Panoramic Metolius River photos

It got up to 103 degrees here in rural south Salem today, so this is a good time to dig out some photos I took recently at what was a much cooler spot in Oregon -- the Metolius River.

I'm still learning how to make my new Sony DSC-HX1 do its camera tricks. I hadn't played around much with the Sweep Panorama mode, so decided to give it more of a try. Here's a description:

World's first digital camera with Sweep Panorama. Equipped with Sweep Panorama mode, the HX1 reaches beyond the limits of wide angle lenses and makes it easy to capture expansive, breathtaking panoramic shots. Simply press the shutter button and "sweep" the camera horizontally or vertically—and the camera assembles the shots into a single frame which can cover up to 224 degrees field of view. 

Here's a shot of the Metolius not far from the spring-fed headwaters. You certainly get a better feel for the mood of the river with 224 degrees of camera vision.

When we're in Camp Sherman, Serena and I usually take our late afternoon dog walk upstream, then return to the cabin through the Riverside campground.

Small Ponderosas have been thinned out, so the campground is close to what a mature old growth Ponderosa forest probably looks like (large trees resist fire better than small ones, so I've read that before humans started controlling wildfires, central Oregon forests had larger and fewer Ponderosa pines, compared to today).

To contrast the panorama mode, here's a normal photo of the Metolius taken from about the same spot as the top photo above. Nice, but different. I like having another picture-taking option.

Along that line, I discovered that reducing the resolution of the image taken by the Sony to the smallest choice ("email"), the already powerful 20x zoom turns into a 108x zoom.

I stood in the middle of the bridge leading to the charming Camp Sherman store and pointed the camera downriver. The small image resolution reduces the photo quality.

But, wow, the 108x zoom would be great for spying. Resting the camera on the bridge railing, combined with image stabilization, produced this image of the cabin barely visible in the non-zoomed photo above. Cool!

Ending on a cute note, this is "Bling," a dog I encountered at a street fair booth when we went to Sisters last Sunday. Laurel keeps telling me that I need a little white dog. I don't know about that. But I'm sure attracted to happy canine faces like this one. My nose got licked, big time.

Comments

[Bpaul]

I know the exact stretches you've photographed. Gorgeous river.

Bp

[ben]

those are pretty, 103 up at salem oregon? wow, must be "global warming" or something different.