Gigapixel

A gigapixel photograph is an ultra-high-resolution image that contains at least one billion pixels, or the equivalent of 1,000 photos captured by a 1-megapixel digital camera. Gigapixel photos can be created by shooting hundreds or thousands of individual photos of a scene, generally with the help of a robotic camera mount that automatically moves the camera and triggers exposures. The photos are then typically loaded into specialized software that can automatically "stitch" the images together into a single high-resolution panorama. Gigapixel photography is usually employed in landscape and cityscape photos, though it also has uses in other niches such as macro photography to capture tiny details of small subjects. These are sometimes called "gigamacros."
Matt Williams
best lightroom and photoshop plugins

The Best Plugins for Photoshop and Lightroom in 2024

Photoshop and Lightroom are mainstays in most photographers’ workflows for a reason. While other options abound, no other set of programs matches the popularity and widespread adoption of Adobe’s signature photography software. But while Photoshop’s manipulation capabilities and Lightroom’s processing and editing power are certainly robust, both offer even more power beyond the software itself in the form of plugins.

Jeff Cremer

How I Created a 16-Gigapixel Photo of Quito, Ecuador

A few years ago, I flew out to Ecuador to create a high-resolution image of the capital city of Quito. The final image turned out to be 16 gigapixels in size and at a printed size of over 25 meters (~82 feet), it allows people see jaw-dropping detail even when viewed from a few inches away.

Michael Zhang

This Lightning Photo is 5.45 Gigapixels

Gigapixel photos and lightning photos are generally created two different ways. One requires a mosaic of photos stitched together, and the other is usually a wide-angle view that's exposed at the moment of a lightning strike. That's what makes photographer Dan Piech's image "The Hand of Zeus" so amazing: it's a 5.449-gigapixel photo of a lightning strike in New York City.

Michael Zhang

Astronomers Unveil a 46-Gigapixel Photo of the Milky Way That Took 5 Years to Make

Last year, NASA released a 20-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that was made up of over 2 million infrared photos. Back in January, NASA published a 1.5-gigapixel photo of the Andromeda Galaxy. If you thought those were big photos, get this: German astronomers have created the largest astronomical photo ever made: a ridiculously big 46-gigapixel photo of the Milky Way that took 5 years to make.