Vancity view captured by PoMo photographer
As a professional photographer, Ronnie Miranda is accustomed to taking photos of condos for realtors or city scenes for tourism brochures.
But the Port Moody resident took his photographic skills to new heights last month when he snapped a 240-degree panorama image of the downtown Vancouver skyline.
The image is a first of its kind and was taken from British Columbia's tallest building.
"I just wanted to do something bigger," he told The Tri-City News. "No one has done a shot like this from way up high."
Using a GigaPan imager, Miranda stood on the 58th floor of the Shangri-La tower, located at 1128 W. Georgia St., and began snapping images. After taking thousands of images, he returned to his Port Moody home and, using computer software, was able to "stitch" the photos together.
More than 1,600 frames were used in the creation of the panorama shot, with much of the seams and overlap digitally cleaned up, he said.
"It is lined up like a grid," he explained. "Once you line everything up, you can put it all together and clean up the images."
The final product is a never-before seen view of the city, from Harbour Centre all the way to English Bay and Stanley Park.
The project was a departure from Miranda's usual work. He is a computer services provider who also takes 360-degree images commonly found on real estate and hotel websites.
In order to get his shot from the Shangri-La, he exchanged his services for a few hours in one of the rooms, where he took the pictures.
"The photography part of the business is a lot more fun," he said. "It is less stressful, but it can still be very challenging."
• To see the complete image and examples of Miranda's other work go to www.gigapixel.com.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com