Canon G7 X Mk II – 1/400, f/11, ISO 125, Eval Meter

Remember the other day when I said I was reviewing all the photos I’ve taken this year? Well that continues. This is another series of gems I found that hadn’t been turned into a panorama. The island to the left, Rabbit Island, was pictured on Day 135 as a secondary picture (May 22, the same day I took this). However, I like panoramas, and I spent quite a bit of time (a few hours) on this photo, so we are showcasing it as the Photo of the Day.

One thing to keep in mind. For this pic (and all pics I’ve done this year). The actual photos I take and process are typically large in size. This one, after processing in Photoshop was over 650 Mb. In order to optimize them for my website, I really have to reduce them to a much smaller size – 400 Kb or less typically. This does greatly impact, as in reduce, the resolution of each picture. I have kept all high resolution PotD pics on my hard drive though.

There is a bit of a plot twist though. You might be thinking why did I spend so much time on a simple panorama of 3 stitched images? Well, this photo isn’t what it seems. You see, most of the vegetation is fake, as in content-aware fill. In the course of creating this panorama, there was considerable fisheye distortion of the horizon. In the course of straightening it, I ended up having to add much more vegetation, otherwise, the crop would have been too extreme. Also, in the original photo on the left, there were 4 people and a dog on the rocks. Who wants them in your picture? NOBODY! Also, there were Kayakers, swimmers, and one surfer – ALL GONE! Finally, there was the top of a lighthouse on the rocky hill on the right. I thought it was distracting, so I removed it. There was also a comm tower on the right. It’s gone too.

So there you have just a glimpse of the power of Photoshop.