Comments on: Multi-camera rig makes trees say cheese

By: M. D. Vaden of Oregon

M. D. Vaden of Oregon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:50:47 +0000

Adam wrote that Balog already did this, and with this tree, more or less.

Would sure like to see a link to this tree by Balog if you happen to know of his photo online.

I’ve seen Balog’s big aggregate image of the Stratosphere Giant, and what looks like a photostitch of Del Norte titan, but don’t recall seeing this tree. Although I’m pretty certain I read about Balog being at this tree that Nichols did.

MDV
Oregon

By: Singapore Event Photography

Singapore Event Photography — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:05:32 +0000

When i saw the issue and the pull-out of this photo, my jaw just dropped and my mind started thinking of how they did it! Thanks for providing the answer!

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:11:59 +0000

Great photo, but it has been done before by James Balog, during his pioneering “Trees” project from 1998-2005. He shot the same tree, same perspective, and even used the same tree rigging team. The only difference is that instead of using a mechanical device, James climbed the rope, over 300 feet into the canopy, and shot the images himself as he lowered down the tree.

The National Geographic team here was just remaking an original and unique photograph of James’. See http://www.jamesbalog.com and http://www.extremeicesurvey.org to see the true story, and all the other original work that will likely one day be ripped off by the big yellow box.

By: GT

GT — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:54:17 +0000

Simply amazing guys…congratulations on a brilliant idea and a job well executed.

By: Cbrown

Cbrown — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:25:48 +0000

Very nice way to get a high rez shot. Would love to see this via Silverlight’s Deepzoom so we could dive into the detail that should be in this shot.
And ICE is a very-very good stitching technology notably better than anything Adobe has though I can’t speak to Apple’s tech as I haven’t used it. If you are using Windows Live Photo Gallery, make sure to go to add-ons and download the ICE stitching tech. What Live Gallery uses by defualt is very good (same tech as Adobe)but no where near as good and flexible as ICE.

By: lamerz

lamerz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:28:29 +0000

ricz – you don’t find the QT tool much better. You just like it because it is Apple. Admit it, you have never even used the MS tool and don’t have a clue what you are talking about. What a twat.

By: lamerz

lamerz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:26:46 +0000

Geez, some of you twats are so zealous over the use of a MS tool (god forbid!) that you can’t just enjoy and comment on what is a pretty cool image? Here’s a clue … the perspective shift would have affected ANY stitching tool, even your beloved Apple tools. Get over yourselves. Maybe get out of the basement and go look at a real tree.

By: GeneralFault

GeneralFault — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:12:27 +0000

You could start with something like this panoramic scanner camera and modify it to move vertically rather than rotating.

http://home.comcast.net/~scancams/Mark2.htm

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:43:37 +0000

Besides the parallax issues, the camera platform descended from the canopy on a single rope, which was subject to wind and tree sway. Thus the tree to background perspective shifted slightly through the shoot, causing insurmountable problems for the numerous auto stitching programs that were tested. The final redwood tree was stitched together in Photoshop—it took over 120 hours.

By: illus

illus — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:34:29 +0000

Where can we find the full picture online?

By: ricz

ricz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 04:59:56 +0000

@lolerskates

Agreed on the crappy M$ technology. They should have used Apple’s image stitching QTVR I have on my Mac I find it much better. They actually probably did, but I bet M$ paid them to say this.

By: GeneralFault

GeneralFault — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:06:54 +0000

@medix
What I was proposing was using a setup that only captures a single row of pixels. Then “stitch” those rows together into one long photograph. That would remove the perspective problem.
Using the element from a bed scanner and a camera lense should do the trick. There was a project here some time ago that used this technique to take some very strange and interesting photos.

By: wdfowty

wdfowty — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:38:43 +0000

@ Austin LOL! NI! NI!

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:13:37 +0000

after the break, after the jump, etc.
Over used terms, go look it up in the urban dictionary.

Stop using the term and where is the video.

By: nope

nope — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:15:51 +0000

@bloke_from_ohio yes too true. i grew up near wausau paper. in some areas many square miles of replanted trees. very dull, no life but linear lines of trees for as far as you can see. truly renewable though…