[360,Beach,bay,cliffs,Donegal,Glencolmcille,Ireland,landscape,panorama,SW Donegal,stereographic, >500 views, >1000 views, three features]

This 360° stereographic panorama was shot at the top of the cliff above Malin Beg beach in South Donegal, Ireland.

 
The sheltered crescent shaped bay leads out into the Atlantic Ocean. The mountains to the left lead over to Sleive League with its highest sea cliffs in Europe. To the right a little way around the coast lies the secluded valley of Glencolmcille. Even on a warm summer‘s day there is a chill to the Atlantic water.

Here the cliffs are more manageable thanks to the steps from the car park at the top to the beach. In this photograph they run from the “six o′clock” position around the central circle of the image to the beach.

Every time we visit we count the steps from the top of the cliffs to the beach and every winter when we are talking about it we disagree as to the number. I THINK it was 168!

In the full sized printed version of the image two tiny swimmers can be seen bracing the Atlantic chill – not too far out. (For those who know them yes it was MKM and KD!) A group of their friends are standing on the beach cheering them on.

History of this Image on RedBubble

1. 18th May 2010 uploaded to RedBubble
2. 25th June 2010 featured in the “Mini Galaxy” group,
3. 27th June 2010 view count passed 100
4. 24th Sept 2011 featured in “Artists Universe”
5. 25th October 2011 view count reached 502
6. 4th Feb 2012 featured in “Superbly Visual”

Method
The panorama was created by combining 24 separate digital photographs covering every angle and with bracketed exposures. Hence the detail has been captured both in the brightest areas of the sky and in the shadows under the cliff.

I have written a short journal entry introducing the method by which these HDR panoramas are created, it is called:

“Creating a Stereographic Panorama – the Basic Idea”

The source images were shot on a Canon EOS 5d with a 16mm fisheye lens.
 

Because of the way that it was created this is a very high resolution image (the equivalent of about 80-megapixels). It‘s capable of delivering very fine detail even when printed at massive sizes.