John Gore Professional Photographer creating 360 Virtual Tours of South Africa

Gigapixel 360 photo of the Union Buildings

John Gore — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:38:27 +0000

What is a Gigapixel 360 photo? It is a 360 degree photo made up of over 1 billion pixels (that is 1 000 000 000 pixels! ). A standard SLR camera take 10 megapixels or 20 megapixels (20 million pixels), but by taking a lot of photos and stitching them together in a mosaic, it is possible to create photos of over 1 billion pixels!

This gigapixel panoramic photo I took last week of the Union Buildings, is made up of 925million pixels (almost 1 gigapixel). Created by shooting and stitching together 120 photos. 5 rows each with 24 photos around were taken, and stitched together.

Here is a wide angle view:

And here is a few of the details you can find when you zoom in closer:

Then zoom in a bit more!!

Click on the pictures above to view the interactive Gigapixel panorama!

Southbroom Beach Model Photo Shoot 360

John Gore — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:50:36 +0000

We joined professional wedding and model photographer Morne Olivier and his wife Nicola on a beach model shoot. The idea was to create a 360 degree view of what a typical beach photo shoot would look like, while Morne creates some great images.

Southbroom Beach Model Photo Shoot by 360 South Africa

Photography on the beach has its own unique set of challengers for the photographer, and for the model. As usual, this starts with good lighting. Here the rising sun is beating down on the model from behind, leaving her face and body in her own shade. The flash light, as well as reflector, light the model, and create dynamic looking light. Below find some of the photos Morne made on this beach photo shoot.

Southbroom Beach Model Photo Shoot by Photographer Morne Olivier of ProMoments

The idea was to showcase a typical beach photo shoot setup, with the model, and photographer in action. I think this came out quite well in the end.

Virtual Tour Inside ExecuRide Limousines

John Gore — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:18:21 +0000

Based in Pretoria ExecuRide Limousines offers a limo service for the Pretoria and Centurion area, and we recently created this Virtual Tour showing the inside of the limos.

ExecuRide Limousines Virtual Tour by 360 South Africa

ExecuRide Limo service has both a typical limo (Chrysler), and the very popular Hummer H3 limo on offer to their clients!

Photo of the Lunar Eclipse on 15 June 2011

John Gore — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:01:43 +0000

Photo of the Lunar Eclipse on 15 June 2011.

Lunar eclipse on 15 June 2011 - click to view larger

The moon is not the easiest thing to photograph, as anyone who has tried well knows. It is very far away, and moves very quickly. We took up the challenge to try to photograph the moon during the lunar eclipse on 15 June. As the shadow of the earth moves over the moon, it darkens the moon, and turns it a red colour, as seen above.

Tech specs: Shot with a 400mm lens with 2x converter on a cropped body (effectively 1280mm).

Mata-Mata Rest Camp Virtual Tour

John Gore — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 09:27:11 +0000

The Mata-Mata Rest Camp in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (previously the Gemsbok National Park), has been upgraded and renovated. The new river front chalets offer wide views over the Auob river bed.

Mata-Mata Camp in Kgalagadi by 360 South Africa

Greenways Hotel in Cape Town

John Gore — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 09:20:12 +0000

Greenways Hotel offers exceptional service at an exceptional property, in Upper Constantia, Cape Town.

Greenways Hotel Virtual Tour created by 360 South Africa

Virtual Tour of Goedemoed Country Inn

John Gore — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:49:08 +0000

The “pearl of Paarl”, Goedemoed Country Inn offers stunning views of the Cape Winelands, with its vineyards and mountains.

Goedemoed Country Inn Virtual Tour by 360 South Africa

Sparkling Waters Hotel and Spa

John Gore — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:08:01 +0000

Sparkling Waters Hotel and Spa near Rustenburg offers fun for the whole family and a quality break from city life.
Sparkling Waters Hotel and Spa Virtual Tour by 360 South Africa

Cornerstone Guest Lodge Virtual Tour

John Gore — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:01:16 +0000

Cornerstone Guest Lodge in Lynwood, Pretoria, offers cozy guest house accommodation, with the personal touch.
Cornerstone Guest Lodge Virtual Tour by 360 South Africa

Video of our trip to Kruger National Park in January 2010

John Gore — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:24:09 +0000

Here is a short video I made with pictures from our trip to Kruger National Park in January 2010. Enjoy.

View the HD video in YouTube.

We took thousands of pics on the trip, and I will be making a few more videos and picture galleries in the next few weeks, so watch this space.