Little Planet - David Mathre Photography

Thursday (27-September-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Yard Work in New Jersey.

After many days of rain, the sky was mostly clear and the grass needed mowing. I mounted a Garmin VIRB 360 camera on my lawn tractor. Then made the following time-lapse videos using Photoshop CC. The forward lens of the camera faced the direction the tractor was going, so in the 360 panorama view I am split on both sides of the image based on how the image was stitched in-camera .

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard 360 Panorama View. Time-lapse video (1080p 30p)

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard Little Planet View. Time-lapse video (1080p 30p)

Garmin VIRB 360. Mowing the Yard Tunnel View. Time-lapse video (1080p, 30p)

Wednesday (26-September-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Today, I continued evaluating a Garmin VIRB 360 degree camera. The first thing that I like about this camera is that it has external control buttons, and a small LCD screen on the top to display the camera settings. The other cameras that I am looking at all require a smartphone or tablet for set-up and use. The Garmin camera also has a rechargeable battery that can be swapped out with a fresh battery. Two of the other cameras only have internal batteries. The Garmin camera can also be run with an external power supply connected to the micro USB connection port for shoots lasting more than 1 1/2 hours.

I initially set the camera up on my patio to do interval shots for a time-lapse video. In the camera (photo) mode you can set the interval time ( 2, 5, 10, 30, and 60 sec). There is no setting for duration, which presumably means the camera continues to take images until the battery (power) runs out, the memory card is full, or the run is manually stopped. The camera also has an option to change the lens mode (360 degrees, forward lens, rear lens, and raw). The 360 degree mode provides an in-camera stitched 360 degree panorama image. The forward and rear lens modes provide a geometrically corrected 16:9 image from the front or rear lens. The raw mode provides separate fisheye images from the front and rear lenses. It should be noted that raw does not mean that the image is in a RAW format. All of the images are JPG format.

Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Panorama View (1080p 24p)

The time-lapse video was created using Photoshop CC with no adjustments. The camera is automatically controlling the exposure, and white balance. The clouds are a bit blown out, and shadow areas a bit dark. I then connected an external power source which you can see in the next two short time-lapse videos while I am working on the garden in the patio. One converted to a “Little Planet” view and the other a “Tunnel View” using Photoshop CC.

Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Little Planet View (1080p 10p)

Garmin VIRB 360 – Out of the Camera JPG – Tunnel View (1080p 10p)

I then left the camera running for the rest of the afternoon into the evening to see how long the external battery (GoalZero, Venture 30) would last. The camera was still running and taking pictures after 6 hours. For these time-lapse videos, I processed the images with Capture One Pro to decrease the blown out areas, and increase the shadow areas. This did take a lot of processing time.

Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Panorama View (1080p 60p)

Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Little Planet View (1080p 60p)

Garmin VIRB 360 – Capture One Pro – Tunnel View (1080p 60p)

Tuesday (25-September-2018) — New Jersey

Home Cooking. Hearty Whole Grain Rye Bread.

Another day of rain. The weather for the last few weeks is more like Seattle, Washington or Bergen, Norway. I decided to make some hearty whole grain rye bread. I ran out of rye flour, and the new batch I got is the whole grain version from Bob’s Red Mill.

I set up a Insta360 One camera to take images for a time-lapse video of the process. While in Germany earlier this summer, my brother showed me the Insta360 One camera. I was impressed because it could take 360 degree images, and convert them into “little planet” or “tunnel view” images. I have created these type of images for several years by taking 20 or more images with a high-resolution DSLR or mirrorless digital camera, and then using the AutoPano Giga program to convert the images into a 360 degree view. (Note, I just read on Thom Hogan’s blog that Kolor will no longer be selling the AutoPano Giga program.) The process would take hours of processing, and required fast computers, and lots of memory. The images ended up being very large — often over a gigapixel in size. So I decided to try this new camera. Granted the image size would not be as large, but if only viewed on the internet does it matter? Also I would be able to make time-lapse 360 degree videos. I’ve created three time-lapse videos of the bread making (Panorama, Little Planet, and Tunnel View). Let me know what you think. There are some idiosyncrasies with the Insa360 One camera system that I will talk about later when comparing with other 360 degree camera systems.

Hearty Whole Grain Rye Bread Recipe: Rye Flour (1 cup); Sprouted Wheat Flour (1 cup); Bread Flour (1/2 cup); Sorghum Flour (1/2 cup) Flax Seed (1/4 cup); Chia Seed (1/4 cup); Dill Seed (1 tbs); Anise Seed (1 tbs); Caraway Seed (1 tbs); Fennel Seed (1 tbs); dry milk (1/4 cup); cocoa (1 tbs); instant coffee (1 tbs); salt (1 tsp); egg (1 large); flax oil (2 tbs); water (1 1/4 cup); Maple syrup (1/3 cup). Above ingredients added to Panasonic Bread Bakery. Yeast (2 tsp) added to yeast hopper and the unit set for Whole Wheat Bread (Rapid) and started. Three hours later, the loaf of bread was removed and allowed to cool.

Bread Making – Insta360 One Camera – 360 Panorama View (1080p 24p)

Bread Making – Insta360 One Camera – Little Planet View (1080p 24p)

Bread Making – Insta360 One Camera – Tunnel View (1080p 24p)

Three-Years Ago (07-June-2015) — New Jersey

Backyard Springtime in New Jersey.

Little-Planet view of my backyard and house on a clear day. The image is a composite of 37 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/16, 1/30 sec). The first image is the version processed with the JPG images three years ago. The Little Planet, Tunnel View, and 360 degree Panorama have been newly processed with the raw images (with a much faster and more powerful computer). I like the colors better with the newly processed images. At the time these images were taken, I still had a deck (now a stone patio), and I now have solar panels on the roof.

Backyard Spring in New Jersey. Composite of 37 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/16, 1/30 sec). JPG images processed with AutoPano Giga Pro (Little Planet). If you look close my Selfie Shadow is in the image.

Little Planet View of My Backyard. Composite of 37 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/16, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Tunnel View (Inverse Little Planet View) of My Backyard. Composite of 37 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/16, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Panorama (360-degree) View of My Backyard. Composite of 37 images taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and Bower 8 mm f/2.8 fisheye lens (ISO 200, 8 mm, f/16, 1/30 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (16-May-2018) — Japan

Gone to See Japan. Street Photography Workshop with Steve Simon and Soichi Hayashi. Day 0: Tokyo.

Red Poppy Flower at Shinjuku Chuo Park in Tokyo Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 100, 18 mm, f/5, 1/1000 sec). (David J Mathre)

I woke up early trying to adjust to the 13 hour time change and spent the morning doing a walkabout near the Keio Plaza hotel. One thing I noted on the map of the area was “Niagara Falls” in Shinjuku Chuo park. The waterfall is not as big as the one on the New York/Canada border. I found a woman walking her turtle (tortoise?) to the waterfall. On the way back to the hotel, I took a 360 degree series of images in Citizen Plaza. At 09:30 the two observatories on the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building open. There is no admission fee, but a quick bag check before entering the elevator. I chose the south tower, since the line was a bit shorter. The elevator going up is really fast bringing you to a large room with viewing windows all the way around the building. There is a toy store in the center, and a cafeteria/bar along one side. I took a series of images from each of the windows (except the ones in the restaurant area with restricted access) to see if I could generate a 360 degree panorama and/or little planet view of Tokyo. I did not see Mt. Fuji which is visible from the observation towers on clear mornings.

In the afternoon, I returned to Shinjuku Chuo park and found some Poppy flowers. Which was good since I don’t think I will have many (or any) back home this year. I then did another series of images in Citizen’s Plaza and from the North Observation tower — this time with a wider angle lens.t

The images from Citizen’s Plaza and the Observation towers were processed with AutoPano Giga Pro to create composite 360 degree panorama, fisheye, mirror ball, little planet, and tunnel view images. Individual images from the slide-shows can be viewed here.