Panorama Drama

A great week last week, on Thursday I climbed Cnoc Udais, a hill near my parents village of Muir of Ord. It was bright clear day and the snowy mountains made for some great panoramas and landscapes. I’ve had a really draining couple of weeks, with work stresses, an ill father-in-law and a lot of work related travel….I needed the break and feel a lot better for it.
Anyway, the history of Cnoc Udais is a dark one, the literal translation is the ‘Hill of Judas’, apparently the ‘cnoc’ looks like a pregnant woman (I couldn’t see it) and this is due to a woman being ‘ravished’ on the hill, (not sure who did the ravishing…English-folk probably)…anyway, as she lay down to die on the Cnoc, the hill took her form…changing it’s shape as a memorial to the tragic attack.

Regardless of its origins, the cnoc stands on it’s own in a valley surrounded by mountains, so the view from the top on a clear day is really spectacular. Also it gives some really alpine views for a relatively short walk; so the fantastic view at the top is big return on the small amount of the energy invested in climbing it. It takes about 3 hours for a return trip to the summit so you can be back down the hill in time for lunch…ideal.

There was a great article in last months Digital Photography on panoramas…and standing on the top of the hill seemed like a golden opportunity to try out some of their techniques. Photoshops stitching tools take a long time to process several photos, but the end result is usually flawless. Three of my examples are shown above…I’m really pleased with outcome and hope to get some of these professionally printed. For further Pano-related inspiration, take a look at this excellent flickr group.

I’m also working on a photo-book for a Christmas gift for someone, I’m using Photobox, the interface is excellent, you upload the pictures to the web at full size and use their excellent online tools to create the book. I used myphotobook for a little book for the wedding in August and wasn’t too impressed with the quality…I’ll let you know how this one turns out.

Going Paintballing this weekend so I’m unsure what photo opportunities that will present. The following week I’m staying in France for a conference…I’ll take the camera along but I don’t know what chances I’ll get to snap anything of value.