Tokyo Panorama – Stunning 150 gigapixel image now online
World's second largest image created by 360gigapixel.com photographer Jeffrey Martin
The world’s second largest ever photo is now available to view online.
The stunning image, created by photographer Jeffrey Martin, consists of 10,000 images taken from the lower observation deck of Japan’s Tokyo Tower, which have been digitally stitched together, creating a seamless 360-degree panoramic image. You can view it in your browser at 360gigapixels.com.
You can play with the camera view to get cool effects like this
The super high-resolution image gives a rare look at the greater metropolitan area around the tower, with even the smallest detail still clearly visible. Details such as washing hanging from balconies, shop displays and apartment furniture can clearly been seen when you’re exploring the image at maximum zoom, all with incredibly sharp detail.
The images were taken with a Canon 7D DSLR with a 400mm lens. However, the process was partly automated using a Clauss Rodeon VRST Robotic Panorama head, which allowed him to move the camera by precise measurements, making the rendering process much easier.
The image was made by taking pictures in three different sections which take 30-90 minutes each to shoot, depending on how quickly the robot is programmed to move. When all 10,000 pictures had been taken, Martin used a Fujitsu Celsius R920 workstation with a whopping 192GB of RAM and took over three months to digitally stitch the images together.
Zoomed out you can see a huge chunk of the panorama here, we added the black rectangle over those cranes …
… zoom right in and you can see the startling detail on offer
Martin, a Guardian photographer and founder of 360gigapixel.com captured the original images in September 2012. He created the 600,000-pixel across image, wide enough to fill 312 Full HD monitors placed side-by-side, to continue his passion for panoramic images – he’s already made ones of London and Prague.
“I shoot almost exclusively 360 degree images. To me, it is the perfect kind of photography, capturing everything that exists from a single point in space,” said Martin. “It is inherently geographic, in describing a single point on the earth, and in far greater detail than anyone could experience with the naked eye. I think it is amazing that I can extend the human senses in this way.”
The biggest picture ever taken is also credited to Martin and is a 320-gigapixel image of London taken from the top of the BT Tower.