Having Fun With Panoramas

[Alan Smallbone]

I will second the comments about PTGUI pro, it will often do a better job IMO than photoshop. It has some great features. Well worth giving it a try.

Alan

[mikev1]

What a great article!  I love the emphasis on fun.  It is a refreshing read from the regular "lock your $2000 head, level your $1400 tripod, don't even contemplate pressing the shutter without at least $10,000 in gear on top of it all" type of read we so often find on the internet.  Or end up arguing about for pages on end.

And this coming from a guy contemplating whether to buy a Leica again or not.  I think I'll pass but I do miss my 50mm summilux!

[Kevin Raber]

Thanks.  If you haven't figured it out by now and it should be obvious from our videos and articles, I like to have fun taking photographs.  It's my passion and my therapy.  If I have a crappy day I go out and take a picture.  I also like to keep it simple and concentrate on the image.  There are days though where I'll get out the ALPA and Phase One back, lock everything down and shoot one image to perfection.  I encourage everyone to try new things and to take your images to the edge.  I have been doing this for over 42 years.  I have had the most amazing time and career and if there is one thing I like to do more than anything else is to share the joy of photography with others.  Take a workshop with me and you'll know what I mean when I say that.  When I am out in the element I am on my game. 

I'll have more articles like the Pano article coming.  Pretty busy on a number of projects but there are a number in the works. 

Once again thanks for all the responses here and by personal email.

Kevin

[lenelg]

A useful introduction to the subject!

A friend sent me a set of scanned slides, taken back in the 70´s with the idea of making a scenic panorama. Photoshop had no problem stitching them into the panorama he had envisioned 40 years earlier.

One small note: The "20% overlap" usually recommended needs to contain some unique detail PS can identify - putting the overlap in the middle of a calm sea with cloudless sky can be asking too much even from this great program.

Lennart Elg, Sweden

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

One small note: The "20% overlap" usually recommended needs to contain some unique detail PS can identify - putting the overlap in the middle of a calm sea with cloudless sky can be asking too much even from this great program.

Hi Lennart,

Indeed, and that's where having more manual control will save the day. In e.g. PTGUI one just drags the individual image into place (WYSIWYG as it should be). It's something that frequently happens with portions of the sky as well, when using longer focal lengths.

There is more to be said about the percentage of overlap, especially when blending areas with different color balance, or lighting, or moving people, which is where I usually use 50% overlap, or even shoot multiple (=100% overlap ) tiles to combat movement and remove ghosts. Having options as to the blending method used is also a useful feature of dedicated Pano Stitchers.

Cheers,
Bart

[Jonathan Cross]

This is probably a statement of the obvious!  If I want a high pixel landscape, then I take 3, 30%, overlapping images with my camera in portrait orientation. Stitching them (in PTGUI) gives me a 40Mp 3x2 image.  So easy!

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

This is probably a statement of the obvious!  If I want a high pixel landscape, then I take 3, 30%, overlapping images with my camera in portrait orientation. Stitching them (in PTGUI) gives me a 40Mp 3x2 image.  So easy!

Hi Jonathan,

Exactly, easy and fun!

Lens distortion gets automatically corrected as well, and potentially also vignetting, should one choose to. I do prefer to remove any chromatic aberrations with the Raw converter first though, even though PTGUI can read Raws (which is useful for a quick check, to be refined at a later stage).

Cheers,
Bart

[Earnster]

Other useful tools include Photoshop's Adaptive Wide Angle filter, for sorting out some of the odder transformations.

A shift (mainly Tilt-Shift these days) lens can give a panorama without distortion, and you can twist it round to go vertically and horizontally for a much larger image area.

[Tim J]

Nice article Kevin. The part about photographing your hand between shots is a great idea. Even though I have heard of this trick before I keep forgetting about it when I am out shooting. Thanks for the reminder.

There is also another point I would like to emphasize for hand held panos. I'm sure you do this but I just want to emphasize it some more for anyone new to panos.  After you have dialed in everything and take your first shot remember to not move at all until you have studied the first shot in your viewfinder and know just how much to move for the next shot. It's real easy to want to quickly move to the next shot before you have fully thought about how much to rotate so that you are getting a good 20% to 30% overlap. This methodical approach also helps you maintain a consistently level shot each time. As most of us have discovered inconsistent shots will translate into more cropping and sometimes cutting into important features in your image.

I primarily use  Microsoft ICE for my stitches but after reading your article I tried the pano feature in PS CS6 and was pleasantly surprised to see that it has improved since I last tried it quite a while ago. I now consider it a solid option as well.

-Tim

[dreed]

...
It's real easy to want to quickly move to the next shot before you have fully thought about how much to rotate so that you are getting a good 20% to 30% overlap. This methodical approach also helps you maintain a consistently level shot each time. As most of us have discovered inconsistent shots will translate into more cropping and sometimes cutting into important features in your image.

I wonder if there's an "easy" rule here that each image should have an overlap of around 1/3? Or that if your viewfinder (or LCD) screens is divided into thirds, you take a picture when the left third is on the right or right third is on the left?

Now that I think about it, you probably want the edge of the panorama to be in the middle or opposite edge of that shot to ensure that you don't get caught out cropping what you actually wanted?

[Bruce Cox]

"Do not crop" may well be good advice in general.  PTGui says so clearly.  

Photoshop can be more lenient though.  A single horizontal row of vertical shots can each be made much more slender as suits the different points in focus of an auto focused pano.

Not only are panoramas beasts of many parts, but they come as many sorts of beast.  Three shots can make a neat square or sometimes even the ragged edge of dozens can be used.

I have mainly auto focused and enjoyed the effect.  However, when OldRoy said I was asking for trouble, I remembered my recent efforts at focus stacking and my surprise at how different the frames were.  He could have a point.

Thanks, for the article.  I hadn't thought of stretching after the sticking , etc.

[Isaac]

Just knowing how to hold the camera and pivot helps a lot.

Also see --

"I often use the index finger of my left hand as a rotational point, balancing the lens on my finger and rotating around that.  I also shoot vertical panoramas by placing my finger on the side of the lens and rotating up and down around that point."

[Torbjörn Tapani]

Panos can save the day when you break your wide lens while on a trip.

And one small tip if you have to use high ISO and have problems with automatically generating control points you might find it better to do some noise reduction before stitching. For example if you shoot stars or auroras.

[Bill Koenig]

When I shoot pano's I use Spherical Pano Head, and 85mm is my main lens.
Multi column/row panos the file size, as well as the rendering size can grow pretty quick with 40 to 60 images.
Using Autopano Pro I've had files that could render 80"x30"or larger, but I usually print half that size.
My question, if I rendered my pano at 100% in Autopano Pro to say 80"x 30" then down sampled in Photoshop to 40 x 15 for printing, would it be any different if told APP to render at 50%? I know the file size would be smaller, but if I ever wanted to print at 80 x 30 then I would have to recreate it.

[Fine_Art]

For nodal adjustment can I use a basic Arca plate to offset rotation from the tripod center? I have done many panos with nothing close to avoid paralax. Now I would like to get a more precise nodal position. I was thinking a GH1 gimbal head, which I want for my long lenses, with a basic long plate. That seems better than getting a nodal ninja for 2x the money, than can only do panos.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

For nodal adjustment can I use a basic Arca plate to offset rotation from the tripod center?

Hi Arthur,

Yes, that is possible, but I'd first try and roughly determine the location of the entrance pupil. It may turn out that the plate doesn't allow enough forward or backward shift to position the entrance pupil over the tripod's axis of rotation. You might need to add an extention bar to achieve the goal.

I have done many panos with nothing close to avoid paralax. Now I would like to get a more precise nodal position. I was thinking a GH1 gimbal head, which I want for my long lenses, with a basic long plate. That seems better than getting a nodal ninja for 2x the money, than can only do panos.

Do note that the principle of a gimbal head is about positioning the center of gravity over the center of the tripod for stability and 'gravity free' rotation. The Panoramic No-Parallax Point alignment most likely positions the center of mass at a different position, and the gimbal head needs a means to be locked in position to keep the pitch angle constant for longer exposures.

Cheers,
Bart

[Fine_Art]

Thanks Bart,

The GH1 does have locks so that is ok. Yes, I will measure the node to the camera bolt hole offset first. Good thing you brought it up.