Big Eye in the Sky

December 8, 2005 12:46 AM

Big Eye in the Sky. A collection of absolutely incredible 360 degree panoramas by St. Paul photographer Ed Fink of the Twin Cities, Mt. Rushmore, the Post-Katrina Gulf Coast and more. He claims to be the first photographer in the world to do full spherical (180 x 360) panoramas from a helicopter. The effect is truly spectacular. Those with vertigo beware.
posted by panoptican (19 comments total)

Via MNSpeak.com.
posted by panoptican at 12:47 AM on December 8, 2005

Note: give the panoramas time to load... they are big. Also, some of them have audio. To navigate within the panoramas, click on the red helicopters.
posted by panoptican at 12:49 AM on December 8, 2005

I love these things, thanks panoptican. Bookmarked for when I'm on a decent speed modem and can get at the fullscreens (the little java's gave me a taste though).
posted by tellurian at 1:11 AM on December 8, 2005

"Hey! I can see my house from here!"
posted by neckro23 at 1:58 AM on December 8, 2005

These are great. I find it amazing how the whole QTVR thing works - in the newest photos there's no sign of anything keeping the camera up in the sky - how do they do it!?
posted by clgregor at 2:18 AM on December 8, 2005

Also it is nie to see some cool pictures of my hometown. Thanks panoptican. It wooud be really cool to see some of those done any at night.
posted by clgregor at 2:20 AM on December 8, 2005

cigregor... he explains somewhere that he just edits the copter out of the image.. each panorama is multiple shots stitched together.

Thanks for the link....panoptican (how fitting is that given the content of the link...)
posted by HuronBob at 2:28 AM on December 8, 2005

Great find, panoptican. I'm guessing he leans out of one side of the copter, takes pictures of half of the field of view, then leans out of the other side and does the same. That way there's minimal helicopter-removerage to do.
posted by chrismear at 3:04 AM on December 8, 2005

... or he could lean out of only one side - and let the helicopter do the turning.
posted by uncle harold at 3:23 AM on December 8, 2005

"Hey! I can see my house from here!"

Heh. I'm somewhere between here and here.

But the Tate Lab, where my office is located, is clear as day.

Nifty.
posted by dsword at 3:34 AM on December 8, 2005

...and my mother's old house in NOLA. Ok, I'm sad now. Was happy... now sad.
posted by dsword at 3:40 AM on December 8, 2005

Wow. I wish there was someway to toggle giant labels in the sky in real life. That could be handy.
posted by srboisvert at 4:16 AM on December 8, 2005

Like this, only more like HUD glasses for tourists?
posted by dsword at 4:24 AM on December 8, 2005

I see my apartment, my mother's townhouse, my father's and brother's apartment in the Towers, all in downtown Minneapolis, and my old apartment in New Orleans in these pictures.

So that explains the helicopted that is constantly follwing me around.
posted by maxsparber at 4:37 AM on December 8, 2005

Amazing stuff.
Now to incorporate this into google map/earth...

On a related note, these 3D images/QT VR files are getting more and more popular it seems: a sushi restaurant I went to recently has a 3D image of their restaurant on the website...
posted by slimepuppy at 5:00 AM on December 8, 2005

The Katrina pictures were amazing. I grew up in Biloxi. I looked for my childhood home. It seems to be missing. In fact, all of Pine Street seems to be missing.
posted by meh at 9:44 AM on December 8, 2005

full spherical (180 x 360) panoramas

Wouldn't 180 x 360 be hemispherical, not spherical?
posted by jjg at 11:02 AM on December 8, 2005

Not sure about panoramic photo lingo, but I would guess that means 180 degrees of azimuthal angle, 360 degrees of polar angle. That's the whole sphere.
posted by dsword at 2:37 PM on December 8, 2005

Thanks for the link...through it I ended up at the Washington Post site where there were some really helpful Katrina videos and pics. It's strange being so far away from home for so long.
It helps to see visual information. The videos on the Post site really made me miss my fellow citizens from NOLA...their tenacity, and their accents..:^)
posted by Today at 1:43 PM on December 11, 2005