The red and white, candy-striped, chalk cliffs at Hunstanton in Norfolk, are quite unique geologically, and almost a legend unto themselves. The sunsets can also be quite spectacular, and Hunstanton is the only place on the east coast of Britian where you can watch the sun set over the sea.
This 360 interactive panorama was shot for Visit Britain’s “Love Wall”, which was part of their global “Great Campaign” promoting the UK worldwide. The 360 degree images were embedded into a map of Britain, with famous and inspirational locations highlighted on the Love Wall.
Adding real location, ambient audio sound adds a great deal to the experience, and I was one of the first photographers to start doing this. Now, with the advent of virtual reality, sound is even more important as it helps to create a fully emersive and more realistic experience.
I’ve tried shooting sunsets with the latest 8k 3D stereoscopic VR video, but, it’s currently just not possible to record such a high level of contrast. The sunset burns out and the detail, colour saturation and tone is lost in the highlights. However, with 360 stills images, I can shoot the panorama with high dynamic range techniques with multiple exposures to cover this extreme contrast range. I’m sure, someday soon, technology developments will increase the dynamic range of the sensors in 360 video cameras, but like all good things in life, we will just have to wait …
To read a more comprehensive case study of Visit Britain’s “Britain Is Great“campaign, please click the link.
