Sunday, January 5, 2014

Clear, Sunny & plus +4°C ( 40°F) on the Pacific Coast

With so many reports of Ice Storms, Wind Chill factors, Snow Storms, Power failures in the Eastern Parts of the Country, those of us out West are experiencing normal weather this time of year

    Shelter Island Marina, Richmond, BC                                        5 January 2014

I can't imagine living without power with temperatures at -40°F such as those in Newfoundland right now.   All I can say is that we are fortunate to be here on the left coast on a clear sunny day with water as calm as glass


It's still on the chilly side for us with night time lows of about -3°c and we have to scrape our windshields in the morning but so far we have been on the plus side of freezing during the day.


We come here often and today we were meeting friends for brunch.   It was my plan to take my good camera and play around with my Microsoft ICE pano program 

While waiting for our friends I like to walk around the Marina and snap a few photos


The name of this boat caught my eye.  Just imagine that you are leaving your office and you just tell your staff that you are going to "The Job Site" for the afternoon

I surveyed the scene and decided to snap 16 full resolution images in 3 horizontal rows to produce my composite image  (Nearly 45 Megs)

    Output screen of the MR ICE interface

Notice that I am not so good at doing horizontal rows without a tripod.  Luckily the program has a built-in crop function.   In order to keep the colour balance identical for all these (16) images, I used manual mode so all photos were taken at the same settings, plus you should have enough overlap so the program can stitch them automatically

and here is the result


another regular day on the Wet Coast of British Columbia


20 comments:

  1. Great pictures again Bob and I love the panos. No bike in the photos though...come on 4 degrees is all good!

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    1. Andrew:

      I like panos too. You can try it for yourself using the link for the free software from MR: Microsoft Research ICE. I like it better than autostich as ICE has the crop feature built-in

      sorry no bikes. I am trying to reduce my insurance costs. For 5 months of non-riding I am saving about $750. (5 x $150./mo). Bike insurance here is expensive and due to ice/frost nearly every morning, I can't ride anyway. This is the first year I do not have a bike insured all year round

      Delete
  2. A sunny day on the Wet Coast can't be a regular day ;-) Lovely pics as usual. I love the reflections in the calm water.

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    1. Sonja:

      It wasn't warm but the sun was out so it didn't feel cold. The sun always puts you into a better mood. I think we are between storms. The rains are coming back tomorrow but then we won't have to scrape our windows

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  3. I've always liked pictures of boats with their reflections in clear still water.....thanks.

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    1. Dom:

      when you were here we just didn't have enough time to show you more water views. Our mountains aren't as photogenic as yours in CO and most of our roads go around them rather than riding "in" them

      Delete
  4. You Sir are living the Good Life! Love the Marina shots.

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    1. Paul:

      I am waiting for the good life to come, a time when I can horde all my time for myself. Just like you. I am somehow attracted to ocean and water. It seemed like a very calm day, between storms

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  5. Nice panorama! I also like the photos of the boats in the marina with reflections. Too bad there isn't a way to show the panorama shots at full resolution in the blog. Everything I've ever tried didn't work...

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    1. Richard:

      If I had a way to host the original file, then I could have put a link to it. I am not sure if Skydrive is linkable. Many others before me have tried to use Google Drive but have been unsuccessful. I can put larger images on Photobucket which I have done in the past but I don't wish to pay for hosting when it gets filled up

      You have your own website so you should be able to do it, somehow . . .

      Delete
  6. What a lovely day ... and a lovely way to spend a bean!

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    1. Karen:

      It was a rare sunny day. Winter is mostly cloudy with rain for 6 months. I like to horde my beans now that I know how valuable they are

      I have a friend here who has run out of beans. His funeral is next Sunday and his birthday is the same as Ken's and Mine. Makes you think about how many beans we have left to squander

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  7. Bob, please continue living that left coast life vicariously for us right coasters.

    In Montreal we've gotten off relatively easily so far, unlike almost every other place west of the Rockies and north of Florida. [knocks wood]

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    1. David:

      Video of Montreal, Halifax, St John's NL, and Chicago were all on the news. Plus Flooding in the UK where the cliffs collapsed. I think of you all the time when they mention PQ. Glad you are safe. BUT GTA got hit again and I also wonder about V*star. See, I worry about all of you

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  8. Beautiful pictures Bob.

    I don't have the time, the inclination, or the patience to do what you do where photography is concerned.

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    1. Trobairitz:

      It's all smoke and mirrors. Besides, the computer does all the work. I just click a few buttons and aim my camera in the general direction. I am a hobbyist so I don't mind trying all these things.

      It also helps to have a good scene with sun and water views, just like your recent Christmas day frolic on the Coast checking out those tidal pools

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  9. Sunny is always good on the wet coast - even if it is freezing by your definition, t-shirt weather by ours. :)

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    1. Canajun:

      I am more of a summer person than a winter one. I don't like it too cold and I like to wear T-shirts and shorts. It's less than 3 months until Spring. Amazing how time flies

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  10. So nice to enjoy a lovely water scene! I needed that! LOL

    I love my shorts too...:=)

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    1. Deb:

      There is bad weather everywhere else in the Country, except here. So I thought I would show you how nice it was last weekend. Last summer it was also extremely HOT everywhere except here, where it was perfect.

      I live in shorts all summer

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