iSphere

iSphere (Isle of Sphere) photographs are made by rotating a camera around a single central point (Nodal Point). Once processed, a 360 image can be viewed in a panoramic viewer or further edited in what is known as “Little Planets”. In GIMP, I often used the Mathmap plugin in conjunction with a quincuncial projection script to make “Little universes”.

My interest in 360 Photography was awakened after a talk with Inigo Quilez. I spoke to him in a meeting about my combined images. I always had to bring a model or object to the scene in order to get the right light and shadows. It was all possible thanks to Photoshop, but Inigo mentioned a smooth metallic sphere that one would photograph in any scene and then use the resulting image as a source of lighting on a 3D object. That opened my eyes and after research I discovered that the technique could be taken even further by creating a 360 Panoramic HDR image. I was eager to learn more and practice.

Quickly, however, capturing panorama’s began to lead a life of its own and I began taking my 360 equipment everywhere I went. To the beach, on holidays and trips. For a few years, it even became a part-time job. I discussed an exhibition, “Uit de Bol”, with Karin from Galerie K in Leuven, and I sold the piece on the left