Tag Archives: HDR

How to Shoot Spherical HDR Panoramic Photos using the GigaPan Epic Pro

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Gearing up for tomorrow’s class, Digital Imagery for the Digital Dome, and the workshop I will teach at the IMERSA Fulldome Summit, I have revised our instructions for shooting a spherical HDR panoramic photo using the GigaPan Epic Pro and thought I would share this with you.

I am using a Canon T31 Rebel with an 18mm – 55mm lens. These direction are specifically  shooting exterior landscapes. Camera settings and Field of View settings in the GigaPan menu may need to be adjusted for other settings.

IAIA students using the Gigapan Epic Pro at Chaco Canyon, Summer 2012.

IAIA students using the Gigapan Epic Pro at Chaco Canyon, Summer 2012.

You should end up with around 56 sets of bracketed photographs. I use Photomatix and PT GUI to process the HDR and stitch the photos. If you use these direction, put your photos on 360 cities and share your link here. I would love to see what you create.

GIGAPAN SET UP

  1. MOUNT Gigapan on tripod
    1. make sure your tripod is sturdy and feet are at least 2’ apart
  2. Level using Gigapan level
  3. Go to OPTIONS MENU
    1. Set MULTI PICTURE to 1
    2. Set BRACKETS to 1
    3. Check BATTERY STATUS
      1. Note: this lies – always have a fully charged backup battery
  4. Go to EXPERT OPTIONS
    1. Set PICTURE OVERLAP to 25%
  5. MOUNT CAMERA on Gigapan
    1. Mounting plate words “ GigaPan Systems” should face the back of the camera
    2. Use the small metal lever on mount to lock mounting plate in place
    3. Use the MOVE CAMERA option under main menu to move mounting plate
    4. Adjust mount FORWARD/BACKWARD to reduce parallax – 18 – 55mm lens -= on slider (
    5. Go to CAMERA SETUP (Under Main Menu)
    6. Setup Field of View (FOV) – 18mm lens ~= 40 degrees +/-5


CAMERA SETUP

  1. CHECK MEMORY CARD SPACE
  2. CHECK BATTERY STATUS
  3. Set FOCUS
    1. set to MANUAL FOCUS
    2. Turn on LIVE VIEW
    3. ZOOM IN with the magnifying glass button
    4. ADJUST FOCUS at highest zoom level
  4. Set MODE to MANUAL (“M”)
  5. SET EXPOSURE until light meter reading is centered on bar
    1. For exterior/landscape shots make sure your F-stop is at 22
  6. SET ISO to 100 (outside sunny setting)
  7. MENU SETTING
    1. SET AUTO EXPOSURE BRACKETING (“AEB”) to 2 stops up/down
    2. SET ASPECT RATIO to 3:2
    3. SELECT FOLDER and create NEW FOLDER
    4. SET SHOOTING QUALITY to RAW
    5. TURN OFF IMAGE REVIEW
  8. CONNECT REMOTE CABLE – ensure it will not catch when Gigapan moves
    1. Note: If the camera begins to shoot when you hook up the cable, disconnect the cable, make sure your Gigapan is on and replug in the cable.
  9. REMOVE Camera’s strap to avoid it getting caught


SHOOTING

  1. SELECT NEW 360° PANORAMA on GIGAPAN MENU
    1. START 90° UP
    2. END 90° DOWN
    3. SKIP “SHOW PANORAMA”
    4. Follow the directions on the GigaPan and sit back while the robotic head does all the work.

Special thanks to Jonathan Strawn from UNM ARTS Lab for the first rendition of these instructions.

Spring 2013 Courses in the Digital Dome @ IAIA: Fulldome Production

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This spring semester, the Institute of American Indian Arts is offering two courses that deal with digital dome production. The courses are Digital Dome Production I and Digital Imagery for the Dome. Digital Dome Production I is a great course for newbies to dome production and Digital Imagery for the Dome combines Spherical photography, photogrammetry and special effects in a virtual environment. New student and audit student registration will begin in January and class start January 14 and run for 16 weeks.

Note: Anyone can take a course at IAIA as long as you have a high school diploma or GED.

Fun IAIA apocalypse image by instructor Craig Tompkins. This image was created through spherical gigapixel HDR photography, photogrammetry, using Maya to create grass and sky replacement.

NMAD392J – Digital Imagery for the Dome – Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:30am to 12pm
Lead Instructor: Craig Tompkins (with Jane Crayton from UNM)

Course description: Digital Imagery for the Dome will provide advanced skills in high resolution photography and video. Students will learn capture and integration of real world locations and CGI effects for fulldome production. Focus will be on photographic techniques such as advanced skills in spherical panoramic background photography, HDRI capture, photogrammetry for set reconstruction and 360° live action video. Site survey techniques will be demonstrated as well as new techniques for 3D point cloud data capture. (Prerequisite skills: spherical HDR photography and/or 3D modeling.)

*This course is part of our Fulldome Development for Interactive Immersive Training research grant. Full-time degree seeking student who take this course will be eligible for the paid summer digital dome internship.

J. Craig Tompkins is an artist and designer living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he serves as Animation Faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He received an MFA in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009.
Craig works primarily in the fields of 3D animation, previsualization, and scale modeling, branching out into video compositing and installation. As a collaborative artist, he designs and constructs scale models and sets for photography, film, and installation. Tompkins is also the Lead Faculty Advisor to IAIA students at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the formation of the Creative Humanics Laboratory (CHL). CHL is an ongoing design, modeling, and simulation experiment in collaboration with IAIA, NASA, and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).

Jane Crayton focuses on STEM-A (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics through Art) utilizing experimental educational public outreach projects for STEM-A and New Media. Jane has worked in fulldome for the past few years and is one of the organizers of the IMERSA | Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science & Arts conference at Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Jane is currently working towards her masters degree in Education at the University of New Mexico where she works with ARTS Lab.

 

NMAD392J – Digital Dome Production I – Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30am to 12pm – Instructor: Joe Abraham Dean

A great beginner’s course!

Course description: Get in on the cutting-edge of this new technology while learning how to use the DigitalSky 2 software, create gigapixel images, and learn the history, present, and future of the digital dome. This course requires a willingness to experiment, research, take risk and break new ground. From the basics of how to place a still image on the dome to exploring and experimenting with storytelling, installation, and art. Students can work with the dome in various positions utilizing its unique ability to articulate. A public showing of work is required as part of the final project.

Joe Dean has been working and producing in the fulldome theater since 2007. He is the owner of Lumenscapes – a Santa Fe based lighting and digital media company with international projects in design and construction of immersive multimedia installations. His specialties are in domes, trade show booths, theatrical design for performance, motion picture production, content creation for multimedia installations, projection mapping, and immersive film making.

Students Showcase Chaco Canyon Fulldome Show Friday, June 29, 5pm to 6pm

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Chaco Canyon

Student Image from Chaco Canyon

Join us Friday, June 29 from 5pm to 6pm as students participants in this year’s summer dome internship share their work. Student will discuss their experience with high resolution spherical HDR photography and fulldome production. They will highlight images and a share their short dome presentation “Chaco Canyon”. Show up early and catch the currents2012 40 minute loop that runs 1pm to 5pm. These events are free and open to the public.

For the past six weeks, eight student interns from the Institute of American Indian Arts and the University of New Mexico have been working full-time learning techniques in HDR full spherical panoramic photography and post techniques including Maya 3D for displaying in the digital dome.

Night shoot at Pueblo Bonito

Night shoot at Pueblo Bonito

Students spent a week in Chaco Canyon with their camping gear, gigipans, DSLRs, and audio recording equipment to gather still images, video, and audio for this project. They battled heat and wind while pushing their creativity and technical skills. Their favorite shoot had to be working from 12am to 6am shooting at Pueblo Bonito.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park hosting the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in the American Southwest. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote canyon cut by the Chaco Wash. Containing the most sweeping collection of ancient ruins north of Mexico, the park preserves one of the United States’ most important pre-Columbian cultural and historical areas. [1]

Directions:
The Digital Dome @ IAIA is located at 83 Avan Nu Po Road. From Santa Fe take I-25 South. Then take exit 278A and merge onto NM-14 S towards Madrid. Turn left of Rancho Viejo Blvd. At the top of the hill, turn right onto Avenida Del Sur. Turn left onto Avan Nu Po Road and take the third left into the main entrance of the campus. The Digital Dome @ IAIA is housed in the Science and Technology building, which is straight ahead. Parking is available to the left. Please enter the Science and Technology building from the West.

Institute of American Indian Arts Dome Research Interns Headed to Chaco Canyon to Shoot Full Spherical HDR Panoramas

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This summer, 4 student interns from the Institute of American Indian Arts are collaborating with UNM students to create a fulldome production that highlight Chaco Canyon. Students have been working for two weeks at the Digital Dome @ IAIA learning techniques in HDR photography to create full spherical panoramas for the dome. Today, we head out to Chaco Canyon with our camping gear, gigipans, DSLRs, and audio recording equipment to gather still images, video, and audio for this project. We will be camping and living off frito pies and hotdogs for five days.

Student Jorge Ortiz at Tent Rocks. Photo by Jon Strawn.

Problem Solving in the Dome – the HDR solution

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When I first started working in the fulldome environment, one of my biggest frustrations in the dome was the inevitable washing out of images. At IAIA, our 24′ digital dome currently has 6 – PLUS U7 projectors. Each of these projectors has 3500 ANSI with a contract ratio of 2000:1. Add this low contrast ratio to the photon splash that occurs in a spherical theater and images that look gorgeous on a monitor become lifeless on the dome. High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques solve the problem.

The average human eye sees at about 10,000:1 contrast ratio. A high end DSLR camera shoots a single image at around 2000:1 contrast ratio. Place this images in the dome with a projection system of 2000:1 and add photon splash and the image washes out to about 500:1 (just a guess, not an actual measurement). The details of the images are simply lost in translation. My first approach in attempts to solve this problem was to increase the contrast and the saturation of the image. Although this would help, it still left me completely frustrated.

While reviewing the materials for the highly anticipated xRez training session, I began to review the techniques they would be teaching. High Dynamic Resolution immediately caught my eye. While in Portland’s Powell’s Books, I picked up two books; Practical HDR by Jack Howard and Practical HDR by David Nightingale. Through these two texts I began to see the world and the images I shoot in a completely different light. Not only has this process saved my photographs for the dome, it has enhanced my overall photographic skills for all mediums.

After learning about HDR, I immediately began to shoot bracketed photos with my Canon x3i using the automated settings in the menu. I tried Photoshop’s Merge to HDR Pro with fair results. Then I downloaded a trial of Photomatrix Pro. Within 10 minutes I purchased the full version and was hooked.

My first HDR photo. Bagby Hot Springs, Oregon.

Some people say that HDR is just a fad technique and things look to fake and overly illustrated, but take this image and place it on a digital dome and it is an excellent solution. There are many variations within HDR tonemapping techniques from illustrative to realistic. My tastes tend towards more realistic results, but I find some images call for the more grungy illustrated look.

Single shot

HDR photo

Fall 2011, the first assignment my students tackled in the Digital Dome Production I course was shooting HDR photos using a Canon x3i and a Sunex 5.6mm f/5.6 Super Fisheye lens. The assignment taught students to begin to visual the sphere and understand placement of images on the dome. They experimented with angles, perspectives, and various subjects. At the same time, they were learning HDR and creating stunning images that popped on the dome.
IAIA Tutorial on shooting HDR

Student Images

IAIA Dorms by Bryan Akipa

Railyard by Fernando Charley

Bridge by Jessie Bennett

Wood by Louva Hartwell

Duck Pond by Joseph "Seph" Turnipseed

From this foundation, my student developed skills in 360° spherical panos and 360° horizontal panos all using the HDR process. I am very interested in exploring HDR video processes and am currently developing ways to increase contrast in video for the digital dome. Look for more posts in the future with these tests.

For more information on HDR, check out
Wikipedia
A Versatile HDR Video Production System
And you know a web search will find all kinds of wonderful information.