view from the second level, looking east.

Nightscape, Paris - The city of lights looks much more modern at night.