Dr. Ownby took the class out to the old Chesterfield ghost town by Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We went there to work on photographing panoramas. The trip was very fun and it was an interesting experience. I have a personal connection to the old township. My step father Troy Call is a descendant of Chester Call, the man who Chesterfield is named for. It was neat to wander around and explore the old buildings. I really got a sense of how things were back then.
While out at Chesterfield, I decided to collect some light data. I shot two 360 hfov panoramas, one with 3 bracketed exposures 2 stops apart. I stitched the resulting photos, 187 of them for each pano, and stacked the bracketed panoramas together. Then reprojected from the rectilinear projection captured by my camera to an equirectangular projection, which is more useful for CG. I also shot several light probes. I have a 3 inch mirrored ball on a mini tripod which I shoot 5 bracketed exposures 2 stops apart and stack the resulting photos into a 32 bit radiance file. Then reproject from a spherical angular map projection on the ball to an equirectangular projection. The 360 pan makes a great background plate for 3d scenes, and the light probe does a great job of shining the real world lighting into the 3d scene.
All in all this was a great experience, and I came away from it with several valuable assets. I hope you enjoy my photos from this trip.
Kyler Michaelson 