One Man's Blog

I’m in the GigaPan Beta!

January 29, 2008 By John P. 8 Comments

Wow, folks this is exciting news! Months ago I registered with the Global Connection Project (a joint project of Carnegie Mellon University, NASA, Google, and National Geographic) for possible inclusion in their GigaPan beta program – a piece of robotic photography equipment that takes GigaPixel panoramic photos using standard digital camera equipment. Well, I just got notification that my application was accepted and I’ll be one of the first people on the planet to get my hands on one of these babies! Yee-haw!

Here is a little description of the GigaPan straight from the Web site:

GigaPan consists of three technological developments: a robotic camera mount for capturing very high-resolution (gigapixel and up) panoramic images using a standard digital camera; custom software for constructing very high-resolution gigapixel panoramas; and, a new type of website for exploring, sharing and commenting on gigapixel panoramas and the detail our users will discover within them. The GigaPan website allows hosting and sharing all kinds of panoramas, and so the robotic GigaPan mount is recommended but is certainly not required to be part of this community.

What the heck does all this mean? Well, imagine looking at a digital photo and wanting to zoom in for more detail. You probably know that a 10 megapixel photo will give you pretty good resolution. Now just imagine 100 times greater resolution than that! No, wait! Don’t just imagine it – try it out yourself with the sample below! It reminds me of Harrison Ford’s character in the movie Blade Runner…
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Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: Cool, GigaPan, Panorama, Photography, Robot

The Best Photography on the Web – Part 2

June 8, 2007 By John P. 7 Comments

I now present part two of my Best Photography on the Web series. It takes me a little while between these posts because I find them slowly over time as opposed to searching for them constantly. Before we get started with this issue here is the standard disclaimer:
BE WARNED! Photographers take pictures of places, things and people. Sometimes naked people.

If you are sensitive to nude men, naked women or wet fruit please move on to another article.

Dr. Feng Jiang

We begin the second installment of the Best Photography on the Web with Chinese artist / Photographer Dr. Feng Jiang.

Dr. Jiang’s stunning photos of China are enough to make me want to visit just to see these places in person; and his mastery of light, reflections and composition are simply impressive.
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Filed Under: Art, Photography Tagged With: Amazing, Art, Best-Photography-on-the-Web, Carel-Struycken, Feng-Jiang, HDR, High-Dynamic-Range, Kris-Krug, Martin-Waugh, Panorama, Photography, Rich-Legg, Scott-Stulberg

49 Incredible 3D Motion Photo Panoramas

May 14, 2007 By John P. 8 Comments

Wow, Panoramas.dk is one of the greatest sites I’ve ever come across. It features a number of three dimensional panoramas which allow you to virtually look around a given space. This is a technology that can only flourish on the Web since you cannot move around inside a static photograph.