You need the Adobe Flash player (version 8 or later) installed, and JavaScript enabled, to use the GigaPan viewer.
Snapshots
Subscribe to Feed
| Launch Full Screen Viewer | Take a Snapshot | Email this Panorama | Bookmark this Panorama | View in Google Earth 4.2+ |
By:David Engle (Texas_Photo) on
June 15, 2008
Tags:
tmc
,
astrodome
,
dle
,
skyline
,
houston
,
rice
,
reliant
,
riceu
,
44x1
,
bcm
This panorama is my answer to Kilgore's GigaPan, The View From Above, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=7536. It is not as *grand* as his, but then Houston, Texas is not Bath, England.
Hand-held panorama of the Houston skyline comprised of 44 photos taken in a brisk wind, using a P&S camera, the SX110.
Note: at the altitude of a six-story parking garage, the wind velocity was enough that this panorama could not have been accomplished had I not used image stablization since the camera was at maximum optical zoom.
I went job-searching today and was told that for the for job I was seeking, I might as well go to the Moon!
So, I went to the top floor of the parking garage and looked for the Moon, but all I found was this incredible sweeping panorama of downtown Houston all the way to Reliant Park and the Astrodome, and we also see the Texas Medical Center and Rice University:)
As time goes by, there may be a *large* number of snapshots discovered in this hand-held panorama, stitched using the GigaPan Stitcher.
Date Taken: June 15, 2008
Date Added: June 15, 2009
Bookmarked: 1 time
Total Views: 3297 views
Gear: Canon SX110
Snapshots: 65
Size: 0.33 gigapixels
Field of View: 171.4 degrees wide, 10.3 degrees high
Stitcher Notes:
view
 |
|
June 15, 2009 23:59 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
I love the "I went to the top floor...and looked for the moon"- sounds like a child's storybook! Posted by mh5r |
|||
 |
|
June 16, 2009 04:39 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
Thanks, I was on-a-roll yesterday after I saw the view and my comments were an after effect. Posted by Texas_Photo |
|||
 |
|
June 16, 2009 07:43 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
Best of luck with the job search! This pano is impressively sharp. The telephoto effect shows up in the raggedness of distant objects (mostly everything in the picture) seen through a mile or more of turbulent atmosphere. Posted by tnp651 |
|||
|
|
June 16, 2009 08:44 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
The more I use the SX110, the more I am impressed with the quality of output and yesterday was no exception. AND the resultant stitch was exceptional . Even when holding the camera in the wind-gusts, and trying to keep it in a constant plane, there were problems, but the Stitcher came through. One rule to remember is when taking hand-held, always use image stablization, but never when using the robot. Posted by Texas_Photo |
|||
 |
|
June 18, 2009 17:56 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
This is a great shot. I don't think there are any comparable images at gigapan.org are there? When will you be getting back up there with your gigapan imager? Posted by Kilgore661 |
|||
|
|
June 18, 2009 18:26 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
The panorama that you see is hand-held and at maximum optical zoom with image stabilization turned on. Due to the sharpness of this panorama, which tnp651 refers to above, a comparable image from this spot with the robot would not show anything more or anything less. It is 44-portrait oriented photos taken in a good stiff wind and that is the reason for the jagged nature of the border. The building next to this one, at the moment is the only building in Houston that may give me access to the roof, but the west view, the one I am most interested in, is blocked by a much higher building immediately across the street. What I need to do, and am at a loss for technical mathematical words to describe the following: what we are looking in this panorama is a 90-degree or slightly greater arc or quadrant extending from Houston downtown to the Astrodome area, so to get a better view or a closer view I need to find a building or garage in the same geometrical line, a 45-degree angle, plus or minus, to keep the same geometrical magnification so that one building does not become relatively larger to another building and that may be difficult to find and if found, it may be difficult to gain access. I am not a mathematical-type person, only a mathemagician who, at times, uses a GigaPan robot. This is why Bath is such a great place to take photos, panoramas and GigaPans... there are no skyscrapers. Just imagine what a 30-story building across the street from the Abbey would do to the beauty of Bath. Posted by Texas_Photo |
|||
|
|
June 18, 2009 18:45 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
Granted you will not see any more of the horizon if you use a gigapan, but surely you will see more if you point the gigapan down, over the edge? It would be a good test of the SX110's depth of field too. Posted by Kilgore661 |
|||
|
|
June 18, 2009 19:00 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
I do not have an exact measurement, but off-hand I believe that at full zoom and at f/8, and at full infinity as the distance from lens, The nearest point in focus is about 30 feet away from the camera lens, maybe slightly farther. Posted by Texas_Photo |
|||
|
|
June 18, 2009 19:46 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
I would be interested to see the results if you pointed the camera down to get a two- (or more) row pano. Posted by Kilgore661 |
|||
|
|
June 21, 2009 15:29 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
From this parking garage the lower view is nothing to write home about, nor is there much to show off as what you have shown to us in your GigaPans such as, View From Above, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=7536 and Lovely Day For a Swim, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=13346. Posted by Texas_Photo |
|||
|
|
June 21, 2009 17:17 | Flag as inappropriate |
|
You have your own ideas about what makes a 'good' gigapan and that's fine. I'd argue that anything is worth shooting if there is detail and culture to be seen. If the view below the horizon is a big field (unlikely) or a blank wall, then fair enough. But if it is streets, houses and shops say, then it may look uninteresting to you, but who is to say what other people will get out of it? Perhaps nothing. Perhaps the idea that you are not very good at choosing your subject matter :-) On the other hand, you may - for reasons quite alien to you - inspire someone to save the world using a gigapan imager. This is *exactly* what happened to me when I saw this: http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=223. I wonder what Laura thought when she took this? Just my 2ยข. Posted by Kilgore661 |
|||