kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

This pano was taken to show the newly installed LED lighting in one of the hangers at the Combat Air Museum in Topeka, KS. The new lights replaced the 50 year old sodium lights that were part of the original construction of the building. Over the years many of them had become inoperative, the rest had gotten even more 'yellow', so these energy saving LEDs were a major upgrade and provided a much nicer view of the collection. The more natural White Balance of the LEDs also made for a better photo.

To take this photo, I put my Nikon D750 on top of a 13' Manfrotto light stand and was able to pre-view my shots as well as trigger the camera remotely via the built in Wi-Fi link to my iPhone...nifty!! This pano consists of ~13 stitched frames, done with the Photomerge option in Photoshop. I was able to clamp the light stand at its highest position with a small C-clamp on the next-to-bottom tube. That allowed me to easily rotate the upper part of the light stand, along with my camera, through the approx. 270 degrees for the required overlap of the images. The arched beams of the hangar ceiling are a result of the software 'bending' the individual images to make them align correctly.

The "Puzzle" now....as you look at the image, can you figure out the relationship of the visitors in the photo?? Prizes, (if any?)...will be announced later, the Judge's decision will be final...NO fussing allowed...!!

(Download)

hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

Just as a guess, members of the same camera club or class?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The two in the green shirts are the same family.
And over all relationship - position wise - since it is a 270 pano they are all on the same side of the hangar as the camera and not on opposite sides as it appears in the pano.

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

Sorry...keep trying...

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

Sorry...guess again.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The ones taking pictures are all using cell phones.
Plus since they all appear to be "senior" citizens I will venture that all are veterans who used to work on or fly the machines they are interested in at the moment.

Wild Ass Guess after doing a blowup. All but one are the same person with clothing changes - would that be you?

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

BINGO....We have a WINNER....! You should be seeing the Prize Patrol pull up at your home soon.....(Disclaimer....NO you won't....!!!)

But, yes...all but the fellow in the blue shirt are me...just a slight 'costume change' between exposures....meant to add some 'action' to the scene. And...while I AM a Veteran, I was not in the USAF, so did not have that kind of contact with any of these planes. Also..."The ones taking pictures are all using cell phones.." is only partially correct...I was not actually taking photos with my iPhone, but was just using it to 'preview' each of the pano images, then used the WiFi link to trip the shutter....ah...the fun of playing with these high tech toys...!! I was able to see where I stood in each of the shots...and tried to get in the center of each of the pano images to make sure that I would show up in the final product...

Thanks to all for playing...………..

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Let me guess, with my prize and a $5 bill I can get a coffee mocha at McDonalds? And I don't really need the prize.

Oh, once upon a time I took a class in Arial Photo and Map Interpretation and the professor throw in a bit of general photo interpretation for free. On the final in the photo interpretation section I missed the length of a heavy cruiser in the Brooklyn Navy Yard by 2 feet and the prof told me not to stress over it as half of that class were 2 feet longer due to a change in the bow design after half of them had been built.

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

I am reminded of a manager I had several jobs...and many years...ago. Seems he had worked at one time at a submarine yard, his job had something to do with cutting and/or chasing the many long cables that ran from stem to stern of the subs. His group would notice that quite often the cables would be waaaay too long...say for a 500' boat, they might be close to 600' feet long. It took awhile to figure out that the problem arose from the guys who designed the individual compartments. If they were doing the design work on an 8 foot compartment, they might mark up the cable order for those 8 feet....and a couple more feet..."just to make sure"...! You've already figured out that after many people added that "just to make sure" amount....the additional few feet, multiplied by many times....really added up...!

DragonsLady Loc: Los Alamos, NM

My guess is that all three are related father, son, grandson and they each piloted one of the birds in the hanger.

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

Intriguing guess...but the Puzzle has already been solved...check a few posts earlier... And..as a "Spoiler Alert"....of the 6 figures in the pano, 5 of them are of the same guy...guess who??

Thanks for your entry, though....

DragonsLady Loc: Los Alamos, NM

I saw that someone had guessed correctly (or really checked the download with a magnifying glass) and correctly identified you in the picture. Thanks for acknowledging my guesses anyway.

tracs101 Loc: Huntington NY

The man on the far left AND far right are the same guy.

kskarma Loc: Topeka, KS

As are ALL the other guys...with the exception of the fellow with the blue denim shirt at the 'copter...the other five guys are all the photographer....ME, he said modestly...