Image of the week - Go ask ALICE

(Click on this link or the photo above to get the rotating, 360-degree, panoramic view, with natural sound.)

GO ASK ALICE

Peter McCready created panoramic views of ALICE (above), ATLAS, CMS and the LHC using Nikon professional digital, single lens reflex cameras attached to a custom rig that allows for views of up to 360 degrees atop a carbon-fiber tripod. For each image, exactly 102 separate, individual photos are shot at varying exposures (some a little under- and some a little over-exposed) to capture the full dynamic range of the lighting during the shoot. They were then stitched together into one seamless 40MP spherical image using a MacBook Pro and Photoshop over the course of as many as four weeks of post-production digital darkroom work. Sound was recorded using Marantz broadcast quality solid state recorders,? with ambient audio loop isolation and extraction using Peak Pro.

When asked why he loves to do what he terms ?Virtual Reality photographs? of the experiments, McCready said: ?I?m extremely passionate about VR photography and feel that there?s absolutely, positively no better way to get people interested in the medium than by showcasing it using subjects that really fire the public imagination. CERN, for me, was an ideal choice given the enormous public interest in the LHC, and I?m extremely grateful to the many people behind my visits.?

Image courtesy of Peter McCready