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Panoramas

Panoramas (spot the joins)
Panorama by photographer Ian Kerr

An industrial project by Ian Kerr, a routine commission for images for an Annual Report. The site was dull and grimey and after a day of work I thought the best image was still to be found. As ever, the most important part of any assignment was communication, which enabled me to to convince the security conscious management team to allow me back on site at 5.00am. It was a brilliant dawn. This was the picture used.

Panorama creation has always fascinated me (John Rudkin here) I first saw it and was literally blown away when the company I worked for did a demonstration as part of a keynote speech for a major Further Education Organisation (NILTA?) in Leeds way back on 1997 as I recall. Imagine a still image, then seeing it wider.....then realising that the image was in fact 360 degrees (you could look around). The piece no one expected followed. The demonstration showed how the image could actually go 360 degrees in any direction - looking to the roof, or at you feet - all in a seamless panorama. This was in fact Virtual Reality. Of course the demonstration didn't end because the speaker then clicked on a doorway, and like magic we began to move along it seamlessly.

Wow - I wanted some of that.

So firstly -

What is VR Photography?

A VR Photo sometimes called Immersive Photography, can be defined as a panoramic image (larger than 180 degree horisontal) displayed in a viewer which let you interactively pan around and look at it in different directions. The image should also change perspective so that you actually get the feeling of looking around. Panoramic viewers which just scrolls the panoramic image are not in my opinion VR Photography.
However this is of course difficult to define as the panoramic image in both viewers could be the same.
This also means that panoramic images made 100 years ago can be converted to a VR Photo just by showing it in a viewer.

You can even take a painted panorama and show it in a QTVR movie or a Java viewer and it will give you an almost correct perspective change. The cylindric projection used in a cylindric panorama was actually invented in 1796 by the painter Robert Barker from Edinburgh who even took a patent on it.

History of VR Photography

In 1991 Apple Computer launched QuickTime the software that today is one of the most popular ways to create and show news, multimedia, movie trailers and QTVR.
QuickTime VR was presented as an ad on to QuickTime in 1994 as referred in this Seybold Report from a preview pesented by Eric Zarakov.
The official QTVR support was in January 1995 and in Aug 1997 the QTVRAS - QuickTime VR Authoring Studio was launched. Cubic QTVR was released in QuickTime 5 as preview October 10, 2000


The basic idea in QTVR was that you now could make 360 degree panoramas by stitching several images together using computer technics instead of using special cameras.
Several other developers have presented other viewers for panoramic images but the quality of QuickTime VR is still the best especially when you compare speed and the possibility to display the image in fullscreen.

My links:

New *** Calico Panorama *** - Calico is a new automatic multi-row stitcher for the casual photographer. Calico was developed with ease of use in mind. Unlike many other stitching programs, Calico does not limit you to a single row of images or a 3x3 mosaic. With Calico, you can shoot several rows of images or a single row. It's your choice. Calico requires OS X.4 (Tiger).

http://www.kekus.com/

http://www.panoramas.dk/quicktime/qtvr/software.html

http://beta.ivrpa.org/

http://beta.ivrpa.org/showcase/wwp

http://www.vrphotography.com/

http://www.interactivepanoramas.co.uk/

My own photos
 Panorama of residential area
My first real try (using Photoshop Elements). Note its OK, but cannot deal with exposure changes

Panorama of Layton Cemetry
Layton Library (using Photoshop Elements). Note its OK, but again cannot deal with exposure changes
Panorama of people in a meeting
Keep the camera set on a single exposure setting and Photoshop Elements is good
Panorama of people at meeting indoors
Same day as the last shot
Panoram of interior of Westminster Hall, London
Panoramas let you capture so much more atmosphere - Westminster Church Hall, London 2005

2006 and I'd discovered Calico for Mac OSX. This is an untouched pano from my hotel balcony in July 2006
Panorama from hotel balcony
Hakone Japanese Gardens nr San Francisco 2006 (Calico)
Panorama of Hakone Gardens gathering
Hakone Japanese Gardens - my Higher Ed compatriots all in one shot 2006 (Calico)
Panorama of exterior of hotel
2006 - Family Wedding, a pano gets the whole place (Calico)
Panorama of wedding breakfast
2006 - Family Wedding, a pano allows me to show a 240 degree view with every guest (Calico)
How do I do the Panoramas?

I use a Panasonic digital camera (it has a facility to prevent camera shake a low shutter speeds - which means I can avoid using a flash, which spoils panorama photography).

I'm not pretending to be a professional, and I use the technologies that make it as simple as possible to get the best results.

I use an Apple iMac for all of my personal ICT work - and when it comes to digital photography there really is no comparison. I could use a Windows PC, but frankly it feels like going back in time 10 years. I use iPhoto. Its FREE on all new Macs and just about the best image management software you will find under £100 on any platform.
In order to get the usability and flexibility I have I do have PhotoShop Elements, but for what I do, its overkill really - but a nice package all the same. If you are looking for an image manipulation package, Windows of Mac, its a really good choice.

I now use Calico (http://www.kekus.com/) for the Mac for Panorama creation. It may seem simple, but guess what? It is fantastically easy to use, and the two can go hand in hand.

From there on....well, if you want to learn more join the iTech Forum: "Digital Stuff"


Images by John Rudkin. john.rudkin@blackpool.gov.uk
 
 





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