Barcelona gigapixel tour

 Information
 Gigapixel tour
 Location
 Tech info
 Challenges
 Gallery behind the scene

Welcome to a special (114+) gigapixel virtual tour of Barcelona (Spain). It shows the city in a level of detail that you cannot see with the naked eye - taken from different points of view, sometimes at different times. Smaller linked spherical panoramas show more interesting places.
All panoramas were taken on a few days in August 2022 and it took more than 3 months, with interruptions, to sort, edit and assemble ("stitch") thousands of photos into the huge images.
See the challenges we had to deal with.

WE RECOMMEND familiarizing yourself with how to navigate the tour:

.

We also RECOMMEND watching gigapixel the tour on a big screen, not a mobile device!  

 Click on the photo to view the panoramas (8 gigapixel panoramas in total).

Gigapixel Panoramas in order of display in the tour above:

1. View from Tibidabo Amusement Park - 31.1 gigapixels
   Number of images: 87 x 11 = 957 single frames
   Dimensions: 385,776 x 80,783 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM
   Shooting date: Aug 19, 2022
   Shooting time: 17:51 - 19:56
   

2. Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia - 22.25 gigapixels
   Number of images: 22 x 25 = 550 single frames
   Dimensions: 116,935 x 190,335 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM
   Shooting date: Aug 20, 2022
   Shooting time: 09:04 - 10:01
   

3. View from Amusement Park Tibidabo - 8 gigapixels
   Number of images: 108 x 6 = 648 single frames
   Dimensions: 241,195 x 33,189 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM + Extender 2x III @ 1,200mm
   Shooting date: Aug 19, 2022
   Shooting time: 20:05 - 20:38
   

4. View from Amusement Park Tibidabo - 2.4 Gigapixels
   Number of images: 28 x 3 = 84 single frames
   Dimensions: 119,755 x 20,082 pixels
   Lens: EF 200mm f2.8/L II USM
   Shooting date: Aug 19, 2022
   Shooting time: 21:19- 21:30
   

5. View from Bunkers - 14.1 gigapixels
   Number of images: 89 x 9 = 801 single frames
   Dimensions: 299,984 x 47,045 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM
   Shooting date: Aug 20, 2022
   Shooting time: 17:32 - 18:58
   

6. View from Bunkers - 18.8 gigapixels
   Number of images: 89 x 9 = 801 single frames
   Dimensions: 392,000 x 48,000 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM + Extender 2x III @ 1200mm
   Shooting date:Aug 20, 2022
   Shooting time: 19:18 - 20:26
   

7. View from Putxet - 11.1 gigapixels
   Number of images: 89 x 9 = 801 single frames
   Dimensions: 299,900 x 32,700 pixels
   Lens: EF 600mm f4/L IS II USM + Extender 2x III @ 1200mm
   Shooting date: Aug 22, 2022
   Shooting time: 19:04 - 19:51
   

8. Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia - 6.3 gigapixels
   Number of images: 12 x 13 = 156 single frames
   Dimensions: 54,876 x 114,279 pixels
   Lens: EF 200mm f2.8/L II USM
   Shooting date: Aug 18, 2022
   Shooting time: 21:36 - 21:59
   

 Location:

 Characteristics of the gigapixel panorama tour:
Most of the photos were taken with a mirrorless camera Canon EOS R5 and a super telephoto lens - Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM. For some panoramas, the focal length was extended to 1,200 mm with the Extender 2x III. In addition, shots were taken with a 360-degree camera Ricoh Theta Z1 for documentation purposes. We have integrated some of these spherical panoramas into the gigapixel panoramas.

Team: Michael von Aichberger /Germany/ and George Palov/Bulgaria
Camera: Canon EOS R5
Lens: Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM + 2 x Extender for 1,200mm (for some of the panos)
Panoramic robot:  Roundshot VR Drive
Number of photos taken: More than 20,000 х 45Mp
Size of panoramas: From 2.4 to 31.1 gigapixels
Size of panoramas on HDD: 420 + Gigabytes
Number of tiles of the web panorama: 145,000+
Date taken: 17-22.08.2022
Time span: Different- can be checked with the info button in the top right corner of each pano
Stitched with: PtGui Pro
Web output: Pano2VR 7 Pro
Monopod for the elevated 360 panoramas:Nodal Ninja Travel Pole

Timelapse video showing BTC while photographing in Barcelona:

 Technical Challenges:

• heat haze was our main challenge. Heat haze, also known as heat shimmer or mirage, is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when hot air rises off the ground, causing light to be refracted and making objects in the distance appear distorted or blurry. Heat haze may look like a potential image problem if the actual reason is unknown. It is common in big cities due to the urban heat island effect, which is the phenomenon of cities being significantly warmer than their surrounding rural areas. Even though there was rain and weather was not so hot + lot of wind, the big city was still generating too much heat. The air between lens and city was from 2 to 15 kilometers so this is a LOT of moving air.
• to shoot with a camera and lens that have good enough stabilization to handle wind and vibrations;
• to have a non-stop STABLE connection between the camera and the mobile phone with live view, for choosing a focus point and shooting each frame;
• being super focused with hearing and sight to confirm every shot (from hundreds and thousands);
• to choose the right focus point for each shot;
• manual blending of over 100 frames with different focus.
• to provided enough space on the cards for thousands of photos, each of which is 50+ megabytes;
• to ensure uninterrupted power supply for 2 phones, a panoramic robot and a camera;
• to make sure that you have secured yourself and the equipment against gusts of wind;
• to finish the photos and have the desire to repeat the exercise immediately afterwards (the gigapixel panoramas from the other locations)!

Thanks to the heavy tripod, the stabilized lens and sensor of the camera, as well as the stable and precise panoramic robot Roundshot VR Drive, we were able to take this big picture. The camera was controlled by a phone - Live view for focusing and shooting, and for the robot we had two options - either wi-fi connection with the phone for programming and positioning or a radio remote for moving. Full synchronization between all components was a key moment in the project implementation. The panoramic VR Drive robot had no problem moving the large optics and the camera (its load capacity is as much as 20 kilograms). The movement it provided for our project was between 1 and 3 degrees with accuracy 0.1 degrees. The results of this professional equipment are shown on this website!
We also used custom software to even out the exposure values and colormetric values of all photos in order to create a seamless panoramic photo.

Greetings fly to Tibidabo Amusement Park for the given access!
Information about the Nativity facade of Sagrada Familia is taken from the official site of the Basilica!

 Copyright:
All materials on this website are provided for presentation purposes only. Images of the galleries or parts thereof may not be republished, reprinted, resold or modified for any use or profit. Using them without written permission from the authors Georgi Palov and Michael von Aichberger will violate the Copyright and Related Rights Act.

  Gallery behind the scene: