This 360° stereographic panorama is centred on the a stump of an ancient bog oak.
Altahullion Mountain was (and mostly still is) covered by a blanket peat bog. Turf has been cut from this bog for generations to be used as fuel. Turf cutting reveals many oak stumps such as this one. Their ages range from 2,000 to 6,000 years.
The wood is preserved as a result of the unique conditions of the peat bog. The wood becomes waterlogged which keeps away the oxygen and sunlight that would cause it to decay.
Now all around it are wind turbines. Altahullion is host to the largest wind farm in Ireland. It consists of 29 'Bonus 1.3MW' turbines each with a capacity to generate 1.3 Mega-watts. Each turbine has three 30m blades and is mounted on a tower 60m tall. Between them they generate enough electricity for 30,000 homes.
The panorama was created by combining 24 separate photographs covering every angle and with bracketed exposures. Hence the detail has been captured both in the brightest areas of sky and in the shadows. An immersive version of this panorama is available on the World Wide Panorama project where the scene can be explored.
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.
It can be printed so large that it tests the limits of Imagekind‘s framing service. You could print it at:
- 24″x24″ and frame it with a 4″-6″ mat
- 36″x36″ and frame it with no mat, or with one up to 2″
- 36″x36″ on canvas
- 44″x44″ on paper and have it framed elsewhere.
At sizes up to 24″ square it will look good. At the larger sizes it is a real stunner!