Aerial Panorama, Downtown Boise, Idaho, 5/4/08
May 5th, 2008 by Leo Geis
Shot from 60′ in the air at sunset on 5/4/08, this is actually a 370 degree (some overlap is produced for the stitching function) panorama over the southwest corner of Main & 5th St. in Boise.
(Please click this scaled-down thumbnail for a larger image).
Over the next 2 weeks we’ll be shooting 46 aerial panoramas similar to this one-some at dawn, some during the day, and some in the evening. If you see us, please stop by and say hello. We look exactly like this:
One of our 53′ units on the job at Boise Research Center. The tires are dirty because I had just been out in a field, which also explains the necessity for 4WD…
This panorama is >350 MegaBytes in size (16bit, uninterpolated). The delivery version was “only” 8 feet wide at 200dpi. Although it was taken at sunset, you’ll note there is plenty of detail in the “shadowed” details where the camera was actually facing the sun. Note too that the sky is not “blotchy” across the frame, the horizon is level, and the buildings are not “tilted” (suffering from “Keystone Distortion”). The image is also sharp to the pixel. These are signs of a professional grade product.
We are capable of producing such “view panoramas” from proposed building floors in a variety of ways. Recently in Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia we used twin engine jet helicopters (the FAA has made the commercial operations of remote control helicopters and blimps illegal) in part because of the necessity to shoot from as high as 900′. However, for any applications less than 70′ or so we use our giant masts. The masts also allow us to shoot in conditions that mandate slow shutter speeds (such as at night or in order to produce motion artifacts like pedestrian and automotive “streaking”).
Obviously the digital file of this image is usable in everything from QuickTime VR to Flash-based interactive tours-Flash being the superior delivery option in our opinion.
Keywords: Building, skyscraper, floor, elevations, view, panoramas, blimp, remote control, helicopter, aerial, photography. This post is dedicated to the mysteriously nomadic Ms. Briana Lee!
L