Rich Mason said unto the world upon 18/07/2004 19:06:
When you determine what 1/3 of infinity is, you'll have your answer. Of course, you'll also need to find a starting point.
What I want to know is: why cylindrical? Why not mount this 360° panorama inside a sphere? May as well go all the way.
Cheers, Rich
On Friday, July 16, 2004, at 04:35 AM, wildimages@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I've just put together some 2-Pi (360 degree) cylindrical panoramas and I'm having trouble understanding where the left and right thirds are.
Hi all,
for Rich's determination: that's easy. 1/3rd of infinity is infinity. Oh, wait . . . . [*]
I have to say this thread has puzzled me a bit. I think the only sensible interpretation of the rule of thirds can be that the 'compositional sweet spots' lie 1/3rd into the image from its edges. (Or, if you prefer, 1/6th out from the centre.) In a left-right cylindrical panorama, that cannot have any applicability in the horizontal dimension: no left edge --> no place one third in from the left edge (likewise for the formulation in terms of the centre).
I suppose one could still aim for the thirds in the vertical dimension, but since things like the rule of third were built for 2-dimensional bounded images and a horizontal cylinder is horizontally unbounded, it isn't so clear to me that there is any use in aiming to apply those rules to this case.
[*] One third of infinity makes no sense if "absolute infinity" is intended, but that's because "absolute infinity" makes no sense. However, if some particular infinite number is intended (such as the infinite number that is the cardinality of the natural numbers) the question (and my answer) make perfect sense. (And these issues are what make philosophers of math so popular at dinner parties ;-)
Best to all,
Brian vdB
