Custom Rig to Photograph the Tallest Tree in the World

This extreme photography project by National Geographic isn’t our typical hack, but we’ve posted it to inspire your DIY photography projects. At an average height of 300 feet, Redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and even the best wide-angle lens won’t be able to capture its entire length in one shot. Thus, they built a sophisticated camera rig to take 84 individual shots of a tree to be stitched together (see below).

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National Geographic photographer Michael Nichols solved the unique problem with one-of-a-kind custom built rig. The idea is the same as for a panorama photo – take multiple shots and stitch them together into one. Three cameras were focused to capture the girth of the tree. A robotic dolly moved the three cameras from the top to the bottom using a gyroscope to keep the cameras stable and focused. Three weeks of camera rigging and 83 shots later, photographing the super trees was finally complete.