Channel M interview and Mega-Photo statistical information

Written by Aidan O'Rourke
2008-08-05

On Tuesday 5 August 2008 I was interviewed on the Breakfast Show on Channel M, Manchester's dedicated tv station. I talked about the background to the Mega-Photo, how I took it and how it has highlighted the changes in Manchester. There is footage of people looking at the photo, and also a selection of photos from the archive. Click to view the video. See also statistical information further down the page.

Many thanks to Channel M www.channelm.co.uk.

The Manchester Mega-Photo is sponsored by

Dimensions of the photo-collage:
850 x 340 centimetres or 8.5 x 3.4 metres
335 x 135 inches or 27 feet 11 inches x 11 feet 3 inches
Number of prints: 300 - we think - still need to count!

Area of the photocollage:
About 28 square metres or 300 square feet

Pixel dimensions of the photocollage (equivalent, approximate):
Width: 66,400 pixels Height: 26,750 (Photoshop CS2 has a maximum width of 30,000 pixels)

Image size in digital terms (approximate) 1,776,000,000 pixels = 1.776 gigapixels
Each print measures 51.26 by 34.17 centimetres, that's 20.1 x 13.45 inches
Print resolution 198.189 pixels per inch
Approximate number of 6x4 prints you could fit into the area of the mega-photo: 1650

Enhancement in Photoshop:
Each image 4256 x 2848 pixels (12 megapixels) cropped to 4000 x 2666 (10 mp)
Each image rotated by 0 to -3 degrees to obtain true verticals in Transform > Rotate
Each image individually rebalanced for contrast using Levels
Sensor spots removed using the Cloning Tool

Computer used to store, enhance and prepare the images:
Apple Macintosh MacBook Pro 15" running Max OSX 10.4.10
Processor: 2.4GHz intel Core 2 Duo Memory 2GB 556 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM
(Purchased from: Apple Store Manchester)

The Manchester Mega-Photo covers approximately one third of the full panorama of 860 images captured between 13.27 and 14.29 on Thursday 9 February 2006 from the roof of the Beetham Hllton Tower. Height above street level 160 metres or 520 feet.

Area covered: 150 square miles or 370 square kilometres
Angle of view: Approximately 90 degrees from NNW to ENE

Camera: Fuji Finepix S3 Pro digital SLR (purchased from Calumet Manchester)
Cost when new: £1500 Current cost of successor Fuji Finepix S5 camera: £500
Lens: Nikkor 75-300mm zoom lens (purchased from Grand Stores Abu Dhabi UAE)
Cost when new: £600 Value when I took the photo: around £200
Tripod: None

Time from capture to display: 2 years 4 months
Time to prepare images for printing: around 2 months
Time to print the images: four days
Time to put up the images on the display: four days

Errors:
There is some lens distortion that causes some images to be out of line I missed two small sections in the left area measuring 17x10cm (6x4 inches) and 6x5.3 cm (2.1 x 2.4 inches) but these have been concealed by moving the prints closer together

Concept origination and photography: Aidan O'Rourke

With special thanks to Paul Cartwright at Carillion Construction plc for access, boots hard hat and lots of patience!

Also many thanks to Pollyanna Clayton-Stamm, Director of Creative Projects at Urbis for turning my 'leap of faith' into reality.

Printed by:
stroon www.stroon.co.uk contact: Gary Lomas

Media features:
Manchester Living magazine, Urban Life (MEN), BBC news website, Manchester Confidential, Manchester Evening News. Channel M and more to follow.

Future plans:
Manchester Mega-Photo to be entered into competitions, awards and listings of record-breaking achievements. Lots more mega-photos of Manchester and other cities.

The Manchester Mega-Photo is - to my knowledge - the largest high resolution single continuous image photocollage ever taken of Manchester, and one of biggest photocollages in the world.

Available as prints, canvas, wallpaper. Please contact stroon 0161 477 8080

Display period: At least six months

2008-08-05

 

Read further articles

Aidan O'Rourke 'My North West' tv interview with career overview and background to this site.
Introducing the Manchester Mega-Photo at Urbis.
My photographs available as high quality canvas prints made by stroon Manchester.
Information for people working in the media.