[Grassman]

Pan up to the top of the rotunda on the capital building, just wondering if these guys were secret service or snipers? Anyway, it's a pretty cool pic, it's a 1,474 megapixel photo.
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

[ACBMWM3]

neither I just see cameras
I did see snipers on the top of th whitehouse though :D with R700's

[Ohio Gun Guy]

Its like a giant "Where's Waldo" game


I see the men on the roof, not on the capitol though.

[Grassman]

On another board, they say there are snipers on roof tops. There is so much to look at, I've been looking at this thing for an hour! It's very cool.

[grahluk]

This is just like Where's Waldo!
As to the previous post and OP. Incorrect and look harder respectively. Incorrect on seeing snipers. If you saw snipers please call your local authority to point out something maybe they didn't see. If you saw counter-snipers you had a good eye.
Correct that on the rotunda those were cameras [unless they weren't (; ]. If you look hard enough (damn that's one helluva camera) you will find what you're looking for. I found 2 counter-sniper teams.
http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq150/pdub-nyc-pix/Picture2.png
http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq150/pdub-nyc-pix/Picture1.png

[Ohio Gun Guy]

That is really cool, I just keep looking at it.

There isnt a building close to the activities that doesnt have people on the roof. Most of them look like they are police/military (Appear to be in uniform).

That is an amazing camera!

[SniperStraz]

If you look about 1/8 of the way to the right theres a domed building and there are men in what appear to be BDUs. But they dont look like snipers to me. They're standing. They could be spotters or pointmen. They were probably there for crowd control. Neat photo.

[Grassman]

http://www.gigapansystems.com/

[JJ Hiryuu]

If you use the zoom function on the dome of the whitehouse itself, very upper level balcony. The image is extremely high resolution and I can clearly see several men in black uniforms, with a tripod mounted laser spotting scope. No rifles visible though.

Looks like it was taken using multiple cameras to, with the timing slightly off. There are errors in a few places where different photos did not seam together properly. For example, if someone moves while it's being taken. Look for the woman in a purple jacket, just right and down near the side of the stairwell from Obama on the podium. She appears to have three legs and a distorted face.

[Monkybrainz]

i found waldo!!

[WTBguns10kOK]

Poor Clarence Thomas, he looks like me at my college graduation. Neither of us wanted to be there.

[SniperStraz]

Check Bush out sitting in his chair for the last time. Poor guy.

[cbrgator]

Poor Clarence Thomas, he looks like me at my college graduation. Neither of us wanted to be there.

And Scalia looks mad as hell!

[Grassman]

Check out the website, apparently this devise takes multiple pics and blends them somehow? That's what I gather, way too technical for me.

[Tom488]

Cool - I can read the French Horn players' sheet music :)

[scrat]

that is truely the best darn camera i have ever seen wow. thats amazing.

[jakemccoy]

I have a few pics of snipers from friends who were there. The pics show snipers on roof tops during the parade when the President stepped out of his tank-limo. According to an expert on CNN, it wasn't possible to secure every angle where the President had stepped out.

[Grassman]

The sniper aspect of the whole inauguration really intrigues me. I want to know more.

[jakemccoy]

That pic is a composite from several lenses. It's cool, but not high technology. If you look closely, you'll see random limbs out of place. It's a great job though.

[Dirty Dawg]

Poor Clarence Thomas, he looks like me at my college graduation. Neither of us wanted to be there.

That was one of the first things I noticed when I zoomed in on Obama. I'm pretty sure Thomas is asleep. :D

[ChemicalArts]

That pic is a composite from several lenses.

Yeah, if you zoom in on Aretha Franklin, it looks like she has a beard.

[jakemccoy]

The first pic below is taken from a law office. The Prez is in clear view about 100 yards away. He's in between the white van and Michelle Obama. I have no idea how security handled all those offices and windows. By the way, the first time the Prez got back into the tank-limo, it seemed like he left Michelle behind and was rushing. It was probably nothing, but it seemed a bit odd.

http://i43.tinypic.com/121wqk6.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/11io74z.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/ouw9l4.jpg

[ACBMWM3]

here these show snipers :D

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/inauguration/inauguration63.jpg

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/inauguration/inauguration73.jpg

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/inauguration/inauguration75.jpg

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/inauguration/inauguration87.jpg

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/inauguration/inauguration97.jpg

[brentn]

There is a black guy who could be a senator (I have no clue) but he's sleeping lol.

Look behind obama on HIS left, just a couple seats in. Black guy, larger balding with short grey hair

[bang_bang]

brentn...

That's a US Supreme Court Justice LOL

[BenReal]

I work in D.C. all the time around the White House and the Capital building.

We just finished with an installation in the Capital Building.

Yes,there are snipers full time around the White House and the Capital Building.

Plus full time surveillance and other security details you will never see.

It is the number one terrorist target in the world,it has to be this way from now on.

[Zoogster]

There is a black guy who could be a senator (I have no clue) but he's sleeping lol.

Look behind obama on HIS left, just a couple seats in. Black guy, larger balding with short grey hair


brentn...

That's a US Supreme Court Justice LOL

Not just a Supreme Court Justice, but likely the most pro 2nd Amendment Justice currently in place, Clarence Thomas. Likely even more so than Scalia, who delivered the majority opinion for us on Heller and has his arm on the railing behind Obama in that picture.

[ultradoc]

this is very cool!

[Thin Black Line]

Wouldn't these guys be in the role of counter-sniper?

[Grassman]

I heard reports that the Obama's were wearing bullet proof vests......any truth to that?

[jakemccoy]

Scalia wrote the majority opinion in Heller and was joined by Roberts, Kennedy, Thomas and Alito. If Thomas had written the majority opinion, I suspect the opinion would have been at least a bit broader. The dissenters were Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer.

Wouldn't these guys be in the role of counter-sniper?

Yeah, of all these pics here, none of them show anybody with their long guns. I suspect the "counter-sniper snipers" are concealed.

[SilentStalker]

There is all kinds of stuff in that photo. I spotted a lot of look-out teams, a lot of civilian groups on rooftops, what looks like a street market on top of a rooftop LOL with a lot of outdoor tents set-up, a few sniper teams and that only took me about 30 seconds to see. In any case, most of what people are thinking of as snipers had to be lookouts because they were not in a sniper-like position/pose/stance whatever you want to call it. However, the number of civilian looking people that I seen, including photographers, allowed on the roof tops of neighboring buildings completely boggles my mind. However, this was no easy security task to pull off. IMO, it was more or less luck that something did not happen even though I am sure that they had the place as secure as they possible could. Course, for those people mentioned wearing BDU's and black windsuits, I find this a very stupid and comic attire, for someone that is in front of a white building or background. That is not exactly a good choice of attire if you want to remain hidden LOL, then again maybe that was their intent, maybe they want to be seen for the sheer fear factor of their presence.

I have also spotted several questionable people and a few photographer's that would have got my attention as their cameras and lenses are facing a completely different direction as the other few thousand are.

[MinnMooney]

Check out the pair of legs with boots but only to the thighs.

They're just to the left (looking toward Obama) of that huge camera scaffolding which sits 40' high right in front of Obama. The electronic "picture combining system" must do some hi-tech "guessing" during the combining of the photos but I have no idea why it would cut a person in half.

This is facinating technology!

[SilentStalker]

Eh, the technology is nothing really new, improved probably, but nothing new.

[akodo]

That pic is a composite from several lenses. It's cool, but not high technology. If you look closely, you'll see random limbs out of place. It's a great job though.

yes, different shots placed together.

Take a look at the leftmost 'banner' of 2 red stripes and one large white middle stripe onthe capitol, it isn't lined up right.

[Mark K. C.]

could only see a camera

[Defense Minister]

Those plexiglas panels surrounding Obama must be 2 inches thick. Seems a bit overkill for a windbreak...

[preWWWIIbuff]

I Goooogled them and went to the Golden Gate photo.
I looked ever so hard and I found no NO JUMPING signs!
Like GUN control that would work riggggggggghttttt?

[mgkdrgn]

Honestly, these photos will get a big "yawn" from anybody that lives in/around DC ... they see them every day.

[Regular Joe]

Whether the image was made with a robotic positioner, or with a more conventional multi-row panorama head:
http://reallyrightstuff.com/pano/07.html
-it takes quite a little while to shoot the whole composition. I've built my own multi-row panorama heads, and my largest compositions so far consist of 69 separate images ( 3 horizontal rows with 23 images in each row ). They do have to be precisely spaced. Once the images are shot, they have to be compiled and blended with software that is designed for that purpose:
http://www.ptgui.com/
It's because of the time between exposures that you can find elements in the image that aren't properly merged. Stationary objects are fine, and there is just no way to get moving objects completely right.
ANY digital camera can be used, but of course, some work much better than others, especially when there is more than one row of images.
If anyone is curious about this stuff, let me know....

[jakemccoy]

Regular Joe,

Or better, you could have 10 or so high quality cameras, each pointing at a different angle, shooting simultaneously. Because the position here appears to be a reserved photographer's location, I can see this technique as a possibility. Even then, there may be slight time differences, but not nearly as bad.

[Autolycus]

Great photo.

[dmw16]

Probably. In 2002 a few friends of mine from college (went to school near the city) went down to the National Mall for fireworks on the 4th (which was AMAZING as a side note). There were snipers on the roof of the Lincoln Monument. I am sure there were plenty of snipers on the buildings.

[lbmii]

If you go straight back from Obama all the way to just before the seats start to rise up you will see a seated admiral. Just behind him is a space alien.

[SilentStalker]

^^^LOL, among other things.

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

First off, the White House ain't even IN that pic, is it? If so, where? And I don't think it has a dome either.

http://www.visitingdc.com/white-house/white-house-picture.htm

I see a variety of dudes on buildings, including one with a dog, but nothing of what looks like a rifle.

[jakemccoy]

^I'm not sure what your point is.

[sako!]

Who is the guy seated directly in front of Chief Justice John Roberts?

[GTS Dean]

Look at the second level of the Capitol Rotunda. The two guys closest to the camera look like they're wearing bomb gear (probably just heavy outerwear) and there's a laser rangefinder on a tripod. I would bet they have a heavy black rifle somewhere at their feet out of sight.

[Justin]

Very, very cool. But sadly not really on topic.