Panorama « Blog: Photography by Dan Santillo

January 13, 2012

Pen y Fan Massif

Tags: Brecon Beacons, brecon beacons national park, cloud, Corn Du, Cribyn, Panorama, Pen y Fan, Upper Neuadd Reservoir — Dan Santillo @ 3:45 pm

With the forecast saying valley mist, I decided to walk to the ridge by Corn Du for sunrise. I started walking from the Storey Arms at 6:30am and arrived on the ridge at 7:30am. Sunrise itself wasn’t anything special, but I stayed on the ridge for 2.5 hours to see how the weather would pan out. During that time, a hundred or so army personnel were walking to Pen y Fan, presumably doing the dreaded ‘Fan Dance’. I set up the camera for a panorama shot and framed it so I could get the peaks in as well as Upper Neuadd Reservoir, and anyone who knows this area will know that it’s far wider than the eye can see! Every so often, clouds would build on the peaks and blow away again. This is the best of the 6 or so I shot.

Pen y Fan Massif (Corn Du, Pen y Fan, Cribyn, Fan y Big) and Upper Neuadd Reservoir

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August 5, 2011

Mynydd Llangorse from Mynydd Troed Sunset

Tags: Brecons, Brecons Beacons, Cwm Sorgwm, Llangorse Lake, Mynydd Llangorse, Mynydd Troed, Panorama, pen allt-mawr, Pen y Fan, sun set, sunset — Dan Santillo @ 5:58 am

I find that there’s always a lot of procrastination that goes with photography. Shall I go out this evening? Shall I stay in with the family? What if the light is really good? What if it’s just cloudy? What if the forecast is wrong? (It normally is!) What if it’s a wasted trip? What if tonight is the night I take my best photo ever? I went through most of those questions and more on Wednesday evening but I did eventually decide to go out, and I’m pleased I did. It was an 80 mile round trip to Mynydd Troed, but the drive is a nice one over the mountain pass at Crai and onto Brecon and beyond. I walked up Mynydd Troed, somewhere I hadn’t been before, and found a likely spot for a panorama.

Pen Allt-mawr, Cwm Sorgwm, Mynydd Llangorse, Llangorse Lake and Pen y Fan from Mynydd Troed

For once, the cloud forecast was roughly right and just before the cloud bank obscured the sun, 30 minutes before sunset, I took this ‘normal’ photo:

Mynydd Llangorse and Pen y Fan from Mynydd Troed

All in all, a successful evening even if I do say so myself :-)

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July 25, 2011

Tommy Jones Memorial

Tags: Brecon Beacons, Corn Du, Pen y Fan, sun set, sunset, tommy jones, tommy jones memorial, tommy jones oblelisk — Dan Santillo @ 8:57 am

On Saturday evening, I decided to head out to the Pen y Fan massif for sunset. I was expecting crowds of people as it is the school holidays and a weekend, but was pleasantly surprised and only passed three groups of people – sadly two of them were inappropriately dressed for the mountains… I headed to the summit of Corn Du (purely for the exercise – and the view!) before going back down to the Tommy Jones memorial which is where I planned to go for my sunset shoot – I wanted to get a Panorama Collection photo that showed the peaks and also the memorial to Tommy Jones (more on that at the end). The light was amazing and instead of the usual waiting around, I ran out of sunlight before I had really finished (that’ll teach me not to do so much social networking whilst on location!) Here is the first panorama that I have processed – the writing is actually readable in the original photo!

Tommy Jones Memorial with Corn Du and Pen y Fan

Thanks to the (slightly inaccurate) GPS in my phone, here is the route that I took:

And finally, here is what the memorial is all about:
“This obelisk marks the spot where the body of Tommy Jones aged 5 was found. He lost his way between Cwm Llwch Farm and the Login on the night of August 4th, 1900. After an anxious search of 29 days his remains were discovered Sept.”

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July 20, 2011

Gower and Brecon Beacons Panorama Collections

Tags: Brecon Beacons, Brecons, Gower, Panorama, panorama collection, panoramas — Dan Santillo @ 9:50 am

Panorama Collection

I have finally made my Gower and Brecon Beacons Panorama Collections available online!

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June 27, 2011

Talybont Reservoir

Tags: allt forgan, allt lwyd, Brecon Beacons, Brecons, forest, talybont reservoir, waun rydd — Dan Santillo @ 3:58 pm

Always keen to search out new viewpoints in the Brecons, I spotted Tor y Foel on the map and thought it looked a prime spot for an overview of Talybont Reservoir. The location wasn’t particularly pleasant due to a rather large number of flies, but I came away with a photo I think I am happy with! Click on it for a much larger version.

Talybont Reservoir from Tor y Foel

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June 12, 2011

Cefn Cwm Llwch Panoramas

Tags: Brecon Beacons, Brecons, Cefn Cwm Llwch, Corn Du, Cribyn, Cwm Sere, Pen y Fan — Dan Santillo @ 4:07 pm

The forecast yesterday was for partly cloudy conditions over the Brecon Beacons so I set out after the evening meal and climbed 427 metres over 2.5Km to Cefn Cwm Llwch to shoot a panorama of Pen y Fan. Typically, I had to stand around in the bitter wind whilst the sun was behind the only large cloud in the whole sky… Eventually, the sun sank below the cloud and the landscape was bathed in golden light. I think I pushed myself a little too hard on the climb though – if I breathe in deeply today, my chest hurts. Ah well, it was worth it and I’ll be out again soon :-)

Here are two panoramas. They are taken from one HUGE panorama that was 194 megapixels from 33 photos I stitched together! You can click on them to see them much larger…

Cribyn, Pen y Fan and Corn Du from Cefn Cwm Llwch, Brecon Beacons

Cwm Sere and Cribyn from Cefn Cwm Llwch, Brecon Beacons

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June 10, 2011

Carmarthen Fan Sunset Shoot

Tags: Brecon Beacons, carmarthen fan, Fan Brycheiniog, llyn y fan fach, llyn y fan fawr, picws du, Social Hiking — Dan Santillo @ 2:55 pm

Yesterday, I decided it was time to try a sunset on the Carmarthen Fan in the Brecon Beacons. I left the house at 6pm, drove there and walked up the 615 metres to Fan Brycheiniog. I stopped there for a while and shot a panorama overlooking the lake with Pen y Fan in the background. Click on it to see the large version.

Fan Brycheiniog and Llyn y Fan Fawr

After that, I headed over to Fan Foel to see Llyn y Fan Fach. It was absolutely freezing even with hat, gloves and 4 layers on, 2 of which were windproof! Fortunately, the weather was good and I was able to take this panorama, which I am particularly pleased about!

Picws Du and Llyn y Fan Fach

I used my phone’s GPS to log the route I walked and, thanks to Social Hiking, am able to show an interactive OS map of my route last night! How good is that…

Once the sun had set, I walked hard for 1 hour 15 minutes and got back to the car at 10:30pm, whilst it was just still possible to walk without a head torch! What a great way to spend an evening :-)

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