Panography

Reflecting on yesterday’s tutorial with Holger Pooten, I decided to do some research into some photographers and artists that use panography within their work. There are many ways that a 360º panorama can be captured and displayed, some of which are inventive and particularly eye-catching.

Mareen Fischinger

Mareen Fischinger is a German photographer and has a passion for everything that involves photography. As well as being a photographer, Fischinger is also involved with photo production services for national and international clients, including art direction, casting, booking of make-up/hair & styling, location scouting and retouching services. Her panographic images caught my attention, not only because they are aesthetically beautiful but because they are abstract in their nature and they have made me think about the other ways in which I can approach my work when shooting a landscape scene.

© Mareen Fischinger

© Mareen Fischinger

© Mareen Fischinger

The first image reminds me of one of my own images that I shall be using for my final assessment. My image also contains office buildings which are similar in their architectural style and I also have a crane present within my image.

As I had some images with me during the Photoshop tutorial, Holger suggested that I played around with these to experiment working in a similar style. We kept the images in a sphere shape (in keeping with my stereographic images) but in hindsight I think that the experiment would have looked better laid out from left to right.

Experiment with Holger

Image created with the help of Holger Pooten. Images © Richard Brochu-Williams

Holger showed me new techniques and methods within Photoshop that will come in very useful for future experimentations & creations.

Sven Fennema

Whilst researching I came across another photographer & artist by the name of Sven Fennema. Sven has an interest in landscape and architectural photography and is inspired by the geometry of buildings, their shapes and their lines. I have noticed that on his website he has also included panoramic tours, this is something that I experimented with back in April this year but I was unable to upload the tour that I created to this blog.

© Sven Fennema

Virtual Tours

Virtual Tours 2

I have also looked into the work of David Hockney, who also has created landscapes from multiple images. Due to copyright I cannot post any of his work to this blog but his images can be viewed on his website.

What I like about the images that I have found during my investigation, is the fact that they are stitched together rather crudely and not seamlessly (with the exception of Sven Fennema) and in my opinion this adds to the aesthetic properties of the image and creates an illusion of texture. This is definitely a technique that I will be experimenting with in the future. It’s a shame that I do not have enough time to experiment with this technique fully at the present time, as I feel that I could have produced some good work from using these methods.

References

4rtgallery.blogspot.com, (2014). Simply Creative: Panography by Mareen Fischinger. [online] Available at: http://4rtgallery.blogspot.com/2013/06/panography-by-mareen-fischinger.html [Accessed 5 Aug. 2014].

Hockneypictures.com, (2014). DAVID HOCKNEY. [online] Available at: http://www.hockneypictures.com [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Mareen Fischinger Fotografie, (2014). Mareen Fischinger Fotografie. [online] Available at: http://mareenfischinger.com/places/panography/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2014].

Sven Fennema – Fine Art Photography | Panorama – Fotografie, (2012). 360° Panography. [online] Available at: http://www.sven-fennema.de/panography/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Wikipedia, (2014). Panography. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panography [Accessed 6 Aug. 2014].

Shoot & Reshoot

Today I decided to go out and do a reshoot of the Schlumberger Gould Building on the West Site in Cambridge, as the weather proved to give me the perfect setting. I am hoping that I can obtain a better image from this shoot and will be experimenting with stitching the images together tomorrow. I also decided to try and shoot at other locations. The first location was at Madingley Reservoir. Despite it’s name there seemed to be no evidence of any water or a reservoir that I could see but I did not venture in too far as there were warnings of CCTV in operation and I was not sure how safe the area was. I primarily went there because I had spotted some kind of transmission mast and this is what I was interested in. I also travelled to Burwell, where there is a sub station but I did not end up shooting there as there were too many obstacles in my way, mainly trees.

 

Madingley Reservoir

 

Madingley Reservoir © Richard Brochu-Williams

Madingley Reservoir © Richard Brochu-Williams

Transmission Mast © Richard Brochu-Williams

 

I shall be stitching and editing the images from the shoot tomorrow to see if I have obtained anything that will be worthwhile keeping for my final project.

 

Kirby Muxloe

I have been taking advantage of the good weather that we have been having and I travelled to Leicestershire to practice some more panoramic shots. This shoot was not the urban landscape that I have been photographing of late but it was a good opportunity for me to practice my technique and to keep myself familiar with the software that I am using. I find that if I do not do this on a regular basis, when I come back to use the software, it takes me twice as long to achieve my desired results because I have forgotten how to do certain things. By regularly practising, I become accustomed to what I am doing and I find that I work more efficiently.

Kirby Muxloe has a wonderful castle and this was the setting for this shoot. I really enjoy visiting castles and I am enticed by the architecture. The sense of history and what has gone on inside these magnificent constructions really draws me in.

The well known British proverb “An Englishman’s home is his castle” meaning: An English person’s home is a place where they may do as they please and from which they may exclude anyone they choose, strikes a chord with me and I think that my castle images work well with the stereographic format, as this provides an environment of it’s own for the castle, suggesting further that not only is the castle a place of privacy but it can be encapsulated in it’s own little world, providing a kind of private retreat.

I am continuing to photograph castles alongside my urban landscapes and I shall be comparing the two, to see which images have produced the best results.

Kirby Muxloe Castle, 360º Equirectangular Panorama, © Richard Brochu-Williams

Kirby Muxloe Castle, Stereographic Projection © Richard Brochu-Williams

I was pleased with the results that I achieved during the weekend at both Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire & Rickney’s Quarry, Hertfordshire. It was certainly a productive weekend.

References

Oxforddictionaries.com, (2014). an Englishman’s home is his castle: definition of an Englishman’s home is his castle in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). [online] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/an-englishman’s-home-is-his-castle [Accessed 22 Jul. 2014].

Hatfield House Picnic

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a picnic, if not a little hot. We had the pleasure of meeting up in the park at Hatfield House and setting up a picnic to be photographed. This was a side project and was not strictly related to the work that we were producing for our final major project but it enabled us to bond as a group and gave us the opportunity to try and incorporate some of the styles, methodologies and techniques that we would be using within our major project. I decided to capture a 360º panoramic shot of Hatfield House and project this as a stereographic image.

Hatfield House – Stereographic © Richard Brochu-Williams

Hatfield House – Equirectangular © Richard Brochu-Williams

This was also a good opportunity to capture more images to form part of our Instagram mini project (#picnicification). These can be seen below and also viewed at instagram.com/brochuwilliamsphotography.

All images © Richard Brochu-Williams. All rights reserved.

When we had finished our picnic, I took a walk around the gardens of Hatfield House and took some photographs. There were plenty of sculptures to see and I was pleasantly surprised with how big the gardens actually were.

Picnic

Hatfield House

Entrance to West Gardens

Hatfield House

Hatfield House

Hatfield House

Rose in the West Garden

Sculpture

Sculpture

Water Fountain

Water Fountain

Framlingham Castle

On my way to visit Sizewell, I took a detour and visited Framlingham Castle in Suffolk. It is a lovely place to visit and whilst taking a well deserved break I took the opportunity in taking some images to produce a stereographic image of the castle and it’s surroundings.

 

Framlingham Castle, Suffolk © Richard Brochu-Williams. All rights reserved.

 

The above image was made by stitching 15 different photographs together to make an equirectangular image and was then edited using the Hugin software.

Instagram #Picnicification

As part of our Instagram project, we have been given the hashtag #picnification, a made up word summing up everything to do with picnics. Here is a small selection of images that have been added to my instagram account and I hope to be adding more to the collection soon. You can check out my Instagram account here: instagram.com/brochuwilliamsphotography

© Richard Brochu-Williams

© Richard Brochu-Williams

© Richard Brochu-Williams

© Richard Brochu-Williams

© Richard Brochu-Williams

© Richard Brochu-Williams

References

Brochu-Williams, R. (2014). brochuwilliamsphotography on Instagram. [online] Instagram.com. Available at: http://instagram.com/brochuwilliamsphotography [Accessed 5 Jul. 2014].

Planning for Location Shoot

Usually when I plan a day out, I look for somewhere that is calm, serene and where I can enjoy some unspoilt views but this will be a trip of a different kind. I have been scouting for areas that would be considered by many to be eyesores. This will form part of my experimentation for my final project. I have decided that I want to look for landscapes that could initially be deemed as unsightly and my plan is to turn them into new works of beauty and intrigue, giving the viewer a whole new look and perspective onto that particular landscape, opening their mind and allowing them to discover new elements within the image.

Places of interest

Burwell Substation, Cambridgeshire

Burwell Substation, © Keith Edkins

Burwell Main Substation, © Keith Edkins

The Burwell Substation is located near to me and will be a good place to photograph for my experimentation. If for any reason I need to return to take more pictures, I will not have far to travel.

Sizewell A & B, Suffolk

Sizewell A & B, © Ivor Branton

Sizewell A & B. Google Maps

Cambridge – Sizewell. Google Maps

Dungeness, Kent

Dungeness B Power Station, © Public Domain

Dungeness. Google Maps

Cambridge – Dungeness. Google Maps

Each shoot will take up a day but hopefully I will obtain enough images from each to produce good quality panoramas. I will make sure that I take plenty of pictures once I am at the locations so that there will be no need for me to return. I hope to be shooting in these locations from the beginning of next week.

References

Branton, I. (2014). Sizewell A & B. [image] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizewell_nuclear_power_stations#mediaviewer/File:Nuclear_power_station_at_Sizewell_-_geograph.org.uk_-_210830_retouched.jpg [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

EDF Energy, (2014). Sizewell B. [online] Available at: http://www.edfenergy.com/energy/power-stations/sizewell-b [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

Edkins, K. (2014). Burwell Main Substation. [image] Available at: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/485683 [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

Edkins, K. (2014). Burwell Substation. [image] Available at: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entrance_to_Burwell_Substation_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1280791.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Entrance_to_Burwell_Substation_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1280791.jpg [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

Flickr, (2014). Daveyboy_75. [online] Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daveyboy_75 [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

Google Maps, (2014). Google Maps. [online] Available at: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/preview [Accessed 1 Jul. 2014].

Test Shoot 3

I decided that I wanted to do another test shoot so that I could become more confident at stitching my images together and using the software efficiently. I drove out to a nature reserve near to my home and decided to shoot there.

These are the 16 images that I obtained:

The following pictures show some of the editing processes that I went through to obtain one final image.

As you can see in the above image, the stitching had not worked as well as I had hoped. Therefore I decided to tidy up the image in Photoshop.

• I selected the part of the pavement that had not lined up correctly by using the pen tool.

• I then copied (via layer) and placed the new layer where the missing path was.

• I then used the transform tool to make the new layer blend in

• Finally the clone tool is used to remove the part of the path that is no longer needed

A similar process was used in another part of the image. This can be observed in the 3 images below:

• Selection made using pen tool and new layer created via copy

• Warp tool used to move pavement

• Old part of pavement has been removed using the clone tool

Final Equirectangular Image

Photoshop Process

After image has been transformed into a stereographic projection, there is a noticeable hole in the centre of the image. This will need to be fixed. This is done by selecting an area of existing road from the image and copying it into a new layer, which is then placed over the hole and blended in for a seamless look.

• Layer placed over hole

• Final screen shot after blending

Final Image

Reflection

Looking at the final image after it had been completed I could see that it was not as perfectly spherical as I would have liked. I went back to see if I could make improvements on my stitching but I was not having much luck and I even tried different software. The person that was with at the time of taking the photograph had stated that the area was a little hilly and there was an area that would have been better suited for me to take my pictures from. This was the “viewpoint area” and there was a signpost for it, which I had missed. In the future, I will have to take any hills / slopes into consideration and maybe adjusting my horizon line may have worked in this instance. I’m glad that I have found this out now rather than later into the project, as this is something that I can possibly rectify whilst on the shoot. This shoot definitely turned out to be a learning curve.

References

Morris, S. (2014). How To Stitch Together a Panorama in Photoshop Manually. [image] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN6jQn2F5nk [Accessed 23 Jun. 2014].

Research – Jan Miklín

Jan Miklín

As part of my continuing research into landscape photography I found myself being drawn towards some images that I had come across that were taken by Czech landscape and travel photographer Jan Miklín. Like the images that I have been experimenting with, they have been created by stitching multiple images together. The images have a fantastic quality and feel to them and I particularly like the saturation of colour within the images, it really draws the viewer in to take a closer look.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, 2012, © Jan Miklín

The above image was created using 6 vertical shots that were stitched together on Photoshop. Even when viewing this image at full size, the stitching is seamless. This is something that I still need to be practising, and it is from images such as these that I take my inspiration from.

Pangong Tso, India, 2010, © Jan Miklín

I absolutely love the contrast between the blue and the green within this image and in my opinion the composition works really well.

Ko Yao Noi, Thailand, © Jan Miklín

A simple image, but again the composition works well. The boat is off centre which gives it the sense of movement and that it is travelling somewhere. The purple gives the image a calm and serene fell and I especially like the reflection of the moon within the water.

Ko Adang, Thailand, © Jan Miklín

All Images are © Jan Miklín. All rights reserved

Jan Miklín has a wonderful portfolio of work on his website, which is well worth a visit.

References

Miklín, J. (2014). Jan Miklín | fotogalerie. [online] Janmiklin.cz. Available at: http://www.janmiklin.cz/english.html [Accessed 20 Jun. 2014].

Planet Photo. (2014). Digital Photo, (183), pp.10-11.

Planning Visit to Hatfield House

Today the MA Photographic Media group met up to arrange a photo shoot session at Hatfield House. We will be visiting the property next month with our camera equipment and a variety of props and we will be creating images that somehow relate to or reflect on the theme that we have selected for our Major Project. This will be quite a challenge as we are all working on different genres of photography.

Alongside this we will be producing more images for our Instagram project. We will be using the hashtag #picnicification. We are organising a picnic for the day, so as well as capturing some images, we will be enjoying a nice picnic…so long as the British weather holds up.

I have looked on the Hatfield House website and the gardens and surrounding views look impressive and I hope to gain some nice images from this day out. I believe that as a group we will benefit from this and can learn from one another and gain some inspiration.

Hatfield House

West Garden

Map

References

Hatfield House, (2014). Hatfield House. [image] Available at: http://hatfield-house.co.uk/assets/house1.jpg [Accessed 17 Jun. 2014].

Hatfield-house.co.uk, (2014). Hatfield House. [online] Available at: http://www.hatfield-house.co.uk [Accessed 17 Jun. 2014].

Wikipedia, (2014). Hatfield House. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield_House [Accessed 17 Jun. 2014].