Fall in woodland

This image is a 360° panorama made from 13 separate photographs that I captured recently in an English woodland.

The images were shot with a Lumix DFC-GF2 and 7mm (14mm equivalent in 35mm format) lens. I used a tripod and mounted the camera vertically, levelling the camera carefully so that as I swung it around my position it remained level. I made sure that each shot overlapped the last by at least 50%. I fixed the focus and the aperture using manual settings (f11). Finally, I took an image of the sky overhead, and one of the ground after removing the camera from the tripod.

I combined the images using the free and excellent panorama maker: Hugin. I set the perspective to ‘fisheye’ and manipulated the viewpoint to create the image until I was happy with it.

The colours and texture of Autumn are perfectly captured, with a hint of seasonal swirling winds. I love the idea of falling into the woodland; like disappearing down a silvan plug hole.

The sharp-eyed of my regular readers may recognise the star in this image: the ancient ash coppice stool depicted in my Coppice Story.

Gabriel Hemery