Re: The times sure have changed, fast!

[Frank van der Pol <frank@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michel Dusariez wrote:

> I often made pictures of crowd place, with lots of vehicles and people, I
> remember the picture of the start of a popular race with 20.000
> participants here in Brussels, I receive the autorisation to stay in the
> middle of the crowd and make a nice picture. How will work the stitching
> system in this case. Maybe can I wait all the participants are gone !!!!

It is quite easy to find examples that emphasize the 'superiority' of 
one system or way of working over an other. It is as easy as proving 
that a large nail is difficult to pull out using your fingers only.

Pointing at crowd examples proves that every result or subject 
requires its own tools. And I think one should try to get the most 
out of what a particular tool has to offer. So I agree. If a large 
number of people is (part of) the subject, look for a one 
shot/rotational solution. Better yet. If you have a one shot solution,
look for the crowds. Or at least look for those subjects no other 
solution than yours can capture. 

For crowds, stitching images is not the best process/tool, although 
many people have proven it is feasible and one wouldn't recognize 
the process used even if one would know it. But I do not call that 
using the strengths of a tool. It is merely a quest for the edges of
what a system can be used for. But the result will never reach the 
high level that can be reached when using the best tool.

> Stitching photography looks like artificial imaging, return to the first
> days of panorama to 150 years back.
> 
> Photography is life and life is moving !

Stitching does have its advantages over many other solutions. 
Especially when it comes to creativity. Opposed to "photogrphy is life
and life is moving" one could also say: "Photography is all about 
freezing a particular moment in time" and stitching enables you to get 
absolute control over the(se) moments. So it is artifical. But isn't 
photography artificial by definition? 

More than any other way of working, stitching enables you to picture 
the ultimate moment. Actually a number of ideal moments brought 
together in one panoramic image. Combined these images are showing a 
moment that never happened, but existed only in the imagination of 
the photographer. And isn't photography also all about imagination? 

Frank
-- 
         Frank van der Pol Digitale Fotografie voor Multimedia
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