» panoramic - Simon Lau

Niagara Falls (Ontario)

For those who live in the golden horseshoe area, the Niagara region is one you’ve heard of many times. From Toronto, you can drive to Niagara Falls in about 1.5 hours. From the US, it’s more or less considered Buffalo. To those who have no idea what I’m talking about, the Niagara Falls are massive waterfalls from the Niagara River. This river divides Canada from the United States and while there are technically 3 falls, the Canadian side is clearly the best. All three falls were created from glaciers during the last ice age. The Canadian Horseshoe falls drop a total of 157 feet (52m) and is 2600 feet wide (792m). It is an impressive sight to see as six million cubic feet of water flows over the falls every minute. It’s anticipated that 28 million visitors will visit the falls in 2009 and this year there has been 20 million. It’s an amazing sight to see during the day and you should stick around for the evening light show if it’s your first visit.

Here’s a panoramic I made on my last visit.

You can find lots of information about the falls on wikipedia or Niagara Park Fun Fact’s page.

Tags: Niagara Falls, panoramic, photos, Travel

. 12 Oct 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (2)

Europe Trip 2008 Panoramic Photos (Photomerge)

In sharing my manually pieced together panoramic photos with Nivedh Manohar of Overclockers Online we started to discuss ways the different panoramic photos we had done. He enlightened me with a feature in Adobe Photoshop that automatically merges photos into a panoramic, hence the term photomerge.
In total, I discovered I had 38 panoramic photos. At the original size, the combined size is exactly 200MB. To spare the ridiculous loading times, I have compressed them to a manageable 1024 pixel dimension. Click on the small 350 pixel wide thumbnail for a slightly larger. If you would like the full size image, drop me a message and I’ll make it available to you.

Venice

Florence

Pisa

Rome

Paris

I promise to start sharing more photos this coming week!

Tags: Adobe, Europe 2008, Grad Trip, Overclockers Online, panoramic, photos, photoshop

. 22 Jun 08 | Photography, Travel | Comment (1)

Europe Trip 2008 Panoramics

I have finally pieced together photos of our Europe Trip that covered London, Venice, Milan, Florence, Pisa, Rome and Paris between May 7th and June 10th. The photos were taken with a Casio Exilim EX-Z1050 (10MP) digital camera and pieced together using Adobe Photoshop.

London was the first city we visited but we did not visit any high points in the city that would allow for panoramic city photos.

Venice was the first Italian city of our trip and from the Bell Tower in San Marco (Campanile di San Marco) you get a wonderful view of the city, the water and the islands that dot around Venice.

Leaving Venice we took the train to Milan but like London, there were no good free high points that allow you to take panoramic photos. From Milan we went to Florence, where the blue skies, green grass and small city made for breathtaking views. The photos below was taken from Cimitero Delle Porte Sante on our way to Michelangelo Piazza.

From Michelangelo Piazza the city is a bit closer.

Karen and I both believe that Florence had the best view during our trip.

Leaving Florence we went to Pisa for one day where the most obvious thing to do is to visit the Leaning Tower. However, going up the Leaning Tower is quite the experience. I think it is the best way to fully appreciate the lean. You also get a great view from the top.

The final Italian city for us is none other than Rome. Rome is full of history and two of the most popular places include the Vatican City and the Colosseum. At the Vatican City we went to the cupola (top of St Peter’s Basilica) and I had enough photos for 2 panoramic, possibly more if I wanted to put the rest together. In addition to those two sites, I compiled a panoramic photo of some ruins along Via dei Fori Imperiali between Colosseum and Victor Emmanuel II.

The final stop on our trip was Paris and the most obvious place for panoramic photos would be at the top of the Eiffel Tower. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the view from the Eiffel Tower was spectacular but at such a great height (300m above ground) some of the detail is lost. However, it is the only monument open late into that night allowing for pictures of the “City of Lights”. Before revealing the photos from the Eiffel Tower, we first went to Notre Dame, the site Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. From here you can see large portion of Paris and its surrounding area.

The night of our boat cruise we also went up to the Eiffel Tower because the weather was finally starting to clear and we didn’t want to miss the opportunity. When we arrived at the top, the sun was setting.

That’s a wrap for all the panoramic I currently have. I am still selecting which photos from each city I will upload and share. Expect that to happen in the coming weeks.

Tags: Europe 2008, Florence, Grad Trip, panoramic, Paris, photos, Pisa, Rome, Venice

. 19 Jun 08 | Photography, Travel | Comments (3)

Hong Kong Night View

Last night I took the tram back up Victoria Peak in an attempt to watch the 8PM laser show, but apparently from the peak you can’t see anything. Regardless, the view is quite nice. It would have been better with a beer in hand since it was still 17-22C outside. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

After hanging out at the top, instead of taking the tram down again I took the bus. From the harbour I grabbed a beer at 7-11 ($6.15 HKD which is less than a $1 CDN) I think this view looks a lot nicer. The goal new years eve is to come back down and watch the laser and firework show. I’ll bring along my tripod to get some steadier shots.

Tags: hong kong, night show, panoramic, photos

. 28 Dec 07 | Travel | Comments (0)

Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong is subdivided into several territories, Hong Kong itself is actually an island. The other territories include Lantau Island, Kowloon and New Territories. On Dec 25th, I participated in a tour of Hong Kong Island which landed me the opporunity of taking some photos from the highest point in Hong Kong. The weather was great for panoramic shots. The city is full of skyscrapers which helps increase the population density.

In case you’re curious, the weather for Hong Kong’s winter is currently +17C. While everyone is wearing jackets and scarfs, I’m walking around in jeans and a t-shirt! My kind of weather!

Tags: hong kong, panoramic, photos

. 26 Dec 07 | Travel | Comments (0)