Back in 2011, photographers Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck helped coin and popularize the "cinemagraph," an animated GIF showing a mostly static photo with certain elements moving and looping.
Now, as the world of virtual reality is starting to take off in a big way, photographer Eran Amir is taking the cinemagraph to a new dimension: 3D. He has created a series of virtual reality cinemagraphs, which you can watch in the 2.5-minute video above.
Lytro today announced Immerge, a new camera that may revolutionize how virtual reality content is captured. The company calls it "the world's first professional light field solution for Cinematic VR."
The rise of virtual reality photojournalism will get a huge boost this weekend thanks to the New York Times. The newspaper's Sunday bundle for print subscribers will include a free Google Cardboard viewer for experiencing immersive photo and video content. Over 1 million units will be shipping with the paper, and another 300,000 will be sent to digital subscribers as well.
As camera drones become increasingly popular as a relatively cheap and easy way to capture aerial photos and videos, there are more and more stories in the news of drone accidents being caused by poor piloting. For those who wish to capture pro-quality shots without having to worry about piloting drones themselves, a group of researchers at Stanford want to help: they've create a computer tool that lets you create a shot virtually and then have a camera drone automatically turn it into real footage.
Are you curious about what goes on inside an airliner cockpit during takeoff and landing? If so, the Swiss …
Back in May, Washington D.C.-based fashion photographer Ben Scott did an outdoor shoot featuring two models and a 1966 Corvette convertible. LEVR Studios was on hand with a 360-degree camera rig, resulting in the interactive behind-the-scenes video seen above. There are clips from different moments in the shoot, and you can move around in the scene to look in any direction you wish while the shoot unfolds.
Have you bought or built a Google Cardboard yet for experiencing virtual reality with your phone? If so, there's a new major app that's now compatible. Version 2.0 of Google's Street View app has added Google Cardboard support for viewing Photospheres.
Earlier this year, YouTube opened up its service to 360-degree interactive videos that you can "look around" in while watching, whether by swiping with your finger or by swinging your phone around in space. This week, Facebook also joined in on the fun by announcing that virtual reality videos are now supported in News Feeds.
The American news media company RYOT recently sent its World Editor, Christian Stephen, to the war-ravaged streets of Aleppo, Syria. While there, he used a 360° camera to capture the world's first virtual reality film of the inside of a war zone.
It's an immersive short film that gives viewers a unique perspective into what the Syrian civil war has done to the country's largest city.
Virtual reality is one of the trending technologies that tech companies are pouring vast amounts of time and research into, and one company that wants in is Flickr. The photo sharing company is working on a virtual reality photo viewing experience that may be integrated into its service in the future.
Back in May, Google announced "JUMP", a new technology standard aimed at creating fully immersive content for virtual reality. At the time, Google showed off a demo camera rig that utilized over 16 separate GoPros. The folks over at GoPro have finally decided to release a production version of the apparatus that'll be available for purchase. Called the Odyssey panoramic capture rig, it features 16 synchronized GoPro HERO4 Black cameras recording 8K video at 30fps.
We are on the fringe of widespread virtual reality that can truly captivate our minds and take us places we've only dreamt about. Services such as Roundme continue to bring these worlds a step closer every day. By utilizing a network of 360-degree imagery and a platform designed for professionals, advanced virtual tours are only a tap away.
The August 17th issue of TIME magazine contains a cover story about the ongoing rise of virtual reality. Unfortunately for TIME, it's not the story itself that has everyone talking -- it's the cover photo.
Nokia has announced that they will be releasing ‘OZO’, the first commercially available virtual reality camera, later this year. The company says the device has been “designed and built for professional content creators, and [is] the first in a planned portfolio of digital media solutions.” The unit features eight synchronized global shutter sensors, eight integrated microphones for spatial audio, and a design reminiscent of the Star Wars training remote.
We spoke with the founder of Sphericam, Jeffrey Martin, on the future of the company’s 360-degree spherical camera lineup and where virtual reality imaging may be headed in the next decade. The Sphericam 2 has already surpassed its Kickstarter funding goal of $150,000, collecting over $400,000, with two days of the campaign remaining. Dive into this interview to learn what challenges the team faced and what they have around the corner.
The prospect of cheaply and easily capturing photos and footage from the skies is one of the many aspects that makes camera drones so alluring. With Extreme Flier’s successful funding of the Micro Drone 3 on Indiegogo, it looks like technology that was once exclusive to those with deep pockets will soon be available for less than $200. Featuring computer assisted flying, still photos, live-streaming HD video, and a modular design, the Micro Drone 3 might truly be a drone for everyone to enjoy.
There are times when videographers capture views of our world that inspire a sense of awe and wonder.
With every report of virtual reality news, we seem to step closer and closer to a world such as the one depicted in Ernest Cline’s Science Fiction novel, Ready Player One. Today is no exception as we report on the new Sphericam 2: a 4K 360-degree video camera for transporting minds through the power of audio and video. The product, launched by Jeffery Martin, is on Kickstarter looking to meet its $150,000 goal, and it is almost there thanks to 130 generous backers thus far.
Jaunt is a virtual reality company with enough confidence to proudly claim the tagline of ‘the future of cinematic VR’. Aimed at creating high-profile cinematic virtual reality experiences through their camera technology, the company has announced their latest product. The Jaunt Neo is aimed at professionals looking to capture fully immersive 360-degree experiences.
Getty Images has been known for its premium stock photography and video catalog. Now, with the birth of a major medium on the horizon, the company is looking to get into the virtual reality space. A new application, 360-Degree View by Getty, will give users a chance to experience their favorite moments as if they were there. Best of all, the application is available now on the Oculus Store.
Google today announced a new virtual reality system called Jump that uses a special new camera rig created in partnership with GoPro. It's a crazy-looking 360-degree camera array that uses 16 separate GoPro cameras.
A Los Angeles-based cloud graphics company called OTOY has announced the world's first spherical light field capture that creates a navigable scene in virtual reality. By capturing light field data with a special Canon and GoPro camera rig, the company created the beginnings of immersive photos you can move around in.
This past Monday, GoPro announced that it has acquired Kolor, a French company that's pioneering the use of 360-degree cameras for immersive virtual reality.
Lytro has announced that it just raised $50 million to undergo a "strategic shift" in strategy. Instead of focusing on light field photography and refocusable 3D photos, the company plans to expand into the fields of video and virtual reality. A large number of jobs will be shed during this process.
Google is partnering with Mattel to reboot the iconic View-Master stereoscopic 3D photo viewing device. Instead of static photos with circular film reels, however, the new View-Master offers an immersive digital experience that puts people inside 360° "photospheres."
Today, at its 2014 Developer Conference, Samsung unveiled Project Beyond: a camera capable of capturing true 3D video in a full 360-degrees. The saucer-shaped design captures a gigapixel of 3D footage every single second! Which sets the stage for Samsung’s endeavors to make virtual reality more realistic than ever.
Check out this beast of a camera rig. It's a camera system that captures footage in 360 degrees for virtual reality playback. Its cost? More than $200,000.
Are you sick of living life in the first person? Do you sometimes wish your day-to-day activities could be viewed as an incredibly realistic RPG? Well, you’re in luck. With the help of Oculus Rift and a dual camera setup, mepi has just what you need to get started.
Each year, hundreds of photojournalists put themselves in harm's way to offer us a glimpse into the horrors of war, and too many of them are going in unprepared, not knowing even rudimentary survival and first aid skills that could mean the difference between life and death when they're out in the field.
That's where the Oculus Rift virtual reality game "Stringer" hopes to intercede, providing rudimentary training for conflict journalists that may just help save their lives.
LZRTAG is a free Android app that lets you generate QR codes associated with uploaded images -- mostly animated .gif images. The codes can be printed out and placed on walls and other surfaces. When scanned with the Android app, the codes call up the associated image and display it in an augmented reality on your phone.
If you enjoyed the beautiful 360-degree helicopter ride video we shared earlier today, then …