Multi-Billion Pixel Panoramic Photoshoot of Seattle

Photography News

In this short, two-part series, Microsoft flexes their imaging software muscles as they work on a multi-billion pixel panoramic image of Seattle. The gigapixel image was created using their freeware, Microsoft Image Composite Editor, better known as ICE. Watch the following videos to learn more:

Part 1:

Part 2:

As part of the Gigapixel Art Zoom project, a team of photographers set up camp on top of a condo complex in downtown Seattle while a wide variety of talent and actors scattered around the city streets to be captured doing random activities.

If you look closely in the finished panoramic, you can find this scene as well as many other staged events taking place.

The images were captured using various camera models, including a Canon 7D  with a 600mm lens. For the final product, 1400 images of 22MP each were composited together, using ICE to create a 24 gigapixel image. The final image is an interactive work that lets users zoom, pan, and search for each of the “hidden” actors.