Alternative
perspectives
Randy Scott Slavin shares
the techniques and passions
behind his series of epic
panoramic photographsore than 10 years ago, Randy Scott
Slavin took a dive down what he calls
“the panoramic rabbit hole”, when he
started using a VR photography app
called Photosynth. “It basically allowed you to
do a 360 dance and stitch a 360x180 panorama,”
he says. “The result was far from perfect and
the stitch lines were present, but the idea was
there. I fell in love with the warped look of
the equirectangular panorama.”
After a few weeks of shooting everything he
could, Randy looked into creating photographs
without stitch lines, shooting with a better
camera and lenses so that he could print at
a high resolution. At the time, there was only
one suitable tripod head on the market, but once
Randy combined the Manfrotto SPH 303 with a
Nikon D800 and a 14mm prime lens, he was off.
“What’s interesting about this technique is that
you never know how something is going to look
until you shoot it,” he says. “Sometimes the
most sublime scenery results in a lacklustre
shot and the most mundane shot can be divine.
“Here, you can see Central Park in New York.
A series of shots was stitched using PTGUI, then
processed further using Photoshop. For years
I’ve brought my camera all over the world with
me for this series. My upcoming Alternate
Perspectives Series III will have photos from
NYC, Yosemite, California, China and more.”
http://www.randyscottslavin.com7 | PANORAMICM
OCTOBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^31