Generally speaking, the purpose of a panorama is to get a really wide view of your subject. But when you spend fifteen days taking 70,000 pictures with a 20MP Canon 70D, equipped with a 400mm lens and a two-times extender, your panorama is likely to be quite detailed, too. That is precisely the outcome of Filippo Blengini’s latest project — a 365-gigapixel composite photograph of Mont Blanc you have to see to believe.
Working with the same team that produced a monstrous image of London’s skyline a couple of years ago, Blengini had to work in temperatures as low as 14ºF (-10ºC). His team camped at 11,500 feet (3500 meters), and braved all the conditions the Alps could throw at them.
The shoot itself took place last year, and was spread out over two weeks. In total, it amounted to 35 hours of continuous shooting, with the camera mounted on a robotic arm which moved to the correct position for each shot. That was only the beginning of the time input, though, as Blengini’s team then had 46 terabytes of images to sort through, and painstakingly knit together. This process took another two months.
The finished image is jaw-dropping, both in terms of its scale — if printed at full size, it would be the length of a soccer pitch — and its staggeringly detailed beauty. You can zoom in to spot skiers, ice caves, the construction site of a new cable car, and even an eagle soaring majestically above the mountains.
You can explore the final image here — I highly recommend it — and check out The Daily Telegraph for behind-the-scenes pics.
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