Category: Photography

Canadian Maritimes in Panorama and HDR

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Here is a compilation of panoramas and HDR photos taken during my two-week road trip through the Canadian Maritime Provinces in late August/early September, 2016.

All of the following photos are panoramas except where HDR appears in the description.

Prince Edward Island

We only allotted two days for Prince Edward Island but it ended up being one of our favorite legs of the trip. We stayed on the less-touristy northeast side of the island at an inn on a cliff overlooking the sea. The view from our room was spectacular. The entire stay was relaxing and serene. I only wish we could have spent more time here.

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View of a sunset from our inn.
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View from beneath the cliff on which our inn was situated.
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Same sunset as above, this one in HDR. The effect was almost like a painting.

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton is an island at the northeastern tip of Nova Scotia. It is a must-visit if you’re in the area. The Cabot Trail, which encircles the majority of the island, is a drive of breathtaking beauty. The highlands, in particular, are reminiscent of Scotland. In all, we spent four days here but with all of the hiking and sightseeing available, you could easily stay a week or two.

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Our view after hiking to the top of Franey Mountain.
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View from our cabin at the Glenora Inn, where we stayed one night.

New Brunswick

The New Brunswick area has much to offer, including Fundy National Park, which we barely had time to explore outside of one early evening hike. We spent most of our two days in this province at Cape Enrage and the Hopewell rocks–where you can walk the beach at low tide and kayak around the same rocks at high tide. There are no high-tide photos in this collection, but I did take some and will share them at a later date.

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Hopewell Rocks
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Hopewell Rocks (HDR)
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Hopewell Rocks
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Hopewell Rocks (HDR)
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The grassy area across from the beach near Cape Enrage.
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The beach beneath Cape Enrage.

Nova Scotia

I didn’t take many panoramas during my stay on the main island of Nova Scotia, so there isn’t much represented here. The highlights from this leg of the trip included a two-night stay in the charming capital city of Halifax and a stop in the lovely town of Lunenberg, where we also visited The Ovens National Park. Nova Scotia has so much more worth seeing but a lot of our time on the island was spent driving to and from Cape Breton.

Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia, Canada
Looking out to the sea from the foggy rocks beneath the Cape Forchu lighthouse.
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View from inside one of the sea caves at The Ovens National Park.

Overall, it was a great trip that gave us a taste of everything the Canadian Maritimes have to offer, though we could easily have spent a week or more at any one of the four primary regions we visited. We fell so much in love with the area, in fact, that we are giving serious thought to exploring the possibility of moving there.

Photo of the Day: Franey Mountain Lookout

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When hiking to the top of Franey Mountain in the Cape Breton Highlands, you will encounter this picturesque lookout about 1/3 of the way up (or 2/3 of the way down, depending on which of the two trails you chose to go up). It’s a beautiful hike, especially as you get closer to the top, where you are rewarded with spectacular views of the mountains and coast. The 1,100-foot ascent is not too challenging (especially if an out-of-shape schlub like me can make it to the top)–I think it took us between 2 1/2 and 3 hours to get to the top, though it can be done more quickly if you’re in better shape and not stopping for photos. Going down was much faster as we took the second trail down, which was much less interesting from a scenery perspective, and also less challenging.

I made one alteration to this photo–I used the content-aware touchup tool in Camera Raw to remove my hiking pole that was leaning against the rock–it turned out really well, not even noticeable. Bonus points if you can tell me where the pole was. 🙂

Date: 9/3/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Lonely Sandpiper

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This was taken on a Cape Forchu, Nova Scotia beach that we had entirely to ourselves, except for the sandpipers. I captured this little guy digging for food away from the rest of the flock. It’s not the highest quality shot, but I like the way his entire reflection is visible in the wet sand.

Date: 9/8/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Cabot Trail Lookout

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This was taken along the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Canada, not too far from the cabin where we stayed this past September. In the distance to the left of the shack, if you squint you can make out the Atlantic Ocean.

Even though it wasn’t technically a lookout and there was no convenient place to park, we knew we had to stop when we drove past this picturesque scene. You can see why Cape Breton draws so many comparisons to Scotland–the landscape is simply breathtaking. I’m ready to move there.

Date: 9/3/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Yosemite Reflection

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I recently came across this photo from my 2014 hike through Yosemite Valley and thought it was worth sharing.

Date: 10/18/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Fundy Waterfall

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This photo is from an early evening hike in Fundy National Park along a small waterfall trail. The hike was beautiful, like a stroll through Middle Earth, and peaceful–we had the entire trail to ourselves.

Date: 8/29/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: The Green Side of PEI

Michael Rappa1 Comment

One of the most interesting features of Prince Edward Island is its contrasting geography. You’d never know from viewing this green, windmill-dotted landscape that right behind me were red cliffs, rocky beaches, and a vast ocean (technically, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but you get my meaning).

Date: 8/31/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Secret Beach

Michael RappaLeave a comment

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted regularly, but now that I’ve finally finished culling and processing all of the photos from my Canadian Maritimes road trip (four months later!) I should be ready to resume more frequent posting. This photo is from the aforementioned Canada trip, snapped during my hike along the cliffs of Prince Edward Island. This is one of my favorite photos from the entire trip: a secluded beach, accessible only from the trail, that my wife and I had entirely to ourselves. Although we only spent two of our 12 days in Canada on Prince Edward Island, our visit there was among the most memorable of the entire trip.

For this hike I experimented with a polarizing filter for richer skies and colors. I had never used a filter on my Nikon in years past because I was concerned about putting cheaper glass in front of my good lens, but the photos taken with it turned out pretty well.

Date: 8/31/2016
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.

Photo of the Day: Looking Down on Edinburgh

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During my July visit to Edinburgh two years ago I decided to take a sunset hike up to Calton Hill (which is around 10:30 p.m. that time of year). Once you get to the top you are rewarded with breathtaking views of Edinburgh, such as the twilight scene captured in this photo.

Date: 7/5/2014
Camera: Nikon D5100
Click for larger view

You can view more featured photos at my Photo of the Day Collection.