Gigapixel photography is a new trend that has come about in the last few years, creating 1,000+ megapixels of data in single images, cropped together to create a monstrous image. The detail and spectrum that can be captured in a Giga pixel image is unlike that of anything that a single camera can capture.
For taking Giga pixel Photography, you need to have a Gigapxl Camera. A gigapixel camera can make a great gift for that photographer in your life.”
The Gigapxl camera captures single exposures on film with enough resolvable detail to support scanning at resolutions up to four billion pixels. Single-gigapixel images are slightly larger than 44,000 x 22,000 pixels in size and four-gigapixel images are twice as wide and twice as high at 88,000 x 44,000 pixels.
One way of visualizing the size of a four gigapixel image is to consider a photograph of a regulation football pitch (soccer in USA) which is 90m x 45m. A four gigapixel top-down photograph of the entire field at 1mm per pixel would cover an area of 89.4m x 44.7m, which is 99.38% of the indicated size. This mm-per-pixel scale represents perhaps as many as 100 pixels per blade of grass across an entire pitch captured in a single exposure.
how it works?
These systems (and those like them) work quite simply in concept, but are actually quite complex. What happens is you need to mount the compact (point and shoot) camera inside the camera system. Then, simply put the camera in the position you want (mounted or sitting on the ground, etc) and you set up your shot. Remember that when you do this it is going to be a huge image, so make sure you place the camera to capture a great surrounding that adds to your image and doesn’t detract.
Once you have the camera set up you let the machine go to work, It will take photos as it rotates through a system and course and actually moves the camera into different positions and takes the photographs. Finally after the image is saved and captured you move to the computer to start editing the huge file together. Make sure you have some processing power, as this will produce 200+ images, and my MacBook Pro with 512mb video/4gb RAM gets killed with a 10 image photoshop file.
Gigapixel images allow you to capture amazing details inside an image. This allows you to zoom in and out using software online to view the picture as a whole, or the intimate details of the work. This creates a level of interaction with your images, something that is often lost online. The user can manipulate the image and create a larger or smaller image cropped to their liking to enjoy.
Recommended Products for taking excellent Gigapixel images
- GigaPan Epic Pro Robotic Panohead – GigaPixel Panoramas for DSLR’s – Bundle – with GigaPan Epic Pro Backpack
- GigaPan Epic 100 Robotic Panohead – GigaPixel Panoramas for Larger Point & Shoot Digital Cameras (Also Works on Some Small DSLR’s) Bundle – with GigaPan Shoulder Bag – Black
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Epic Pro Robotic Panohead – Gigapixel Panoramas for DSLR Cameras with 2 Replacement Quick-Change Camera Plates
- GigaPan Epic Robotic Panohead – for Compact Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
- GigaPan Epic Robotic Panohead – for Compact Point & Shoot Digital Cameras – Bundle – with Aiptek ZAC-STD-5 Lightweight Aluminum Tripod with 3-Way Pan Head
Why not use a digital camera?
Modern frame-exposure professional digital cameras have spatial resolutions ranging of 4-16 megapixels in “35mm D-SLR” formats and up to 22 megapixels for medium format backs. Using such cameras to create gigapixel images requires mosaicing hundreds of individual exposures. Alternatively, strip-sensors can be used to scan the image plane over a few seconds time. Even so, however, large format scanning backs have final image resolutions 1-2 decades below our gigapixel regime and require relatively static scenes, as does the mosaic approach, and are thus generally inappropriate for photos of traffic, people, water, and events. The single-exposure advantage is pronounced in images with crowds of people. The facial expressions of an half a stadium of fans can be captured at passport resolution in a single instant as they react to events on the field.
Using proven techniques allows artists to recreate this effect in many amazing places, from President Obama’s inauguration to the Rocky Mountains, allows for some amazing work to wow you and captivate your imagination.
President Obama’s Inaugural Address
This enormous picture, taken by David Bergman, was stitched together from 220 images taken on a Canon G10 mounted on a Gigapan panoramic imager system.
Death Valley
Gasworks Park, Seatle Washington
Cloud Gate “The Bean “, Chicago
The Magical Water Tour,Peru
Parque de la Reserva, Peru’s capital city with an attraction that other countries around the world also have.
This is the biggest fountain park in the world, there are 13 fountains that are lit with more than 500colourful lights!
“Haus der Presse”,Dresden
The picture was made with the Canon 5D mark II and a 400mm-lens. It consists of 1.665 full format pictures with 21.4 megapixel, which was recorded by a photo-robot in 172 minutes. The converting of 102 GB raw data by a computer with a main memory cache of 48 GB and 16 processors took 94 hours. With a resolution of 297.500 x 87.500 pixel (26 gigapixel) the picture is the largest in the world. (stand December 2009)
Prague from the TV Tower
This is a super high resolution photo. Use your mouse to zoom in and see a startling level of detail. This image is currently (as of 12/2009) the largest spherical panoramic photo in the world. It is 192,000 pixels wide and 96,000 pixels tall. That’s 18.4 billion pixels, or 18.4 gigapixels! When it’s printed, it will be 16 meters (53 feet) long at regular photographic quality (300dpi). It was shot in early October 2009 from the top of the Zizkov TV Tower in Prague, Czech Republic in collaboration with Prague 3 town hall. A digital SLR camera and a 200mm lens were used. Hundreds of shots were shot over a few hours; these shots were then stitched together on a computer over the following few weeks.
Eastern Sierra, Alabama Hills
Huiji Temple Deva-raja in Taipei
This is a super high resolution photo. Use your mouse to zoom in and see a startling level of detail. This image is currently (as of 12/2009) the largest spherical panoramic photo in the world. It is 192,000 pixels wide and 96,000 pixels tall. That’s 18.4 billion pixels, or 18.4 gigapixels! When it’s printed, it will be 16 meters (53 feet) long at regular photographic quality (300dpi). It was shot in early October 2009 from the top of the Zizkov TV Tower in Prague, Czech Republic in collaboration with Prague 3 town hall. A digital SLR camera and a 200mm lens were used. Hundreds of shots were shot over a few hours; these shots were then stitched together on a computer over the following few weeks.
Chaco Canyon, Pueblo Bonito
university park Lima
Named for the house of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, the first university in America.
In this park are several monuments and watch a monumental gift to the city by the German Cologne on the occasion of the centennial of the Independence of Peru in 1921. Also the Panteon de los Proceres.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES
New York City skyline from downtown Brooklyn
The view from the Brooklyn Marriott Downtown hotel.
5 best Gigapixel Photography by Gerard maynard
Gerard has got five Giga pixel Photography in his website. Those are really stunning and one of them is the biggest giga pixel image ever taken.
Dubai Creek Giga Pixel Photography
Chicago Gigapixel Photography
200+ Giga Pixel Images from 360 Cities
360 Cities has got more than 200+ excellent Giga Pixel photography. You can check the photographs based on country name.
About the author /
Mohamed Rias
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48 Comments
obama’s speech
spot the legs with no body
hahaha
Or the woman with half a face 😉
or Aretha Franklin with a beard….Ha,Ha,Ha or the gray hat without a head. Pretty hysterical.
How can the regular photographer/hobbiest ever get the means to even come close to these? Unless you have money for the equipment then you are screwed and the big guys get bigger……
yes its a too expensive indeed. But if you can take perfect shots then take about 100+ photographs and combine them together to make a gigapixel image 🙂
You should have a look at some amazing Gigapix images from Norway:
360 Panorama of Obama getting the peace prize:
http://gigapix.no/panorama/996/obama-mottar-fredsprisen
really good one.. But its in video format.
btw the other links you have included in the comment were not working , so i removed them.
The Friday Shirk Report - February 5, 2010 | Volume 43 | TwistedSifter
Great collection! But there is a mistake; “Haus der Presse” panorama was not taken in Switzerland but in Dresden / Germany.
Thanks for letting me know dude.. edited 🙂
Very, very cool… But… You can’t even scratch your gonads in public because somebody a mile and a half away can snap a picture of you without you knowing. Think of the implications! In a way, it’s a good thing that the technology is so expensive…
And who said that scene from bladerunner was impossible?
Hats Off !!
This Technology should b made simpler and economical as early as possible. The utility is boundless . Thaks.
Let us enjoy T E C H N O L O G Y ….!
Video cameras used to be prohibitively expensive too, then digitals were.
Now, they’re built into cellphones!
Expensive today, dirt-cheap tomorrow.
This is the Way of Technology.
Most of these are made with a “robot” that holds the camera (a point and shoot or DSLR) and slowly scans the scene taking pictures fully zoomed in, which are then composited (not “cropped”) into a single image. This is relatively cheap actually, all you need is a decent camera and the “robot” which costs about 300-500$ USD depending on the weight of your camera. The other way to make a gigapixel image is through film, how? well by using a BIG piece of film and then scanning it with a very good scanner. This is what these guys did about 4 years ago http://www.gigapxl.org/ This method is more expensive (much more) but it makes continuos images so you don’t get the “pasted together” effect of the robotized picture. This would be the better choice for crowds and moving scenes. Hope you learned something.
yes agustin.. thanks for explaining it 🙂
Thanks for sharing this collection !
Amazing and incredible ! close the curtains 🙂
Some of them are just normal size panoramas, not Gigapixel ones. It makes a real difference.
I think these are immense.
I saw one of Cape Town which was used for an online competition – things were hidden within the picture and you had to scan around looking for them.
Nice pics – amazing.
Thanks for sharing, amazing photos.
Try this as a start, will let you combine your pics for free.
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
won’t give you the same zoom ability, but if you’re quick and focusing on something static it’s pretty cool.
the tool looks good.. thanks for sharing the link with us 🙂
Wow this is amazing, I didn’t even know it was possible! Going to look into this a lot more!
cool dude.. hope you will take some gigapics soon in future..
20+ incredible Gigapixel Photography Inspirations « The Truth is Where?
Really incredible. Dubai Creek is looking like twin towers of World Trade Center.
Great compilation.
Hello, i´m beginning with rss subscriptions. Now i can stay current with your site and especially the topic 20+ incredible Gigapixel Photography Inspirations now, really a nice feature. Thanks, Zahnimplantate
Gigapixel Photography and Cameras tips | desiznblog
Gigapixel Photography and Cameras tips | desiznfreak's Blog
Great Post, learn more about gigapixel at gigapixel360.com
Great Post. I have added the link to my site. To learn more about Gigapixel technology: http://www.gigapixel360.com
Hm, So i’m happy with this but nevertheless not fully convinced, so i am going to research a bit more.
The hugin software is a great way to create panoramas with large numbersof pixels and is free. Well worth it. you can link to it
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/
http://www.fotocourses.co.uk}
While this is pretty impressive. Whats the point. Is there an actual practical need for an image this size?
Honestly I am not really fan of photography, though I shoot every moments with my kids and family.
But seeing those great wonderful images in the post, definitely broadens my “amateur” photos knowledge.
Thanks Mohamed!
These pictures are incredible. I had not though of the concept of gigapixel photography.
Unfortunately I do not have the photographic equipment to facilitate gigapixel photography. However I could implement this on a large wedding party.
I particularly like the Dubai Creek picture above. It is a very impressive building.
suparb
Leica Camera | Gigapixel Photography And Cameras Tips
very good thats gigapixle images we can share lot of movement from one snap its amazing
Gigapixel Photography and Cameras tips | Photography Info Online
Miraflores,Peru – 5 Gigapixels
I made a panoramic image showing one of the most famous districts in Lima, Peru: Miraflores.
On a hot January afternoon I climbed to the top floor of a building and then onto the roof and took a few photos.
My final photo is made up of 924 images and the file is 109,406 X 45,979 pixels or 5 Gigapixels (5,030 megapixels.) It took more than 5 and a half hours for the rendering software to put together all of the images on my computer. The completed .PSB file is over 14 gigabytes. The image can be printed 365” wide x 153” high at 300 dpi. (926.98cm x 389.29cm)
Use the controls to zoom and pan around the photo. You can also use the scroll wheel to zoom in and drag the mouse to explore the image.
http://www.miraflores-5-gigapixels.com
I made a panoramic image showing one of the most famous districts in Lima, Peru: Miraflores.
On a hot January afternoon I climbed to the top floor of a building and then onto the roof and took a few photos.
My final photo is made up of 924 images and the file is 109,406 X 45,979 pixels or 5 Gigapixels (5,030 megapixels.) It took more than 5 and a half hours for the rendering software to put together all of the images on my computer. The completed .PSB file is over 14 gigabytes. The image can be printed 365” wide x 153” high at 300 dpi. (926.98cm x 389.29cm)
Use the controls to zoom and pan around the photo. You can also use the scroll wheel to zoom in and drag the mouse to explore the image.
super
Gigapixel Photography and Cameras tips | putnexusarticles.org
Thanks for sharing, amazing!