Panoramic Shooting

[Travis]

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Lion's Lookout in Huntsville.

I'll be attempting my first collection of shots to stitch into panorama.

Basically, the only thing I know about this is to overlap shot by about 50% and to make sure the tripod is level. My tripod is a cheapy and doesn't have a level so I'm not sure a way around this aside from general eyeballing.

Anyone have any other tips that are handy for this style of shooting?

thanks

[Marko]

Hi Travis - Do you have photoshop? If so what version?

[tegan]

Panoramic shoots look rather flat and with minimal visual impact unless there is a lot of verticals and height/depth to the scene as well as distance.

Tegan

[Marko]

Here is a pretty good video that you can check out if you have CS3

It uses the auto-align feature in CS3 - pretty easy actually
http://creativesuitepodcast.com/index.php?post_id=171208

Just download the movie..it's quite well explained!

[Marko]

I see you're still online Travis - but i'm late for something....I'll check in late tonite to see if you still need help...

best
Marko

[Travis]

Hey Marko.... I'm going to attempt the editing using the gimp.... thanks for the clip though... i'll watch it anyways.....if there are any gimp users out there that have attempted this I could use the tips... if not I'm sure I'll figure it out somehow...

and Tegan.... if you google Lion's lookout Huntsville you can see some shots.... mostly bad ones.... but the view is fairly diversified... the lookout overlooks the entire town which is surrounded by hills and water.. i don't really mind if it ends up looking flat.... in fact... i don't even know what a flat looking picture looks like..... this is more of a training exercise for me...

any other technical recommendations? Should I shoot wide or tight? I have only two lenses... a 18-55vr and 55-200vr.... and a u.v. filter... and a polarizing filter... Which lens should I start off with? Is there a better aperture/shutter speed for this type of shot? it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow

I plan on experimenting anyway but it would be nice to know where to start off..

thank you everyone

[tegan]

Have you been to the Haliburton Look out?

Tegan

[Travis]

no...common tegan... throw me a bone here.... i know you got the mad skilz...

[Marko]

I don't know anything about Gimp...sorry.

But your approach seems ok to me - try to keep the tripod level as you suggest.

You need to choose the best lens for the shot (of your 2 lenses the zoom is most likely) - only you know what that is when you get to your scene and check out the framing.

I'd also leave room for cropping so I'd 'overframe' the scene by maybe 5-10%

Good luck - hope that helps...and love to see some shots!

best!

marko

[AcadieLibre]

Here is the plugin for Gimp to do Panoramas. If you looking for any plugins try Sourceforge first one of the best sites for opensource apps and ad ons. All the documentation is included.

http://stitchpanorama.sourceforge.net/

[Travis]

AcadieLibre - thanks for the link.. I downloaded a panoramic script last night but this plug in looks much better

Marko - Generally speaking is there a focal setting that captures the most detail? For example.. let's say I have framed my shot and 55mm is ideal.... which lens would produce a better result.... 55mm wide open on the 18-55 or 55mm tight on the 55-200mm... generally speaking..

Should I consider locking the the exposure and focus settings to provide consistancy across the frames?

thanks

[tegan]

Important question: What camera and lens are you intending to use?
Camera-wise it would be helpful to use either a compact superzoom or a DSLR with live view to see differences in exposure through the LCD screen in preview mode. Can you do that with your camera?

Are you talking about shooting this with a wide angle zoom or more in the 50mm normal range? Wide angle flattens perspective and gives a shot less of a 3D look. It also makes hills look much smaller when shooting from above.
Have you planned when you are going to go to get the best weather and best lighting? How are you going to handle haze in look-out shots that deadens and distorts colours?

Your camera on automatic will not have the same reading for all the shots. How are you planning to get the look of perfectly matched exposures? After stitching together the panorama, postprocessing and editing will be necessary to perfectly match the shots. The sky will be a challenge too.

The mechanics of setting up the tripod, shooting the images, and using any of the several pieces of software to stitch them together are fairly straightforward. Unfortunately however there are all kinds of individual considerations that relate to any potential panorama that need to be considered and planned for, as well as postprocessing skill and experience. Even with all this, the challenge is to get something better than what would be achieved with one of those disposable panorama cameras.

You have the advantage of being able to go back to the lookout to remedy any mistakes that you made in the first one. So the best thing to do is experiment. The challenge will be to recognize from the photo what could have been done better.

Good luck and make sure you post some results. :)

Tegan

[Marko]

Marko - Generally speaking is there a focal setting that captures the most detail? For example.. let's say I have framed my shot and 55mm is ideal.... which lens would produce a better result.... 55mm wide open on the 18-55 or 55mm tight on the 55-200mm... generally speaking..

Should I consider locking the the exposure and focus settings to provide consistancy across the frames?

If by detail you mean sharpness, in my experience every lens will be different at different focal lengths and at different apertures.....but I'm unclear as to what you mean exactly by 'detail'.

I would try to lock exposure and focus but that will only work well if the whole scene (as divided by the amount of shots you will take to create the panorama) is about the same exposure. You may well have to do a bit of tweaking in Gimp.

Hope that helps,

Marko

[Travis]

Thanks everyone for your help.

My attempts to capture lions lookout weren't very successful. The prime views all had major distractions in the form of trees impeding the shot. I had to settle for a lower spot without obstruction. Unfortunatly this spot cuts off a body of water that i wanted in the panoramic shot.

The scene was pretty bad... nothing in the sky.. not much colour on the ground. Would surely be a better shot in the bloom of spring with a few clouds and a sunset. It was really windy... this was a problem... the surface was really uneven... this was a problem... it was so bright that reviewing pictures to adjust white balance was impossible. Locking in the exposure in a medium zone didn't work out very well... I used a remote to prevent further shake but it seems the camera won't autofocus when using remote so the shots seem out of focus.

I used Gimp to stitch them together and found it rather difficult at first (or maybe it was the wine).. but got the hang of it.... Other than stitching and masking I didn't make any other post adjustments... The difference in colour is from white balance settings.. the warmer shot is using the "Cloudy" default (I prefer the warm one)... and the blue one is using the "direct sunlight" default..

Overall I'm not impressed with these shots but it was a learning experience so this is good. The shot with the dog shows where the pic's were taken (this shot is not meant to be critiqued). Please give me your input so I may learn. Thanks.

[Travis]

the dog shot didn't upload for some reason so here it is again for the first time

[tegan]

I go back to what I have said generally in past posts. If you are shooting a scenic or panorama, it will appear flat and dull without verticals...as in buildings, hills, mountains, rock faces etc. Elements need to stand out from the background to give the overall image some impact.

Haze, weather and season often dull colours which merge together rather than isolating features.

You seem to have mastered the basic mechanics of putting together a panorama. Now you need to find the scene that fits this mode and can result in an image with visual impact.

I have been to a number of lookouts and high places and despite even a personal feeling of vertigo in some cases, the elements are not always there to create an image that communicates height, depth, and vista. Communicating what you see and feel in a very high location is not as easy as it seems, when you are using a camera.

Tegan