360-degree aerial series reimagines Barcelona’s sights

Tourist areas are reimagined as tiny globes in Bruno Alencastro’s 360-degree aerial series. The Brazil-based photographer created the photos during a recent stint living in Barcelona, Spain.

Inspiration: Alencastro lived by the famed Sagrada Familia church, where he witnessed on a daily basis countless tourists snapping the same photos of the site. He was driven to produce something unique, and he enjoyed the result so much that he repeated the process in other tourist areas. 

Equipment and process: The images were captured with a DJI Spark drone. Each work is made up of 46 aerial photographs stitched into one equirectangular image in PTGui. In Photoshop, that image is transformed into a spherographic projection, creating the appearance of a small planet.  

Challenges: Perfect light is required for these shots—difficult during the winter months—but Alencastro also needed to capture photos when there wasn’t a large concentration of people so he wasn’t in violation of Spanish drone laws. In Spain, maintenance work is done on tourist venues during the winter months, so he had to strategize angles that would hide evidence of that activity.

Successes:  “I think my photographs offer an almost unheard-of view of the city,” says Alencastro. “It helps to enlighten, reveal characteristics that can only be seen from above, perceive forms, and abstract the city. I am very happy with the result.”  

Amanda Arnold is associate editor of Professional Photographer.