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Digital photography
360° Surround Video

Surround images, also known as QTVR, Virtual Reality, Full Circle, 360s, and several other names, are created by shooting a panoramic series of images and "stitching" them together into a seamless (or almost-so) image that renders in a viewer. Because technologies and techniques have evolved since the first onces I produced (as Apple QuickTime Virtual Reality, or QTVR, for the Galapagos), the quality and plug-ins for these images are diverse. If you get an "active content" error message, just allow the script to play, these are harmless (honest).

For Slate magazine's Well-Traveled, I followed the Outlaw Trail and the Blues Highway, with writers Alexandra Fuller and Tim Cahill respectively. Here are a several of my favorite Surrounds from those trips. These use Microsoft's early Surround Video technology, known as the "Carpoint" tool. Again, you should be able to zoom in/out by using the CTR (or Apple) and Shift keys with your mouse.

In Panama on assignment for MSNBC, I produced several panoramas at the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. These are displayed with yet another technology, from iSee media. Again, this is a JavaScript plug-in that may ask your permission to load or play.

Monument Valley, Utah
©Christian Kallen

Safari Lounge, Wyo.
©Christian Kallen



Crossroads, Mississippi

©Christian Kallen

   MORE FROM MSN AND MSNBC

NEW! “Panamanaramas” - Surrounds from the Panama Canal


For Virtual Galápagos, a signature trip for the now-defunct TerraQuest, I visited Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in 1996. Among the photography I produced were the two panoramas below; they are based on Apple's QTVR technology. You should be able to zoom in/out by using the CTR (or Apple) and Shift keys with your mouse.
If you don't have the QuickTime player go here to get it; if your browser automatically ask approval for the plug-in, say "Yes." (In the QT "upgrade" window, say No or Later.) These should work on both PCs and Macs.



Isla Bartolomé,
Galápagos
(240k)
©Christian Kallen



Equator Monument in Ecuador
(800k)

©Christian Kallen/Denise Rocco



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