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List of largest photographs

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There are a number of ways of measuring the largest photograph in the world. This article highlights the attempts to create such an image; whether it be print or digital. Most of these photographs that are claimed to be the largest are usually stitched from smaller images. The Legacy Project photograph made in Irvine, California is an exception to this in that it was made as a single exposure on a seamless piece of sensitized fabric using a building as a huge camera.

Print

File:Largest photo.JPG
The largest print photograph made of multiple pieces serves as a backdrop to a display of First Nations structures at the Canadian Museum of Civilization

There have been a small number of attempts to create the largest print photograph over many years. The largest seamless photograph made in a single exposure was made using a Southern California jet hangar transformed into a giant camera. The most recent claim to the largest image stitched together was by the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Current

Largest Photograph Made As a Seamless Single Shot

  • Claimed by: The Legacy Project; (Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada)
  • Photograph of: control tower and runways at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, Orange County, California
  • Dimensions: 32 feet high x 111 feet wide (9.75h X 33.83w meters)

On July 12, 2006, six photographers, all well known photographic artists (Jerry Burchfield, Mark Chamberlain, Jacques Garnier, Rob Johnson, Douglas McCulloh, and Clayton Spada), unveiled what Guinness World Records plans to categorize and certify as the world's largest camera and photograph.

The 3,024 square-foot photograph (280.1 square meters) is a huge image that was made to mark the end of 165 years of film/chemistry-based photography and the commencement of the age of digital photography. A decommissioned Marine Corps jet hangar (Building #115 at El Toro) was transformed into the world's largest camera to make the world's largest picture.The hangar-turned-camera recorded a panoramic image of what's on the other side of the door using the centuries-old principle of "camera obscura" or pinhole camera. An image of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station appeared upside down and flipped left to right on film after being projected through the tiny hole in the hangar's metal door. The "film" is actually a 32-by-111 foot piece of white fabric - one-third the length of a football field and about three stories tall - covered in 20 gallons (75.71 liters) of light-sensitive emulsion as the "negative." After exposing the fabric for 35 minutes the image was developed by 80 volunteers using a giant custom-made tray of vinyl pool liner. Development employed 600 gallons (2271 liters) of black-and-white developer solution and 1,200 gallons (4542 liters) of fixer pumped into the tray by ten high volume pumps. Print washing used fire hoses connected to two fire hydrants. The hangar/camera will eventually be torn down, so the photographers jokingly state that they have also made the world's largest disposable camera.[1]

Largest Photograph Assembled of Multiple Pieces

  • Name of project/picture: Unknown
  • Claimed by: Canadian Museum of Civilization
  • Photograph of: Canadian Aboriginal forest
  • Dimensions: 112 m (367 ft) (W) x 15 m (49 ft) (H)

Within the Canadian Museum of Civilization, one wall of the massive Grand Hall is composed of a scrim covered by a photo of a forest. The photo is about 100 m (328 ft) by 15 m (49 ft).[2]


Digital

There have been attempts to set the record for the largest digital photograph over many years. The most recent claim was by HAL9000.

The 16.1 Gigapixel size was reached by HAL9000 Srl.

The project The Last Supper was claimed to be the largest digital panoramic photo, it is a stitched photograph created merging 1677 shots from a single point into one photograph, each shot 12.2 Megapixel big.

Full size zoomable, lenght meter tool and backstage video

Previous

  • Name of project/picture: Harlem 13 Gigapixels
  • Claimed by: Gerard Maynard
  • Photograph of: Harlem, New York
  • Dimensions: 279,689px (W) × 46,901px (H)
  • Size: 48.8 GB
  • Pixels: 13,117,693,789
  • Year: 2007

The 13 Gigapixel size was reached by Gerard Maynard.

The images were taken with a Nikon D2X with 300mm lens mounted on a modified Peace River Studios PixOrb. The stitching and exporting was done automatically by Autopano Pro.

Full size zoomable image

Previous

The 8.6 Gigapixel size was reached by HAL9000 Srl.

The project Parete Gaudenziana was claimed to be the largest digital panoramic photo, it is a stitched photograph created merging 1145 shots from a single point into one photograph, each shot 12.2 Megapixel big. A story of the picture has been published by Rob Galbraith.

Previous

  • Name of project/picture: Gigapix
  • Claimed by: TNO
  • Photograph of: Delft, Netherlands
  • Dimensions: 78,797px (W) × 31,565px (H)
  • Size: 7.5GB
  • Pixels: 2,487,227,305
  • Year: 2004

The previous record belonged to Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.

One of these attempts was by Dutch company TNO. The project dubbed "Gigapix" was claimed to be the largest digital panoramic photo, although it is a stitched photograph by merging hundreds of small sections into one photograph. According to an article in The Register and a Slashdot story, the photograph is 78,797 by 31,565 pixels large. It was taken on a Nikon D1X camera.

A preview of the image can be seen at:

Previous

File:Gigapixel small.jpg
Bryce Canyon, USA
  • Name of project/picture: Unknown
  • Claimed by: Max Lyons, Gigapixel Images
  • Photograph of: Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA
  • Dimensions: 40,784px (W) × 26,800px (H)
  • Size: 2.06GB
  • Pixels: 1,093,011,200
  • Year: 2003

The previous record belonged to Max Lyons of Gigapixel Images. He had at one stage claimed to have created the largest photo. It consisted of 196 images that were stitched together. Since then this claim has been surpassed by that of the TNO attempt. TNO's Gigapix is 2.5 times larger.[3]

References

  1. ^ "World's largest photo taken in defunct El Toro base hangar". ocregister.com. July 13 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ "Canadian Museum of Civilization: Grand Hall". Canadian Museum of Civilization. 2006.
  3. ^ "Breaking the Gigapixel Barrier". Tabaware. December 14 2003. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
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