Featured photo: El Teide

Tenerife, Spain

As you may know, I love volcanoes and warm weather nearly as much as I love camels.  So when Linda of Islandmomma offered to be my guide around Tenerife, I jumped at the chance! 

It was a fine chance to test out the camera I'd won from the Cork Cycling Festival's photo competition.  I went out on a limb and did not bring my beloved Canon Digital Rebel with me.  This means, other than a small point-and-shoot (can't be completely without backup), I was taking a big chance.  Even though my skills could definitely use some honing, I do all right with my trusty Canon by my side.  I always manage to get something useful, and I sometimes manage to get something great!

The camera is a Fujifilm FinePix S2950.  It's lightweight and has a lot of great manual settings, but sometimes the sharpness and clarity, as well as the color and contrast management, leave something to be desired.  On the other hand, it has a GREAT panorama feature!  Take a peek and tell me what you think.

 

Panoramic shot of El Teide on Tenerife

Click to fill up your window with volcano-y goodness!

 

This is El Teide, the highest point in Spain!  Although there hasn't been an eruption in over 100 years, it's still an active volcano with steaming vents and promises of future action.  This photo was taken inside the Las Cañadas caldera, a big crater-like space formed 150,000 years ago during a massive volcanic blow out.  Of note is that Christopher Columbus reportedly saw an eruption of one of Teide's vents in 1492 as he sailed past on his way to discover the New World.

The panorama feature of the new camera may be more fun than practical (it really is super fun to use!), but I think this one came out all right.  But then, I love volcanoes!  (I said that, right?)

 

What have you been photographing lately?

 

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11 Comments

  1. If you like volcanoes, then you will love New Zealand. The most active volcanoe is called white island and you can do tours there… but you need like a full protective suit and stuff. really cool!

    1. Jade, that sounds fantastic!  I had not heard of White Island before so thank you for the tip.  It looks like I'm going to have to spend a year in NZ to see everything that's on my list now.  :D

  2. Love El Teide – have managed to visit it twice now and still love the thought of the view…

    1. Twice, eh? I think I will have to go back. Linda did keep saying, “Next time you’re on Tenerife…” Maybe she’s prophetic — and maybe I’ll bump into you there! :D

  3. Gorgeous snap!

    There’s a cheesy bar I frequent in Madrid called “El Teide;” now I finally know its source.

    1. Hahaha! I always laugh when I find the source of my own, American cultural references. And yes, they are often based on restaurants/bars. Movies, too. Oh, and It’s A Small World at Disneyland! (…this is why I need to keep traveling. So much to learn!)

  4. Whoa, that’s cool. How does it work? You take several photos and then it compiles them into one image? Would be a great feature to have. I was just reading about this: http://matadornetwork.com/goods/introducing-the-throwable-panoramic-ball-camera/ so now I’m all about panoramas :)

    1. I suspect it’s kind of cheating, Phil, since I don’t have to manually stitch anything together. Just for you I performed a difficult maneuver and took a photo of the screen. Yeah, one camera in each hand, baby!

      http://media.tourabsurd.com/images/fujifilm_panorama.jpg

      You can set it to go R-L or L-R and then use either 2 or 3 photos (number can be chosen on the fly). After the last photo, there is a pause while the camera processes the info and adjusts for lens distortion and whatnot. Getting the crosshairs lined up is my favorite part. :D

      1. Whoa. Cool!! Pretty sure my camera does not have this feature..

  5. Love the depth you captured- great shot!

    1. Thanks, Jade! First panoramic shot with the new toy. It was fun. :)

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