Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Panorama | Out for a good book; instead, a good storm

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Click on the above image to go to the full-size panorama on Flickr. Using a tripod, I took 10 vertical photos at a focal length of 32mm, each overlapping slightly, then combined them in a free program called Autostitch. I had gone to Lake Washington to read a book and drink a milkshake as the sun went down Monday evening. Before I left home, the radar was pretty clear. But it's Florida, and the hot summer air tends to generate these storms pretty quickly. The milkshake was an expected treat that I drank during this unexpected one.

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I took this very blue shot soon after arriving. It's zoomed in to show the layers of the clouds as the storm approached.

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The brunt of the storm passes just north of my position on the Melbourne lake. I took all of these photos with the camera on a tripod as I carried on a conversation with a beer-drinking storm watcher who said he used to operate a camera shop in town. I told him I just moved down to Florida a few years ago, and he apologized. Eh, but with storms like these, the Sunshine State isn't such a bad place.

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Fishermen hurry in to the boat ramp just to the left of me. The bands of rain are visible on the horizon.

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This very dark shot was taken just before I packed up and ran for my car. The far shore is no longer visible. Why? There's a wall of rain in the middle. It soon started pouring heavily, and lightning hit close to my car as I drove away. Then, I almost hit an extension ladder that someone apparently had lost in the middle of the road.

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