Hi all,

Has anyone any tips they can share on taking and processing panoramic images ? 
This is not something I have done before.

I am not looking to buy a panoramic head for my tripod and I am just thinking of stitching 3 or 4 images together to create digital panorama  that will make pleasing image to print.
 
Thanks for your help

Richard.

Hey Rich,

First thing, take a few test shots on full auto and then by viewing them decide the full manual setting you wanna shot at and stick with them thru out your shoot.
3 and 4 images shouldn't be a problem (when I do 15 or 17 it gets a bit challenging and some times frustrating).
Software is a really big thing, Photoshop actually does a really shoddy job unless you're doing it manually, which will take alot of time.
Shoot in RAW and don't edit anything until after you've stitched the shots together. Hence why yu need to get the exposure right.
Unless you are shooting a 180 deg pano with the sun totally behind you, you will get a little sky burn out. But this adds to the feel of the shot.

When stitching even thou the software adds control points add at least 5 of your own, I find adding on the corners of intersecting objets is the best, and make sure at least one point is at the top, bottom and centre of the left/right sides af the respective images.

Was there anything more specific you wanted to know?

Thanks Vera 

Do you use the Canon Photo Stitch which came with the camera or have other software ?

I have shot quite a few pano's and use CS2 to stitch them together. it isnt always successful so if you find it wont stitch the whole image do a couple of images at a time and when your satisfied with the stitch save the image under a new name - like pano 1 and then add the next bit and when satisfied save that as pano 2 and so on.I always save them as a psd file until all are stitched and then save the fished job as a jpeg.
Check each stitch thoroughly for any faults on joins befroe you save it and move on.

Thanks Eddie.

For Vera and Eddie:

How much do you overlap the images when shooting ?
Do you shoot in landscape or portrait format ? 

Looks like I would need about 6 shots wide in portrait to get 3:1 ratio so I would imagine shoot  about 10 shots to get an overlap of 30% .

That sounds good Rich - I only overlap about 10% and mostly shoot in portrait, shooting in portrait makes life soooooo much harder. So I would suggest shooting in landscape and giving a overlap of max 20%.

I used to use Arcsoft's Panorama maker and yes the Canon software (might be the same thing) but recently am using PTGui, it's not always successful and if it isn't you've gotta do what Eddie said, merge 2 save, merge 2 save then merge the saved half panos...

Don't forget your tripod, no matter what the weather or light...

I have used a program called "The Panorama Factory" with pretty good success. There are some times when it can't blend the photos to an acceptable quality (usually due to my hand-holding the camera). I have also used PT Gui, but it is very time consuming, with great results.  I agree with shooting full manual, and use a tripod if it is a planned shoot.

Here is some additional info:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/digital-panoramas.shtml

http://www.tawbaware.com/maxlyons/index.html

Matt

I use about 30% overlap in my pictures for which I use the lines in my display of my D70. I use "Panorama factory" to stich them with very satisfying resutls. The key to making pictures that stich well together is finding your lens' nodal point and using that point to rotate around. If you do that there should be no stitching errors aside from ghost people/cars/animals, but PF is flexible enough to fix that.

The nodal point is the point where all lightbeams cross. Here's page about the nodal point: http://www.path.unimelb.edu.au/~bernardk/tutorials/360/photo/nodal.html
Also keep in mind when using the nodal point that the nodal point shifts when you use a different focal length.

Another Pano software to look into is AutoPano Pro. I've heard good things. Still yet to do a real pano myself though. Good luck!

Thanks all - I will look at the different types of software mentioned. 

If it ever stops raining I might be able to get some practise before I shoot the ones I want for real. 
"there should be no stitching errors aside from ghost people/cars/" - there ain't gonna be none of those where I'm going

Ooooh, the mystery of it all! ;']

Reference the question how much do I overlap - never really think that much.:-)
I tend to look thru the view finder and look for points that stand out as some feature that is prominent - tree - rocks - line of a wall  etc so that either CS2 or I can match up.
I never consider how many shots I will take.I look for several prominent points and take as many shots as I need to fill the whole scene - maybe three - four - ten - whatever. 
Sometimes a pice just wont match no matter how you try,edge of a lake or something so heres a tip i do.
Yes some will say its cheating - I cal it artistic license.
If a but just wont match I select the frame that the piece is in.I use say the lasso tool and and select it - feathering the edge.Then copy and paste it on the image I am working on.
Then use the rectangle tool - hit control and T - and turn or adjust the peice to fit - it works.
One other thing I do is before taking a shot I have the camera set to aperture priority ( merely for depth of field ) and take readings over the whole area I am going to shoot.
Then if the readings vary I take a test shot at a mid reading to see the results - if wrong try again.
When I am happy with the reading I set the camera to manual and take the whole set of shots on manual. 

Hope this helps

Now my head is buzzing, where in London are there places with no people?
The streets that Jack the Ripper stalked? Nope, guided tours.
Haunted Houses? Nope, guided tours.
Dank alley ways opening to light creating a vanishing point? nope - hoodies...

Ah it's not in London - unless it's the now burnt out Cutty Sark, what a pity.

The article on the nodle point is interesting, all be it, I don't understand it and reckon I have a natural flare for it, so will continue to go with my gut....

Rich, for your practice shots, simply do a 130 - 180 shoot of your street outside, all on one plane i.e. don't tilt your camera up or down, set on the tripod and adjust the height with that, keep your cam angle at 90 deg to the floor, i.e level to the horizon. Am i making any sense yet?

You'll be impressed just how un ordinary your street is as well as it's a sure fire way to get the exposure and editing right as you can run inside to fiddle on your system and then run back outside to the corner and o the T-junction or cross roads this time - please watch out for angy drivers...

P.S. A recommendation I got from a damn good pro was to never shoot at less than 24mm on the focal length and more than 50mm is gonna start becoming a pain to stitch (losts of shots).

APS-C or APS-H censors at 18mm are ok - provided your lenses hasn't got barrel distortion...

Panorama factory can automatically correct the barrel distortion. I usually shoot at 18mm unless that seems too wide for the shot(s) I'm taking, i.e. the detail I'm interested in is too far away.

i usually shoot in 18mm too - but i've got an APS-C which works out to 28mm...