Zach Wise / Las Vegas Sun

In journalism, every medium has a format it can lay claim to. Well, almost every medium. Print journalism uses photographs, radio uses audio and television uses video. But the web can use all of these, and more. Interactive panoramas are uniquely web centric.

Before the days of Photoshop, the photograph was a powerful medium for objective truth and reporting. It still is. Selective framing, composition, layering, anticipating moments are all things that make photography and photojournalism a beautiful profession for communication. But, is it the whole picture?

Consider this: a true 360 panorama photographed in one moment of time should essentially contain no bias. There is no selective framing by the photographer other than where the photographer is standing. All of the context of the moments in the photograph is there. You can still selectively frame and layer and, as an added bonus, your photograph becomes interactive and revealing.

Example of a 3-shot Panorama

Zach Wise / Las Vegas Sun

Panorama of the same scene revealing the 3 differnt images used.

The problems with shooting panoramas are many, but it’s getting better.

• The Hardware is bulky and expensive.
  
  Panorama heads are getting small and cheaper as new companies fill the niche. I use the Nodal Ninja 3 panorama head, and we just bought a Nodal Ninja 5 at the Las Vegas Sun. These panorama heads are small and very portable.
• Currently, several photos must be stitched together to create one, which means there are several moments instead of one.
  
  The setup I currently use for shooting panoramas is a Canon 5D and a Sigma 8mm lens, which allows me to do a 3-shot panorama. Each shot captures 180Ëš providing plenty of overlap for a three-shot stitch. Depending on the situation, you can shoot and rotate the entire panorama in about 4 seconds. As digital cameras gain more megapixels and increase their sensitivity to light, some other solutions such as Kaidan’s 360 One VR may become a better alternative for photojournalism.The problem with Kaidan’s system is the resolution of most digital cameras is not high enough, and because of the camera’s proximity to the mirror, a high f-stop is needed to maintain a consistent depth of field throughout the panorama.
• Stitching a panorama is technically difficult.
  
  Stitching programs have come a long way and are getting better and easier all the time. My current favorite is PTGui. If everything was shot correctly it will handle the stitch in just a couple clicks. If one of your shots is a couple of degrees off, it could be an easy fix or nearly impossible. I have experienced both scenarios.
• Displaying a panorama is technically difficult.
  
  A great alternative to Quicktime VR has made it’s way to the stage in the past year. Flashpanoramas has a great, and inexpensive plug-in that will allow you to publish your panorama using XML and Flash. Since the penetration rate of Flash is around 98% compared to Quicktime’s 68% (source) this is great news!

Useful Links

• My del.icio.us links for panorama related sites
• The Panoramist
  The super talented Charlotte Observer Photographer Gary O’Brien’s Blog on Panoramas
• Flashpanoramas
  
  Flash Panorama Player is a new panoramic viewer. The viewer engine is built on Adobe Flash Player, the world’s most pervasive software platform.
• PTGui Stitching Software
  
  PTGui is panoramic stitching software for Windows and Mac OSX. Originally developed as a Graphical User Interface for Panorama Tools (hence the name), PTGui now is a full featured photo stitching application.
• World Wide Panorama
  
  Photography takes place on the solstices (longest and shortest days of the year) and equinoxes (day and night of equal length). Photographers all over the world are welcome to participate.
• OpenPanorama Consortium
  
  The mission of OpenPanorama is to allow for the regrouping of industrialists and users of panoramic imagery, about the definition of a universal file format based on XML, which is simple and evolutionary.
• International VR Photography Association
  
  The IVRPA is an international association of professionals who create and produce interactive, immersive images.