360º Panoramic vs mini globe

[hifigraz]

delted by hifigraz

[inkista]

I tend to like little planets more than equirectangulars, even though I know how to "read" the equirectangulars, which most folks kinda don't. If I were being super-picky, I'd say that choosing the vantage point you did does something odd in the equirectangular, where it still looks like you need to make a horizon adjustment, even though you don't. And the nadir patching is still visible.

Have you considered shooting a handheld nadir? Don't include it in the stitch, but when you've got the equirectangular put together, remap to cube faces, do the same for the single hand-held nadir, and then use Warp in Photoshop to get the pieces to fit and just patch over the bits you need? It can help you out when patching doesn't quite do the job you want. Ditto a handheld zenith shot.

Other tiny quibble: correct for chromatic aberration before stitching.

On the little planet, I think a little extra rotation to either get the road straight across the "little planet", or put the house or the mountain on top might make a slightly more effective composition. Right now, it feels kind of like the "wheel" is unbalanced and about to spin counter clockwise.

But overall, a really great job! Good choice of location, and I love the colors and contrast you managed to get, and for the Peleng, that's surprisingly flare-free.

You might want to send it to the equirectangular group on Flickr. There are also a bunch of viewers that the equirectangular group has to make an interactive view, similar to QTVR-Cubics. The simplest is seb przd's Flash viewer (beta).

[Joe Schmoe]

I'm just a photo newbie, but I prefer the little planet version of this. The thing I don't like about the panoramic is that you aren't in the middle of the road and make this picture feel off balance.