ERIC POPPLETON, VR PHOTOGRAPHER
by Karen Guthry
 Tell me about your work, Eric.
 I started out doing photographs of people, commercially doing PR and corporate advertising, then I started making photographs of architecture and in the early nineties I also started teaching. Further to the teaching experience, in 1995 when Apple rolled out Quick Time VR at MacWorld, I saw a very crude demo of what QTVR could be and I started pursuing it because I thought it would be an incredible application to show people like VRWAY where we were going to go on location when we were doing these photographic workshops. So they could tell where they were going to eat or see the location for say, the sunset and all around. So that’s the story, I never intended for it to be a business ,yet here we are.
What sort of technology and equipment do you normally use as part of your work?
In the beginning it was all based on film because there weren’t any digital camera solutions that were good enough. So we started off by shooting in color negative then scanning the images and from there, bringing them into Apple’s application called the Authoring Studio to make QTVR movies. Now as time has gone by technology has changed enormously and there are a lot of great lower end cameras out there that we use in VRWAY to do the street photography for instance, there are also higher end solutions such as the Panoscan, which delivers extremely high resolution and panoramic photography which doesn’t require any stitching.
Before Panoscan appeared on the market the images had to be stitched in Authoring Studio, whereas now, this process is no longer necessary because the Panoscan camera enables you to take 360 degree images?
Actually, to be technical, it’s 390 degree image because there’s a 30 per cent overlap which we eliminate when we bring the whole image into Photoshop to do a blend at the two ends so you can’t tell that there’s a seam.
Why is there a seam?
There’s always a seam because, as time goes by from the beginning of the exposure to the end – except for a studio situation – the lighting will slightly change. So if you budded those two ends together, they’re not going to match, that’s why we blend them. That’s what the guys in the COC department do.
When you are using these cameras you need to take several photos, because each time you have to set the exposure differently according to the lightest and darkest point in order to get the full range of light. Is that correct?
Yes, that’s correct. You need a series of different exposures in order to get detail in the shot and detail in the shadows. If something is close to you and the depth of field is low, some objects may appear out of focus. What you can do is make additional exposures and change the focus plane in order to pull those closer objects into perfect focus. Thad additional piece is added in later in Photoshop.
So that’s why when we look at a Panoscan or a CubicVR everything is in perfect focus, whether it is close or far away?
Exactly.
What exactly is the difference between Panoscans and Cubic VRs?
Well, Panoscans are used to create CubicVRs. You can treat CubicVRs in a variety of ways; much like on this proofsheet here where we used an 8mm Nikon lens, if you happen to have one - it’s a rare lens! We have one and it gives you the ability to make two to four exposures, one at each 180 degree point, or one at each 90 degree point, to create a cubic image that way. You can also use a Kaidan Panoramic Head, which allows you to three rows of photographs: one looking up at a 45 degree angle and do a series of images that way, one that looks straight out in a normal position and you do a series there, and then another series looking down at a 45 degree angle. But that takes an incredible amount of stitching to put the image together. Whereas with the Panoscan you put one lens on - a 16mm, full frame fish-eye – and that enables you to create an image that is 180 degree vertical field of view and 360 degree horizontal field of view in one shot.
Where does the Cubic come in?
Cubic comes in when you play the images back in Apple’s new QuickTime 5 technology, which allows you to look at the whole hemisphere.
What sort of industries use this technology?
Advertising for instance. I did a series on four locations around the world for an agency who wanted to show off their office space to clients. Another application is the hotel industry. EPOP did 105 hotels around the world so people can see exactly what type of accommodation they are booking, what the lobby and pool look like. We arre also seeing uses in the automotive industry. Every major American car manufacturer is now being shot utilizing the Panoscan imaging system, because you can see the whole interior. Real estate is another, where companies are dealing with lower end solutions to provide Cubic and normal Panoramic photography for sales and rentals, which is another great solution. And of course here in VRWAY where we are showing off cities and hopefully going into shops and performing e-commerce.
Are these images meant exclusively for Internet or can they be viewed in print also?
At the beginning of this year there was a Panoramic print above the Ford booth at an L.A. auto show that was probably seven feet by 35 feet, in black and white. It’s incredible! So, as well as the initial representations on the Web, you’ve got print but also, you’ve got broadcast.
Are you saying that in the future we’ll be seeing Qubic VRs on television?
I sure hope so! Here in Webidentity’s R&D department we’ve been experimenting with a new software that allows you to look at a Panoramic image inside of QuickTime and navigate from one point to another, extracting a series of frames that are the correct resolution for television. Then you drop those images into an editing program and pretty soon you’ve got a broadcast, that could be huge!
As far as viewing these images on the Internet, can they only be viewed by people who have access to the latest technology?
Kind of, commercially we are concentrating on QuickTime as a plug-in but there are other applications that allow you to view these over the Web. There are Java-based solutions by Helmet Dersch and Zoomify has a very small plug in as well. So there are other people looking at this area of technology.
What’s so special about QuickTime?
Without needing a lot of memory or incurring into any technical problems, QuickTime enables you to handle some really large resolution files, which have a streaming preview track without having to wait for a large download that might take anywhere between one minute to 20 minutes – depending on your connection, which is a big issue.
How do you ensure the tripod and the photographer aren’t visible in the picture?
Well, if you’re shooting in an analogue situation you’re always behind the camera so that’s easy. With Panoscan you have to watch out because it can travel around in a complete circle and, depending on the resolution you want to capture, from one to 30 minutes. So in the one minute one you have to have your act together or you could get caught in conversation and be right in front of the lens. On the other end of the spectrum, when you’re doing 30 minute Panoscan images in really dark places like the interior of a church for instance, I just lie on the floor and let it spin over the top of me.
But, in a case like that, you still have to edit part of the tripod and yourself out of the picture. This kind of photography requires a great deal of graphic and electronic publishing skills: I presume there are people who specialize in skills such as stitching and cloning?
In the beginning when there wasn’t a whole bunch of people doing this we had to do it ourselves. First we had to learn how to acquire the images. Secondly, we had to bring the images as pict files into the Panoramic itself after stitching them in Photoshop, where for instance we were replacing windows with a different exposure and correcting highlights and fixing details in shadows. Thirdly, we had to learn how to author the files and compress them to the right size for the Web or print applications. Fortunately today there are a number of people who have these skills and are a lot more proficient in Photoshop than I am. These days we hire that part of the work out.
And, also, it saves you a lot of time.
Yes, because the process takes a lot of time and I need to be on the phone getting the next job or the studio is not going to survive.
When you’re not out working you’re traveling, how do potential clients get in touch with you?
Mostly it’s through word of mouth. It’s a small community, I mean there’s only 40 people who own Panoscan cameras in the world and I happen to have the third one of them. So I’ve managed to get some really large jobs and some good experience out on the Web, which is what brought me to VRWAY. But there’s really only a handful of people who can use Panoscan to its full potential and there’s very few studios even though there are 40 cameras sold. It’s an interesting niche market and people are really starting to recognise it.
So no more portraits?
No, I don’t get any stills. It’s amazing, I would have never thought that.
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