Thursday, May 31, 2007

Interviewing Stephen


Interviewing Stephen
Originally uploaded by carltonsoohoo
As part of the Larry Stark documentary that is being filmed by RedDragonFly Films, we went to visit his friend Stephen, who is a film buff. Stephen has over 2000 DVD's in his apartment, as can be seen in the background.

The interviewer is Barry, and filming is done by Iga while Bernice directs. To see other Panospins from the project that show interviews with Boston area Theatre directors, visit this project page at Panospin Studios.

This is an example of the kind of panoramic portrait that can be done. It's a great way to show off all your "stuff" and prized possessions.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Aunt's 85th Birthday Bash

I'll post these lovely group photos from time to time. 360-degree panoramic photography is not just limited to scenes. It's very straightforward to do small groups such as this photo and larger ones with 150 people. The way it's created is to have people sit around the camera in an equidistant radius. This doesn't always happen for various reasons but people's sizes are more comparable if they sit equidistantly.

Because it is a spherical three-dimensional image to begin with, the flattened projection will still have distortion the farther away from the center of the lens. For example, think about how a world map is a flattened projection of a three-dimensional globe. The land masses near the poles are distorted and stretched out. Even land masses near the equator have some distortion relative to how they look on a globe.

Nevertheless, it is possible to show people with minimal distortion as long as they are close to the center of the image. Closer to the ground and sky will have distortion. If you were holding the photo in your hands, you could curve it around so the edges were touching, thus re-creating close to the original circle that people were sitting around. Then if you looked down into the photo, you would see distortion removed and the roof line of the house would appear to be straight.

Cool huh?

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Julie the actor, model, spokesperson, etc.


Julie the actor
Originally uploaded by carltonsoohoo
I had the pleasure of working with Julie Pham on her new portfolio. I used lighting techniques involving small flash units off camera. The location of the photo-shoot is the Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Julie is currently the EJ (Entertainment Jockey) at OurStage
Be sure to see her video clips to enjoy her perky personality.