How was this done?

[Waldo32487]

Ok, so I'm normally pretty good with being able to figure out how a specific picture was taken (or at least a general idea of the setup).
But with this I'm completely lost.

http://www.randyscottslavin.com/alternate-perspectives-1/2014/9/12/big-sur


I'm assuming it's a 360 panoramic thats stitched together like the little planet photography. Is this basically the same thing just "spun" around a point in the sky?

 

[480sparky]

It's a stitched panorama... one of the many projections available. Probably Mirror Ball that's been cropped after the stitch.

 

[mattpayne11]

360 panorama, stitched together... re-sized to have equal length X height... flipped on vertical axis... polar coordinates filter applied in Photoshop.

 

[Waldo32487]

ok so it is basically what I was thinking, the opposite of the "Tiny Planet" method.

I guess I'll have to go out and play with it and see if I'm able to duplicate something similar.
I've seen the tiny planet type things, I guess this one just stood out to me so much because it was different than those.

 

[TCampbell]

There are apps that will do this. There's an iOS app called "RollWorld" that does this.

 

[BrickHouse]

I think one of the benefits this photo has is that it appears to be taken above a valley floor that has a fog bank sitting in it. What we call an Inversion back home. That gives the ring appearance to the clouds surrounding the hole of blue sky. Pretty neat shot!