Revealing visual details via high dynamic range gigapixels spherical panorama photography: The Tempurung Cave natural heritage site

This paper is focused on creating an efficient workflow process for high dynamic range spherical panoramas for preserving heritage sites taking the Tempurung Cave as a working model. Although there are several methods for producing HDR spherical panorama, higher-resolution images impose new problems in handling and creating such large size detailed output. Furthermore, high-resolution detail photographic documentation is essential for preservation purposes, as it will serve as a reference for interested parties. With today's technology, achieving higher resolution images is not entirely impossible however, an efficient workflow process is needed to ensure quality output especially when involve combination of multiple techniques. The hundred million years old cave is one of the largest limestone caves in Peninsular Malaysia. The tunnel cave runs down through two hills, covering a distance of two kilometers deep made up of five large domes previewing a magnificent display of stalagmites and stalactites. While the naturally form heritage was kept safe before, the increasing number of tourists and visitors today saw constructions built within the caverns such as the walkway and electric lighting for viewer's better sightings. The heritage is very well known and protected; the digitization of the cave is an effort to keep a digital copy of such natural heritage not only for visitors to experience but also for interested parties to study the formations and habitat within through detailed documentation of the site. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography is adapted into a user-navigable spherical virtual environment as a method to reveal details hidden within dark areas while the interactive panorama is a way to let the viewer be immersed into the environment seeing as if on site. Exploration in this technique will show the possibilities of HDR to display beyond what can actually be seen with human eyes. The immersive visual experience is enhanced with detailed luminance between the lightest and darkest areas. Todays capture devices, which can capture in high number of pixels while enhancing details and quality of images does impose some issues in the workflow of HDR spherical panorama. The very large file size of each image that needs more computing resources lead to a search for a more efficient workflow process. This paper outlines an efficient workable process method of creating a HDR gigapixels spherical panorama using the Tempurung Cave in Ipoh, Malaysia as a case study.