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Prague from the TV Tower - 18 Gigapixel Panoramic Photo
- ryanwaggoner 17y agoPretty incredible stuff. I'm glad they didn't have the treasure hunt clues up yet or I probably wouldn't have lost the better part of my morning looking at this.
- flipbrad 17y agovery impressive! zero obfuscation though... How long until technology gets to the point where this can all be done in real time, giving powers that be absolutely insane CCTV monitoring abilities?
- jacobolus 17y agoThis resolution isn’t coming in real time any time soon (i.e. within the next 10 or 15 years), until we have cameras based on a different optical principle than a flat sensor with a set of glass lenses in front of it: Using the sizes of sensors we can currently manufacture for any reasonable kind of price, we can take a picture of this resolution with each exposure having about a maximum of about a 20 degree field of view. And since current sensors are not all that far off of saturating the detail that lenses can resolve, the only way to improve this will be either to make larger sensors, use arrays of cameras (or turn the cameras around very quickly), or use some other kind of optical system. In not too long, I suppose we might be able to capture data continuously, as a video, and then use software (computationally expensive fancy math) to increase the resolution beyond that in any particular frame. But that's still not going to get us close to 18 gigapixel spherical panoramas.
- Semiapies 17y agoEspecially considering something like this takes lots of time just to take the stills. (For instance, on the Dresden panorama linked elsewhere on this page, if you look along the bridge on the left side, you can see two different appearances by the same woman cycling.) Real-time at this quality is a very long way away.
- mrduncan 17y agoThe additional details are pretty interesting also: About: http://blog.360cities.net/the-largest-panorama-in-the-world/ http://blog.360cities.net/the-largest-panorama-in-the-world/ How it was made: http://blog.360cities.net/prague-18-gigapixels-how-it-was-made/ http://blog.360cities.net/prague-18-gigapixels-how-it-was-ma...
- chanux 17y ago26 GigaPixel image http://www.dresden-26-gigapixels.com/dresden26GP http://www.dresden-26-gigapixels.com/dresden26GP
- thingie 17y agoIs there a reason why the panorama isn't joined cleanly at the closest zoom level? (Northeast direction, facing Vysočany.) I don't know how hard is it to make, though.
- Titanous 17y agoFrom the blog post, it looks like this could be done by anybody with a good SLR, lens, robot mount, and lots of time. Also, let the "wtf am I looking at" hunt begin: http://i.imgur.com/Ibmo5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Ibmo5.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Tjxfd.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Tjxfd.jpg
- 2rs1 17y agohttp://www.imagebam.com/image/d30d0360346732 http://www.imagebam.com/image/d30d0360346732
- Semiapies 17y agoShe's trying to tan and apparently really ambivalent about the height and weather?
- KirinDave 17y agoA lot of "shock" photography is like that. I don't mean shock in the "shockumentary" sense but rather in the sense that you cannot easily reproduce the photograph without gear and access. HDRs are similar. Sadly, shock photography does very well on the internets. Photos like this, while of value as reference and of some interest, are ultimately devoid of any artistic content and basically show off a process and a location, not a photographer's ability.
- lutorm 17y agoI take pictures to "show off locations", not to toot my own horn... Besides, taking these are not trivial, so it does show some "ability". It's difficult to get the lighting consistent, for example. But maybe you only value artistic ability?
- KirinDave 17y ago> Besides, taking these are not trivial, so it does show some "ability". Technical ability. As in, the ability to operate devices to their specifications. There can be insights in this which have yet to be widely learned. For example, the recent rise in popularity of high speed cameras as a form of motion-still photography (http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2009/10/13/a-new-kind-of-photography/ http://www.stuckincustoms.com/2009/10/13/a-new-kind-of-photo...) is a good example. But panoramas? While there have been a lot of advances in panorama stitching software, but as for technique, the only real recent change has been an increase in the use of the technique for gathering ultra-high res images (or ultra-shallow depth of field) for more conventional shots. > But maybe you only value artistic ability? To be honest? In this age of pushbutton HDR, cameras that can recover from 2 stop underexposures in post, and a digital darkroom that can completely change your photo infinitely... Artistic talent is one of the few techniques that cannot be bought, it has to be learned. And this piece, while worthy of praise as a difficult shot is not of particular artistic value. To me, anyways.
- jsankey 17y agoThe best part is that you don't have to look at the tower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDi%C5%BEkov_Television_Tower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDi%C5%BEkov_Television_Tow... A communist-era classic.
- vidarh 17y agoWhat? The TV tower is awesome. Especially the crawling baby sculptures..
- borism 17y agoabsolutely amazing! shame I haven't seen it before
- jodrellblank 17y agoIt's rather nice, especially lit up at night: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2204/1526227926_8e51b8090a.jpg?v=0 http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2204/1526227926_8e51b8090a.jp...
- nfnaaron 17y agoThe buildings are of remarkably uniform height. My guess is either limitation of building material at the time of greatest construction, or zoning ("cannot be higher than the church"). Even the modern buildings are mostly low.
- sili 17y agoAt the same time each building is different in style, something that many US cities lack.
- cvg 17y agoThis could be a great tourism tool. "Hey check out our cool city and its architecture." Makes me want to visit Prague. Looks like a cool city. There are a few other cities I would like to see this of.
- Jupe 17y agoVery interesting. Did you notice the dupicate guy? Look on the left of the circular park in the middle of the round about. The guy with the knapsack is duplicated.
- KirinDave 17y agoThere are a ton of stitching errors. I imagine the algorithm chosen was optimized for time, not for accuracy.
- dfox 17y agoI don't know, but it simply seems weird to see prague for this point. While my old office is almost across street from my home, it looks incredibly far on this photo.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]