Gigapixel images from the Olympics

Photographers have been busy capturing detailed gigapixel images from the London Olympics, including photos from the gymnastics and beach volleyball events.

Gigapixel images consist of hundreds or thousands of photos stitched together in order to create one giant image. Viewers can zoom in and out of the photo, with enough detail captured that it's easy to pick out faces from the crowd.

David Bergman from Sports Illustrated was hired to shoot the Olympics in all its gigapixel glory, and has so far produced two amazing images. The first shows the women's gymnastics final on 31 July, and another depicts the women's beach volleyball game on 3 August.

While the images are technically fascinating, we can't help but feel that Bergman chose these events deliberately to highlight the physique of the competitors when zoomed in close.

One gigapixel image that didn't end up materialising was the Getty Images photo from the opening ceremony. At 20 gigapixels, it was supposed to be available for viewing the day after the event on the Getty website.

According to Wired, technical difficulties prevented the photographers from being able to capture the photos:

Due to unforeseen technical difficulties around crowd movement, Getty Images were unable to capture a suitable Gigapixel shot of the opening ceremony that met our high-quality standards. However, plans have been put in place to capture four other Gigapixel images throughout the duration of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Henry Stuart, another Getty photographer, was more successful in capturing the men's beach volleyball in gigapixel form on 29 July.