Composite photographs

[Lisa Nikodym]

Try searching the forum archives here under "stitching"; there were several discussions of such things here some time last year.

Lisa

[didger]

"best" kind of stitch is a "flat" stitch, where you move only the film/sensor, and keep the lens in the same exact spot. a view cam or a shift/tilt lens + tripod could do that.

A shift lens works by moving the lens relative to the camera body, not vice-versa.  Only large format cameras work by actually moving the film plane.  In any case, what's "best" depends on your needs and how much work and money you can put into the endeavor.  Using a shift lens is certainly the easiest way to get good results since even the simplest stitch program (like what comes with Canon digital cameras or with Photoshop) will work.  However, shift lenses cost money and they are also extremely limited for how large a panorama you can create.
It's possible to get excellent results with spherical panorama techniques as well, but it's not so simple and very very few software packages give consistently good results.  You also need a panorama head that has to be calibrated exactly for whatever lenses you want to use so that you get no parallax misalignments for close subjects.

This subject is far too complex to deal with in a single message.  You need to do your own research and then perhaps ask specific questions.  As Lisa said, a good place to start is to search the forum for "stitching" or "panorama stitching".  We've had several very comprehensive and detailed discussions that will give you all the info you need.

I'm doing huge panorama stitch projects (up to 100+ Mpixels) of very high technical quality on a regular production basis using a home made ultra light and compact panorama head on my 1ds and using PTMac for the stitching.  This is probably the best program there is (maybe the similar PTAssembler for PC is also good).  These two programs that actually work are inexpensive, but there's a substantial learning curve (VERY substantial).  There's lots of alternative options for easy instant results, but not for easy instant consistently high quality (good stitch alignment, good blends) results.

[didger]

Interesting.  You must have a special tripod head that lets you make these lateral camera movements.  Obviously for doubling the pixel count of your sensor, this is a great system for the least possible hassle, compared to shooting with a conventional panorama head and dealing with very challenging stitching software (or software that's easy but doesn't work well consistently, if at all).  I've paid my dues (beta testing PTMac for nearly a year and pushing Kevin to do what needs to be done for my production requirements) and now finally have a procedure that's quick and easy shooting in the field (including bracketed exposure stitch images) and that's phenomenally effective at the stitching end as well.  However, to do a 9 1ds image stitch takes a totally maxed out 2.5 Ghz G5 about 15 minutes.  9 images is the limit so far.  That's nearly 100 Mpixels.  I think I can live with that and once my d2x arrives I'll be able to get everything down to a very easily backpackable kit.  My MF digital lusting is over.  I'll go for super low weight, super high quality, and lots of stitching.  IT'S WORKING, AT LAST!!!  

[akclimber]

Here's a good source of info as well as a GUI for Panotools, a free yet very powerful (but somehwat difficult to use) stitching program.  Be sure to check out the forums and links.

http://www.tawbaware.com/ptasmblr.htm

CHeers!

[ltlredwagon]

I'd like to try my hand at taking taking a number of images and putting them together in Photoshop to create large megapixel images, especially landscapes.  I'm not talking about gigapixel images with hundreds of shots.  Something more modest.  Can someone refer me to a source for information about the basic equipment (tripod, head) and technique - setting up the tripod, camera and movements required so that the process of stitching them together goes smoothly?  Thanks.  Bob

[nineinone]

from what I understand, the "best" kind of stitch is a "flat" stitch, where you move only the film/sensor, and keep the lens in the same exact spot. a view cam or a shift/tilt lens + tripod could do that.

there's a recent article up on outback photo I think on it.

[Jack Flesher]

"best" kind of stitch is a "flat" stitch, where you move only the film/sensor, and keep the lens in the same exact spot. a view cam or a shift/tilt lens + tripod could do that.

A shift lens works by moving the lens relative to the camera body, not vice-versa.  Only large format cameras work by actually moving the film plane.  

Actually, you can do the flat stitch easily with a shift lens and keep the lens relatively fixed -- all you have to do is counter-shift the camera by the same amount you shifted the lens.  I know for a fact this works very well as I do it all the time.  I make overlapping three-frame stitches where the pixels all line up perfectly.  I net about an effective 30MP of image from my 1Ds2 using this method.

More here:
 http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_58/essay.html

Cheers,
Jack

[Jack Flesher]

My special tripod head is my RRS "L" bracket with marks engraved 11mm adn 22mm in from the ends that I can slide in my head's Arca-style QR clamp.  This way, I center the camera on the center mark for the center shot, and simiply shift the lens the full 11mm one direction and the camera 1mm the opposite for the two end shots.  Works great and takes me less than 30 seconds to capture the three frames.  If you read the article I linked to above, you can see a picture of the L bracket after i marked it -- a bit crude, but works perfectly.  

FWIW, I am getting ready to fire up my new box after stuffing everything into it:

Dell 670 with Dual Xeon 3.4's (64-bit capable I understand), 4G RAM, 15KRPM SCSI drive for the OS (and hence quick throughput for Win Virtual Memory) and  a second 15KRPM SCSI for PS scratch, then dual SATA drives for all the programs and misc back-up.  NVIDIA 3400 dual-linked DVI card to run dual Samsung 21" monitors -- or maybe that 30" cinema display someday in the future.  Have not lit it up yet, but hope it flys   

Cheers,
Jack

[Robert Spoecker]

a bit crude, but works perfectly

Hey, that's our motto here (Didger's and Robert's Fotografi Enterprises).

very powerful (but somehwat difficult to use) stitching program.

Hey, powerful but difficult to use is as good as it gets in the world of stitching, unless you like easy to use but marginally good results at best.

I'm finding that now that I know what I'm doing with PTMac I can disregard 99% of the complexities of the program.  I don't even have a clue what those guys on that forum are talking about most of the time, but I'm getting the results I've struggled toward for the past year, so I'll leave the esoterica to others.

[ltlredwagon]

Thanks everyone for the good tips.  I'm on my way.  Bob