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Yesterday, I walked from the Mabee Farm along the south bank of the Mohawk River up to Lock 9. I was curious about the state of the lock after last year's damage from storms Irene and Lee. The river itself is very low right now. It is too early in the year for the Spring rains to have raised it, and it's also too early for the lock impoundment dams to be in place. So the river appears much s it did in the 1600s when the Mohawk people walked these same shores.
Today, the river banks are scoured back and up quite a way. Those floods last summer were very powerful. Repairs are still ongoing, but the lock gates are installed, the shore abutments of the dam look like they are repaired and the bridge over the dam is open. The official web site has the projected opening set for 1 May, so they still have time to finish up whatever remains.
This photo is my very first attempt at a digital panorama. When I shot 35mm film, I used to make 'panoramas' by taping the prints together in a gentle arc; following the natural curvature caused by the lens. Although I'm a life long computer programmer, and I love to tinker with technology, for some reason I've only rarely manipulated my digital photos. For this attempt, I used free software called GIMP - the GNU Image Manipulation Program. GIMP allows scripting and other add-ons; I tried a panorama assistant called Pandora. I followed an introductory tutorial on YouTube; that was enough to get me to combine 3 separate images into the single one here. It's not great, but since I was hand-holding the camera (no tripod, no level) I found it satisfying.
I exposed all 3 photos the same way, to although the image is a composite, the following is an accurate accounting of the exposure.
| F Number | 8.0 |
| Lens ID | LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6 |
| Focal Length | 14.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 28.0 mm) |
| Exposure Time | 1/125 |
| Exposure Program | Manual |
| ISO | 100 |
| Exposure Compensation | 0 |
| Flash | Off, Did not fire |
I'd say that's pretty splendid for a first attempt. I haven't tried panorama yet, but must get to that, as sometimes, it's really the only thing that captures what you're seeing. Meanwhile, I think of you and your blog each time I'm out walking and see those skunk cabbages heralding spring!
ReplyDeleteI think it came out great. I cannot see any seams where the photos were stitched together, so great quality. My early attempts were not good, but now I use Photoshop and it gives me high quality pano shots. I think your results here are every bit as good!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely sight!
ReplyDelete