Gigapixel

A gigapixel photograph is an ultra-high-resolution image that contains at least one billion pixels, or the equivalent of 1,000 photos captured by a 1-megapixel digital camera. Gigapixel photos can be created by shooting hundreds or thousands of individual photos of a scene, generally with the help of a robotic camera mount that automatically moves the camera and triggers exposures. The photos are then typically loaded into specialized software that can automatically "stitch" the images together into a single high-resolution panorama. Gigapixel photography is usually employed in landscape and cityscape photos, though it also has uses in other niches such as macro photography to capture tiny details of small subjects. These are sometimes called "gigamacros."
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The Best Plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom in 2024

Photoshop and Lightroom are mainstays in most photographers’ workflows for a reason. While other options abound, no other set of programs matches the popularity and widespread adoption of Adobe’s signature photography software. But while Photoshop’s manipulation capabilities and Lightroom’s processing and editing power are certainly robust, both offer even more power beyond the software itself in the form of plugins.

How I Created a 16-Gigapixel Photo of Quito, Ecuador

A few years ago, I flew out to Ecuador to create a high-resolution image of the capital city of Quito. The final image turned out to be 16 gigapixels in size and at a printed size of over 25 meters (~82 feet), it allows people see jaw-dropping detail even when viewed from a few inches away.

This Lightning Photo is 5.45 Gigapixels

Gigapixel photos and lightning photos are generally created two different ways. One requires a mosaic of photos stitched together, and the other is usually a wide-angle view that's exposed at the moment of a lightning strike. That's what makes photographer Dan Piech's image "The Hand of Zeus" so amazing: it's a 5.449-gigapixel photo of a lightning strike in New York City.

Astronomers Unveil a 46-Gigapixel Photo of the Milky Way That Took 5 Years to Make

Last year, NASA released a 20-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that was made up of over 2 million infrared photos. Back in January, NASA published a 1.5-gigapixel photo of the Andromeda Galaxy. If you thought those were big photos, get this: German astronomers have created the largest astronomical photo ever made: a ridiculously big 46-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that took 5 years to make.

What 100 Million Stars Looks Like: NASA Releases a 1.5 Gigapixel Photo of the Andromeda Galaxy

NASA has released the largest and sharpest photograph ever made of the Andromeda Galaxy, the nearest spiral galaxy to ours that contains an estimated 1 trillion stars. The new image (above is a crop showing a portion of it) weighs in at 1.5 gigapixels (i.e. 1.5 billion pixels); it's so big that you would need 600HD televisions to display the entire digital photo.

Fancam Captures Massive 20 Gigapixel Group Photos of Fans at Large Events

To celebrate the return of LeBron James yesterday, the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to do a massive group photo with all the fans in attendance. Today they released the 360-degree, 20-gigapixel photograph online for fans to find themselves in, tag, and share.

The giant group panorama -- and many others like it -- was captured by a company called Fancam, which specializes in shooting some of the largest group shots in history.

This Camera Shoots a Gigapixel Photo of Your Entire Body for Skin Cancer Screening

While it’s the fifth most common type of cancer in the United States and the deadliest of all skin cancers, melanoma can often be cured if caught early enough. So, in an effort to step up early detection efforts, a team of researchers at Duke University have developed a gigapixel whole-body camera that captures high-resolution images that will allow doctors to more quickly and effectively diagnose melanoma.

Journey to the Top of the Freedom Tower

In March of 2013, I found myself back at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I had been invited there by Illah Nourbakhsh and a couple of their Directors to assist in teaching a group of educators about our EPIC Pro, as well as the benefits of what high-res imaging offered to classrooms.

NASA Releases Clearest Infrared Milky Way Panorama Ever Made, Comes in at 20GP

20 gigapixels might not seem like a lot in the world of super-high-res images. After all, we shared a 681 gigapixel image of just the moon's north pole the other day. But when you're talking infrared images of the milky way, the 20-gigapixel panorama that NASA just released yesterday is the clearest ever captured, and took them TEN YEARS to shoot.

Microsoft’s 20-Gigapixel Seattle Panorama is Packed Full of Fun Artistic Surprises

There's no rule against having a little fun while proving a technological point, even if you're Microsoft.

So when the software giant's research arm wanted to flex some image-editing muscle by creating a 20-gigapixel panorama of Seattle, they decided to bring local artists into the picture (literally) and encourage them to do creative stuff while the camera was clicking away.

600,000-Pixel-Wide Tokyo Panorama is the 2nd Largest Photo Ever Made

Do you remember the 320-gigapixel photo taken from atop the BT Tower in London? That 360° panorama, shot by Founder of 360-cities Jeffrey Martin, holds the title of world's largest photo. But just because you have the top spot, doesn't mean you have to stop.

Another of Martin's creations, this one shot from the lower observation deck of the Tokyo Tower, has earned him the number two spot as well.

This Gigantic Tintype Camera Shoots the Analog Equivalent of Gigapixel Photos

Gigapixel photography is all the rage these days, as photographers all over the world compete to hold the record for "world's largest photo," but one photographer in San Francisco is participating in a very different way.

Michael Shindler, a photographer at the tintype studio Photobooth, has built a custom giant tintype camera that shoots portraits that are the analog equivalent of a gigapixel photo.

300-Megapixel Photographs Shot With Single Presses of the Shutter

Remember that 50-gigapixel camera being developed by Duke University scientists? Since we reported on the project last year, researchers have created a spin-off company called Aqueti for bringing the technology "into the world for everyone to experience." The camera they've developed will soon be making public tours, and we're starting to get a peek at what it's capable of.