Tag Archives: AW101

The Cormorant Beats Me Again

One of my goals for going to the air show at Abbotsford this year was to see a Cormorant fly.  I know this would sound like my normal interest in the bird species but this time it means the AW101 version that is flown for Search and Rescue by Canada.  Sure, I have seen plenty of 101s over the years with the British and Italian examples, but I have never seen a Canadian one before.  It was due to display during the show.  When I got there, I was delighted to see it sitting on the operating ramp.

However, my optimism was unjustified.  There was no announcement during the show about what had happened to the SAR demo, but it just didn’t happen.  The day shows did get the demo, but the Friday evening show was a no go.  It was a fun show, so I wasn’t too disappointed, but it was a little frustrating to still have never seen a Cormorant airborne.  One day…

Merlin Tormenting Me

During our stay in Longparish, we could hear the sound of helicopters on a regular basis.  We weren’t far from both RAF Odiham and Middle Wallop so getting military movements was to be expected.  Getting a camera to hand when they came over was another thing.  However, while on one walk, we did see a Royal Navy Merlin operating across the fields and behind some trees.  Getting a clear look at it was very difficult and, as we got closer to where it was on our walk, it naturally moved off somewhere else.  I never got a good shot.  Here is the best I could manage as they taunted me by remaining just out of reach.

Various Ways To Stitch A Panorama

Lightroom has three methods for stitching the panoramas together.  I tend to use one but for some shots, a different style is beneficial.  I was flipping through some shots of an HH-101 Caesar helicopter that I took at RIAT in 2019.  I also had a Danish AW101 that I had shot in pano format.  The Danish airframe had not been shot as well as it could have been and I did not have sufficient coverage.  I decided to try different versions of the stitching to see which one gave the best result.  Some result in a more natural look while others look more fish eyed.  I can also stitch in Photoshop which gives me more capability for filling in gaps but, with the tricky areas being the rotors, that wasn’t going to work well since the AI is not going to work that out.  Stitching also allows some warping to fill edge gaps but this can mess with the alignment of the main part of the image.  I tried a couple of versions and they are compared here.