Awards, Grants, and Contests

Charles Shi

Award: Top 100

School: massachusetts academy of math and science at wpi
Teacher: maureen chase
Category: Contrived
Photo #21318

A Break in Transit

This image is an unedited panoramic photo taken from inside a moving car. Panorama mode is meant for a camera rotating about a fixed point,  but here the camera was also translating through space with the car while being swept in the opposite direction. In the bridge's reference frame,  these combined motions caused successive frames to shift too quickly for the stitching algorithm to align,  producing the central jagged tear. This motion also creates a counterintuitive effect: although the car moves right to left,  the left side of the image shows the scene before the overpass,  while the right side shows the darker region beneath it. This is because the panorama is arranged by the direction the phone was swept,  not by the car's direction of travel.

Furthermore,  the contrast between the two halves of the image is caused by light and shadow. The left side was captured in open sunlight,  where the road and surrounding surfaces reflected additional light,  making the scene appear brighter and warmer. The right side was taken beneath the bridge,  where the overpass blocked much of the incoming sunlight and cast the roadway into shadow. This shows how shadows form when an object interrupts the path of light and how illumination can change sharply over a short distance. Finally,  the light entered through the car window before reaching the camera. Because glass has a different refractive index than air,  it bends light slightly,  adding mild warping or reflections to the image.