I Photographed (Almost) Every Single Person at Yankee Stadium Last Night
You thought my Obama Inuguration Gigapan was big?
I produced a new one last night during the first ever World Series game at the new Yankee Stadium.
The final image is stitched together from 675 photos – 45 across by 15 down. It weighs in at 104,360 X 27,836 pixels.
That’s 2,904 megapixels. The uncompressed image is over 8 gigabytes.
You can see the whole thing exclusively at MLB.com.
** UPDATE with technical info:
I’m fortunate to be part of the Gigapan beta testing program and I shot this image using a prototype of their new Epic Pro unit. To make this Gigapan, I used my Nikon D700 and the 200-400 f/4 lens. The whole setup weighs about 10 lbs and the Epic Pro had no problem with it.
I was zoomed all the way to 400 and my settings were 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. I shot JPEG FINE to a Sandisk 16GB card and found that the cool white fluorescent white balance was the most accurate. I began shooting at the top left at 8:02 pm. Working top-to-bottom and then left-to-right, it took 53 minutes to get all the way down to the bottom right corner. The white swath down the middle is a short period of time when it was raining.
Naturally, there are some places where people moved between overlapping frames, creating a handful of weird looking errors like half bodies and people with two faces. I manually went in and fixed any that may have existed with the players on the field, but didn’t touch the crowd.
And yes, Alec Baldwin is wearing a suit at his seat behind home plate while everyone else is in rain jackets and jeans. Maybe they were filming for 30 Rock?
I learned a few things while doing this and will make some minor changes next time. I’m planning on producing at least one more Gigapan before the Series is over. Stay tuned.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Amazing Photo
October 30th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Wow.
How long did it take to make all 600+ images?
Then, how long to process?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:38 am
One word: Brilliant
October 30th, 2009 at 4:50 am
You need to zoom in to see the magic : )
October 30th, 2009 at 9:43 am
On the MLB site, it says the total shooting spanned 53 minutes. I’d like to know what the basic exposure was. Also, there are no apparent “ghosts” or multiple images of the same people, so I assume these were dealt with in processing.
October 30th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Fantastic job there David..
some glitch tho, some guys body were cut in half.. (left above the yankees dug out)
October 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Remarkable!
October 30th, 2009 at 10:52 am
I even found Alex Baldwin!
October 30th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
AMAZING!!!
would love to read about the process and how long it took
October 30th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
[...] I’m a Phillies fan dating back to the 1970s, but found this view from Yankee Stadium impressive. [...]
October 30th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I’m lost for words. Which Cokin filter did you use to get the ‘dream’ effect over this photo?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
hey David, you rocked once again.. you are the best
October 30th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Nice work, I’m sure the post process was fun. Interesting about the rain. If you look at the Photographers near the Yankee dugout, they look fine. Near the Phillie dugout, they are all clearly prepped for the rain.
Other events? Super Bowl?
October 30th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
…I am going to be wasting SO MUCH TIME playing with this!! Amazing image!!
October 30th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Amazing. You are the Best
Regards
Dave
October 30th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
This is stupendous, and even better, I think, than your inauguration day “snap.” I passed it on to a friend in NYC who came back quickly with his review: “This could break up marriages.”
October 30th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
53 minutes – i love it! some real dedication
October 31st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I wouldn’t call it brilliant. Good, yes; brilliant, no. To make it brilliant you’d need to remove the fogging effect – maybe by wiping water droplets off the lens periodically during shooting?
October 31st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
The “fogging effect” is not caused by water droplets on the lens. I kept the lens element dry. It’s caused by the actual rain falling between the lens and the subject. A 400 mm lens compresses the field of view and that’s what it looks like when you shoot in the rain. I’m hoping for better weather the next time.
October 31st, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Lol i love how the right and left fielder are yankees players. That still is very very cool though.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:21 am
There looks to be a bit of vignetting in these pictures. Have you tried compensating for this in either Photoshop or special purpose program like PTLens?
Also did you change the camera settings half-way through or is that when the rain started?
Great job by the way!
November 4th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Hey David we met at the Va. Tech- Miami game and chatted for a while in the rain. Well was pretty impressed with the Obama GigaPan but this one is very cool…mainly I guess because I am in the pitcture. It was my first world series game and sat in Section 328 and found my picture with the guy I came to the came with. I look forward to seeing more shot like this. I have shown it to many of my friends and they are as amazed as I am.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Good stuff!
November 6th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Wow! You’re such a rock star!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:35 am
you are so awesome. and have the best job in the world!
November 6th, 2009 at 9:41 am
ps – my boss wants to know where kate hudson is?
November 6th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Thanks, Huntsville.
I will eventually be updating this image with a new version that compensates for the vignette.
Settings were consistent throughout – the white swath in the middle is the rain.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Rad.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
[...] World Series. The clarity and detail are simply amazing! Check out how he did it by visiting his blog. Also check out mlb.com to zoom in on elements within the photo itself to see the stunning detail [...]
November 6th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I love you, David– in a rugby teammate sort of way. How many hits is the inauguration foto up to? You probably need as much concentration to gigapan as when you are shooting sports action, eh? Definitely not the camera for someone with ADD. I’d get distracted by a peanut vendor and forget to move the camera. Will you shoot my wedding?
November 16th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Was in PDX for the seminar a month or so ago… Love the new Gigapan picture… Also saw your shot in the front SI this past week. I always check those pictures for your name. Thanks again!
November 22nd, 2009 at 9:13 pm
great work! I zoomed in to find my self but all i could see was my empty seat. Bummer, I must have been in line for a Loebels steak sandwich!
December 3rd, 2009 at 4:31 am
Totally amazing
What a fantastic phoho.
December 8th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Wow, amazing photos. You have taken almost the whole stadium.
December 27th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Before this image and the subsequent Obama pic I only took panos and created virtual tours. Now I am eating, sleeping and dreaming of the possibilities for these images. David, you are a star. Thanks for the inspiration.
Watch this space for my 20 gigapixel virtual tour
DaMixa, Bournemouth UK
December 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
First of all – fantastic panos David! Second – is there any more info you can tell us on the Gigapan Epic Pro or do they have you under an NDA? I’m going bonkers trying to find any scrap of info about this new rig (and even more so when it comes out).
December 28th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
No NDA but I don’t have any info about release date. I also was using a beta model so I’m not sure what will hold over to the production unit.
December 30th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Great photo David !, i have an Epic 100 in France but it very just for my DSLR CANON 450D, I wait impatiently for the release of this EPIC, i usually make Panoramics morer than 200 or 300 photos, one of the problems is to fine the regulations for the fiel of view in degrees with a telephoto lens
Cordially
Patrick LEROUX
SAINT MALO
PS:sorry for my english