By Jeff Meyer
8 gigapixel photos that will blow your mind
Zoom zoom zoom, let me hear you say way-o...
Zoom zoom zoom, let me hear you say way-o...
Shot by photographer Alfred Zhao as a side project to his professional photography, this stunning shot comprises 12,000 images, which took him three months to stitch into a 1.09TB file. Post-processing and uploading took yet another three months to complete. The image was taken from the roof of the 18-floor Chinese Academy of Science, which affords views of famous high-rises such as Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center and Shanghai Pearl Tower.
Jeffery Martin, founder of the Gigapixel photography haven, 360cities.net, shot tis stunningly detailed, 600,000-pixel-wide panorama from the roof of the lower observation deck on the Tokyo Tower. This 360-degree, 150-gigapixel photo combines 10,000 individual frames, taken with a Canon EOS 7D and 400mm f/5.6 lens. Martin then spent three months stitching the frames together into a final image that would, if printed, stretch 328 feet long and stand 124 feet tall.
Heinz Beutler's stunning view of the Alps was shot with a 6-megapixel Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1, a hybrid camera launched in 2008 that shoots raw stills as well as high-definition video. When most people think Casio they hear '80s synth sound effects from the keyboards they had as children, but Casio has quietly been making a name for itself in the imaging market with cameras like the EX-F1.
Last year, 1 million handmade 'bones' crafted by children and artists from around the world were laid on the National Mall in Washington DC, stretching from the Capitol building all the way to the Washington Monument as a protest against mass atrocities in places like South Sudan. Photographer Jon Brack was on hand to capture all 1,018,260 bones in this haunting gigapixel panorama.
Comprising 48,000 individual frames, this 320-gigapixel photo offers 20-mile views of London that only birds and planes have seen before. Shot over three months from the 29th floor of the BT Tower, this amazing image broke the record of all gigapixel photos before it to become the largest photo ever made, when it was unveiled a year ago.
Uruguayan photographer Fernando da Rosa shot this stunning 2.54-gigapixel photo with his Nikon D80 – a camera long considered past its prime by most photography snobs - and a NIKKOR 500mm lens. Built in 1930 to host the FIFA World Cup, the Estadio Centenario in Parque Batlle, Montevideo, Uruguay, is one of the world's classic stadiums. You'll find endless fun zooming into the fans' faces, and judging by their expressions you can tell which side is winning!
One of the first viral gigapixel photos, this intensely detailed image of Obama's swearing-in ceremony made the rounds on the internet well into his second campaign for president. The fun here is zooming into individual faces in the crowd and seeing how people reacted to the historic events
of that day.
Henry Stuart's image, commissioned by the BBC, captured the million people lined up along the streets of central London to celebrate the marriage between Prince William and Kate Middleton. This high-definition, 1.15-gigapixel picture, is a composite of 189 images. The full picture measures 81,471 pixels by 14,154 pixels. The field of view covers 200 degrees.