The View From Above

By: (Kilgore661) on August 7, 2008
Tags: abbey , bath , roman

This is the view from the roof of Bath Abbey.

I am amazed by this pano because I never expected it to stitch.

I was delighted to get access to the roof of the main tower of the abbey, but dismayed when I realised the parapets were too high to see over, so there was no clear view of anything, and each corner of the roof has some tall stonework so even if I could get a view from one of the sides of the tower then I wouldn't be able to take a 360° pano.

Given there was nothing else I could do, I held my camera over my head as high as I could and pointed it in the right general direction and took about 12 shots.

I repeated this blind shooting on each of the four sides of the tower.

Amazingly, not only did the four separate views stitch but the four views stitched into a 360°.

Obviously there is a certain amount of distortion and parallax, but still, this is rapidly becoming one of my favourite shots.

For a view of what is beneath the photographer's feet, see http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=7547.

Date Taken: August 7, 2008
Date Added: August 7, 2008
Bookmarked: 7 times
Total Views: 24422 views
Gear: GigaPan Beta + Sony DSC-H7
Snapshots: 53
Size: 0.07 gigapixels
Field of View: 360.0 degrees wide, 52.1 degrees high

		August 7, 2008 14:34	Flag as inappropriate
		This is a great pano! Fun to explore and sightsee! Posted by ErinL

		August 18, 2008 04:34	Flag as inappropriate
		Hello 'Kilgore' The balustrade is indeed a problem. I ended up using a 3m pole. Go to: http://www.john-law.org.uk/standard/north.html to see the resulting panos. bw JL Posted by John_Law

		August 18, 2008 07:57	Flag as inappropriate
		Thanks for the URL - your site is really impressive. May I ask (1) how did you get a 3m pole up the stairs (2) how do you keep the camera steady on the end of it and (3) how do you operate the shutter? I have a remote control for my camera, but it is on the front of the camera. I am interested because I'd like to try and use my robot to get a shot with more pixels and I couldn't think of how to do it without using a carpenter :-) Posted by Kilgore661

		October 20, 2008 11:57	Flag as inappropriate
		In 1708, if one was allowed to stand on an observation deck of the most prominent church in all of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, one would see an amazing panorama of church steeples and spires from horizon to horizon and all would have been built by Christopher Wren, which was given the job to do so after the Great Fire of 1666. Today, if one stands on that same observation deck, the panorama is not so amazing since from horizon to horizon are office buildings and a small amount of identifiable churches. When I first came upon gigapan.org and was searching for interesting panos, one caught my eye: Bath City Centre from Camden Road, http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=4833 having a sub-title of, 'Game: how many churches can you take a snapshot of?' The same question could have been asked in London in 1708, but no longer would one now have the same count in 2008 as one would in 1708. That is why all of Kilgore's Bath panoramas are so significant because what we see is sort of a microcosm of London as it was in 1708... no real large office buildings obstructing the view and significant parts of Bath date back to the 1700s and earlier. There is no other city like Bath in all of the world and this panorama, 'View from Above,' illustrates what I am trying to explain ... this panoramic view from the top of Bath Abbey looking from horizon to horizon seeing all the churches is similar to the view that Christopher Wren had of his handiwork, standing looking out over London in 1708. Christopher Wren: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wren Christopher Wren's Churches: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Christopher_Wren_churches_in_London St. Pauls Cathedral: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul's_Cathedral Posted by Texas_Photo

		June 8, 2009 14:08	Flag as inappropriate
		You are a couple of months away from the first anniversary of this GigaPan. I would hope that you would consider a return to take a yearly GigaPan to show us (1) improved camera optics, (2) improved Stitcher program, (3) historical Bath sprawl as it moves out to the surburbs and (4) to see if the chief Verger still remembers you and will let you up on the roof again :) It really is amazing that this GigaPan has enjoyed such great fame and popularity, having only a 0.07 gigapixel file size. Posted by Texas_Photo

		June 9, 2009 09:59	Flag as inappropriate
		That's a nice idea but what I really need is improved height to see over the balustrade. When Gigapan bring out a model that works on top of a 9' pole, then I will have another go. Posted by Kilgore661

		July 9, 2009 13:28	Flag as inappropriate
		Hi Kilgore I wondered if you could give me any advice on photoshopping gigapans. I really want to be able to crop/straighten and adjust them before publishing to gigapan.org but is it really impossible to save and then manipulate large GPs? If so, what are the limitations in no of shots which can be saved. (I believe its's 4Gb and not 2Gb fot a tiff file but surely I could save any of them as Raw? We need to meet up again to chat various techniques over I reckon. Cheers -- Keith Posted by krbristol

		July 17, 2009 03:00	Flag as inappropriate
		Great Pano Kilgore. Bath is fantastic and this really captures it. Posted by denmca

		September 28, 2009 07:29	Flag as inappropriate
		Nice new way of the pano to be taken. Good predicted photo overlaping if you I suppose had no ability to view what is the view of the pictures that are taken at the moment. Posted by zefart

		October 20, 2009 11:47	Flag as inappropriate
		Those of you who have enjoyed this shot may well enjoy http://www.gigapan.org/gigapans/34909/. This is a "view from above" to envy. Posted by Kilgore661