P a n o r a m a s What is a Panorama?
A panoramic photo covers a larger field of view than a “normal” photograph. In general if the aspect ratio is 2 to 1 or greater then it’s classified as a panoramic photo. This sample is about 3 times wider than tall, an aspect ratio of 3 to 1. What is a Panorama? A panorama is not limited to horizontal shots only. Vertical images are also an option. How is a Panorama Made? Panoramic photos are created by taking a series of overlapping photos and merging them together using software. Why Not Just Crop a Photo? • Making a panorama by cropping deletes a lot of data from the image. • That’s not a problem if you are just going to view it in a small format or at a low resolution. • However, if you want to print the image in a large format the loss of data will limit the size and quality that can be made. Get a Really Wide Angle Lens?
• A wide-angle lens still may not be wide enough to capture the whole scene in a single shot. Sometime you just can’t get back far enough. • Photos taken with a wide-angle lens can exhibit undesirable lens distortion. • Lens cost, an auto focus 14mm f/2.8 lens can set you back $1,800 plus. What Lens to Use?
• A standard lens works very well for taking panoramic photos. • You get minimal lens distortion, resulting in more realistic panoramic photos. • Choose a lens or focal length on a zoom lens of between 35mm and 80mm. • You probably already have the lens you need. How to Shoot a Panorama It’s not hard to shoot panoramic photos, but there are certain things to do to insure that you get quality results. Use a Tripod
• While it’s not essential to use a tripod, it helps. • You will get better results because the photos you capture will be in alignment in the merging axis. • When the software merges your photos later, there will be less waste and you’ll end up with a slightly larger panoramic image with less cropping. Shoot RAW
• While it’s not required it helps the quality of the final product. • RAW images unlike JPEG images has no image compression. Also, no adjustments to the image are made such as sharpening or changes to color, saturation, etc. • RAW gives you far more latitude for working with the images in post processing. Select Manual Mode • You need the exposure to be the same for each of the photos you take. The aperture size, shutter speed, and ISO need to be constant for each of the shots you take. • As a start set the aperture to f/11. • Second, adjust the shutter speed and ISO to get the proper exposure. • Third, take a test shot of the brightest part of the scene and check the exposure. Adjust exposure as needed. Set Focus Distance Manually
• Turn off autofocus and focus manually. • It’s important that the focal distance is the same for each of the photos. Different focus points will cause variation in the sharpness of elements in the scene at the same distance. • A rough guide is to focus a little over one-third of the distance from where you’re standing to the furthest element of the scene. Set Focus Distance Manually • Take a test shot. • Check that there is enough sharpness in the foreground and the background. If not refocus and/or increase your aperture value to f/16 or higher then adjust the shutter speed or ISO. • Take another test shot to evaluate both the sharpness and exposure. • Continue making adjustments until you are satisfied. Color Balance • If you are taking RAW images then this does not apply. If you take JPG images, it does. • It’s important you don’t let the camera decide the White Balance because if it chooses a different value for each of the photos the photo merging software will struggle to merge the photos together correctly for the final photo. • In general, for outdoors choose the Sunny or Cloudy option depending on the lighting condition. Position the Camera Vertically • For horizontal panoramas shoot with the camera positioned vertically as this will give the photo merging software more wriggle-room in merging the images. • For vertical panoramas shoot with the camera positioned horizontally. • You can shoot your photos from left to right, or right to left. I like to go left to right so the image numbers make sense to me. Overlap the Shots by a Third
Photo merging software needs the photos to overlap about a third plus for matching up and alignment. It’s better to take too many vs. not enough. Software Merging There are multiple programs for stitching images together to make panoramas.
Free Paid • Hugin • Affinity Photo • AutoStich • PTGUI Pro • GigaPan Stitch • Panorama Stitcher Mini • Microsoft ICE • Lightroom • Gimp • Photoshop Merging Photos • In general the process is to select the photos to be merged. • Depending on software choose from various options for output including Projection Modes, Auto Crop and Boundary Fill. • Start the merge process and wait. How long depends on how fast your computer is, how many photos you are trying to merge and how big they are. More Photos = A Bigger Print
These six images are from a 10 MP camera. Each is 2,848 pixels wide by 4,288 pixels tall. Merged image is 9,643 x 3,925. Printing at 240 pixels per inch allows you to make a print 40” wide and 16” tall. Bending the Rules Rule: Shoot horizontal panoramas vertically. But, if there are only two images that works. Bending the Rules Rule: Shoot with a tripod. But, if you can’t use something like the horizon. Questions? Presentation is on Club Web Page Feeling Overwhelmed?