equirectangular panoramas

To see the 2:1 thumbnails (as above) of these panoramas please click here.
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(VR) INTERACTIVE VIEWING
Flickr's interactive viewing software SPiV is available thanks to Aldo and requires use of the free Shockwave plugin. Links are given under each picture.
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HOW THEY ARE MADE
When I started taking panoramas I used a tripod and a panorama head. However some of the places which interest me most such as temples, shrines and shops etc quite reasonably prohibit tripods. And I then discovered that it's not only possible but actually much easier taking flawless panoramas without the burden of a tripod.

So all my panoramas are now taken handheld. I use an 8mm fisheye lens and a tilt-variation method which only requires 4 pictures, 2 at +15° and 2 at -15°. You can read more about the process and the aids I use here.

Essential software is Mac OS X, Gimp and PTGui. Additional use is made of Hugin, PanoGLView, Enfuse, Lightroom, Photoshop, ImageFuser, CubicConverter et al.
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WHAT EQUIRECTANGULAR MEANS
Think of a round balloon with the countries of the world printed on it. Cut a line from the north to south poles. Now pull it hard into a 2:1 rectangle so that the zenith (north pole) and the nadir (south pole) are stretched from being mere dots until they are lines as wide as the equator itself.

The 360 x 180 degrees of longditude and latitude have become a 2:1 rectangle 360 squares wide and 180 squares high.

And if you feel that this 'mapping' of what we see produces a rather painful distortion then think about what linear perspective does with its equally violent vanishing point !
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これらはすべて３６０、１８０度のパノラマ写真で、「Equirectangula r」図法（正距円筒図法）によって作られています。この図法の地図で、北極南極では１ 点が赤道と等距離に引き延ばされているように、これらの写真も上下が異常に引き延ばさ れています。

529 photos | 6,107 views

items are from between 30 Nov 2009 & 27 Dec 2009.