Can You Find the X? Photographer’s Gigapixel Images Contain Hidden Code

A promotional campaign has used a photographer’s gigapixel images to hide an X containing a code that could win you a cruise.

Celebrity Cruises teamed up with panoramic photographer Will Pearson who runs Eye Revolution to create five enormous pictures that each contain four billion pixels.

Each image is of a popular European holiday destination: Athens, Greece; Barcelona, Spain; Florence, Italy; Santorini, Greece; and Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Dubrovnik

Athens

Pearson tells PetaPixel that shooting a project like this one requires a great deal of research and planning.

“It can potentially take weeks or months,” he explains. “We probably did about 20 days of production; searching and stuff to whittle it down to the right locations. It can be quite heavy but it’s down to the client making decisions.”

Pearson picked locations with plenty of windows and doors where the X could be hidden. “It needs a lot of interesting detail for people to search through,” he adds.

Quality not Quantity

While there are an almighty amount of pixels in Pearson’s images, he is more interested in creating high-resolution images than going for a record-breaking amount of pixels.

“For me, it’s more about sharp, accurate pixels. The context of this project was for me to work around shooting in the darkest winter months and the client’s deadline with the aim of achieving interesting vantage points and a high pixel count to make the game intriguing for viewers looking for the X.”

Pearson says his favorite image from the project was Dubrovnik in Croatia. “It’s taken right where Kingslanding from Game of Thrones was filmed,” he adds.

Florence

Santorini

Barcelona

The massive amount of detail contained within each image means that users will have shift through a lot of pixels to find the Xs that each contain a unique code. However, for those who persevere, there is a chance to sail onboard the luxury cruise ship Celebrity Edge.

For more, head to the competition’s website. Click on this link for the mobile phone interactive version.

More of Pearson’s work can be found on his company’s website and personal website.

Update 1/31: This update is to clarify that the Barcelona image was actually taken by Alexander Reznik and not Will Pearson.

Image credits:Photos by Will Pearson.