Thursday, March 22, 2012

It's All Ball Bearings Nowadays Boys...

...now bring me a cup of fat and the head of Alfredo Garcia while you're back there.



Sorry for the mashup of Fletch quotes, but I couldn't resist, for it is ball bearings embedded in the lid of this bucket that makes my new favorite photo toy work so well. It is an artist's budget (aka whatever is lying around) virtual reality head that can take perfectly aligned 360 degree panoramic photographs.



The possibilities make me giddy (anyone have a dome they would commission me to paint?) and flat out laugh at how quickly and easily the panoramas come together. Instead of toiling away for hours on each one, I let the computer do the work while I paint.



The black pieces of tape let me repeat the same capture of the landscape day or night, and I don't even have to risk life (or mostly limb) having to lean off the ladder to look through the viewfinder.



With the ladder fastened tight to the earth, I can even take long exposures in the wind. Over the course of a month or two, I will create a photo archive of Gray Bay, at high tide through low tide, bright sunshine to moonlight. Results to follow...

- jb boyd

1 comment: