Panoramas of the Lunar Surface

Did you know that the US landed men on the moon in 6 missions flown over 41 months (July 20, 1969 - December 11, 1972.) In 1969 we landed on the moon in July and November.  I must admit that I hadn't realized that we sent rockets to the moon with that rapidity.

During that time, 12 men walked on the moon. They walked and drove the lunar landers (are they still up there?)  A little known fact is that each astronaut was fitted with a chest camera. It was a Hasselblad EDC that was specially designed for the trip.  (I wrote about another extraordinary photography tool, the Gigapan in November, 2009)

The photographs that the astronauts took on the moon have been "sewn together" to create Interactive QuickTime VR Panoramas of the moon that are available at Panorama.dk. Not only can you scan the lunar surface while sitting in your classroom, your journey is accompanied with audio tracks of what the astronauts broadcast back to Houston. Admittedly, the scanning is a little tricky and jerky but it is something to see.

You really MUST explore the Panoramas.dk website. It has panoramas a wide variety of travel destinations including the NEW 7 Wonders of the World:  

• Roman Colosseum (been there)  *
• China's Great Wall (been there)  *
• Petra in Jordan (probably go there this summer)
• India's Taj Mahal (would LOVE to go)
• Machu Picchu in Peru (Not yet)
• Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro (Not yet)
• Chichen Itza in Mexico (been there)  *

Looks like my wife, Kathy, and I have just created a new "Bucket List."

I began this posting raving about shooting men to the moon and ended telling you about my bucket list. Looking at these places in Google Earth can be a good introduction to the locales, but panoramas like these can make it real.

Have you used or created panoramas like these before?

Z

Related articles

• Panoramas are the next level in photographic representation (garry.posterous.com)

Gigapan photos

On January 20, 2009, photographer David Bergman covered his first inauguration and took a photo (actually 220 photos) using his Canon PowerShot G10 camera and then "stitched" them all together to create a 2 GB 1,475 megapixal photo (59,783 x 24,658 pixels). That's HUGE.

Big is good, but what is exciting about these shots is that the viewer can look at the whole photo from a distance or zoom into specific people in the photo. (Click here to see the dynamic photo.) It is similar to the kind of technology that you see in Google Maps or Google Earth but the typical photography enthusiast can do this.

The trick wasn't in his camera but in GigaPan technology. This Carnegie Mellon University GigaPan technology includes a robotic arm and the Gigapan Stitcher software ($450). Bergman attached the robotic arm to a railing. The Gigapan will take the photos for you. You just have to designate the upper left corner and the lower right corner. Press the GigiPan button and it will automatically take the photos (video tutorial here). When Bergman's photosession was complete, it took over 6 and a half hours for the Gigapan to stitch together the 220 images on his MacBook Pro.

GigaPan has set up an agreement with Google. Google Earth will begin including Gigapan panorama photos. This began in 2007 and I haven't checked it out yet, but should be rather exciting for seeing closeups of places in the world.

Taking closeups like this can be a little scary as a continuing intrusion into our privacy, but it should also be considered a new opportunity for "the rest of us" to venture into new photographic territories at a reasonable price.

What do you think? How can we use the Gigapan Technologies in our educational settings?

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• Gigapan in the classroom (slideshare.net)
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• Gigapans coming soon to VR Seattle (vrseattle.com)
• 500 Megapixel view from the Magnolia Bridge (vrseattle.com)
• Introducing the Google Earth heroes project (googleblog.blogspot.com)

How to Take a Good Photograph

I was just reading Rushton Hurley's newsletter when I found a link to Amber Blow's trilogy of videos about How to Take a Good Photograph. These videos involve various aspects for taking good photographs. She discusses long shots, close ups, rule of thirds, filling the frame and many other important considerations in photography.

This is by no means a "Kodak Production", but it covers a number of the primary considerations in photography and demonstrates how we can create informative tutorials with quality photos and ample planning. These videos appear to be the product of a class project at the University of Regina. They are worth a look.

More in this series: Part 2 and Part 3

Rushton has posted these videos on his Next Vista for Learning website. Check it out!!!