Maddie Hoesel: GT Portfolio: Tiny Spherical Worlds

What's up inter web? Mid Quarter has passed, and to keep my mind off of the grades coming out in a week or so, I spent the lovely three day weekend alternating between writing my 15 page long research paper fro my science project and playing lots of the Sims 4. I actually really enjoyed writing the paper though, my subject is fascinating- transcription factors- and I listened to a lot of Panic! At The Disco. How do you get through projects? Do you have any particular method? I can't function unless I have a large cup of water, and copious amounts of coffee. Anyway, the next project here in GT is a sort of continuation of the great photography quarter. For the last couple of weeks, we have worked on photomontages, so if you want to see that post, check out the link list. Now we will be creating polar and spherical panoramas, another flashback to sixth grade year. (I'll have that post linked as well) Now, on with the post!

To start this post off, lets talk about composite images. A panorama is a composite image that shows a whole landscape, and captures more than what just one picture could. A composite image is an image that is made of several different sources. For spherical panoramas, the pictures you take all have to overlap so Photoshop can recognize where they connect, and match them together into a panorama. From there, you can use Photoshop tools to put them together into a sphere. If you only had one picture, it wouldn't work the same. You can't capture a whole landscape in one photo the way you can with a panorama made of multiple shots.

For our final project, we will be creating two polar panoramas, and two spherical panoramas. Spherical and polar panoramas are basically opposites. When you create a polar panorama, the final images looks like a tiny world of your own. I prefer polar panoramas over spherical panoramas. When you make a spherical panorama, it comes out more like a crystal ball. The only change you have to make in Photoshop to get one instead of the other is flip the photo right before applying the polar coordinates filter. A flipped photo will get you a polar panorama in the end, while a right side up photo will get you a spherical.

All of my panoramas were taken at Kalapaki bay, which is a beach here on Kauai. The majority of people who read this already know that I guess, but that's not the point. What will make my panoramas convincing is the way I use the stamp tool. If the line where the ends of the panorama meet is blurred out realistically, then my finished product will be more convincing. Also, rotating the image so the line is on the side rather than on the top will make it more discreet. Another step would be to use the paint tool on a low opacity to help the image blend together perfectly. For the portraits, where we will Photoshop a portrait of us in so it looks like we're standing on the world, getting the shadow right is the most important part.

So that wraps up todays post, if you want to learn some more about polar panoramas, or see some great examples, check out the link list below. Also, if you want to dig into the depths of my past, I'll link to my 6th grade post. (Don't ask me to look at it, I refuse to retreat into a state of cringe attacks for the next year and a half) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading, etc. etc.

(Extra Bit)
Sorry if this post sounds a wee bit tired, I'm an emotionally drained sponge right now after the science fair. I love you all, thank you for reading!