How to shoot Panaromas


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CYRN

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Nov 14, 2002
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Hi,

I need some advice on how to shoot panaromas. Why I'm asking this? B'cuz I was trying to shoot a 360Deg panaroma, and when I tried to stitch it together.. it was a disaster.

THis is the pana
Sg360_L.jpg


The horizon is skewered. Not that concern about the exposure though, but would be nice is it can be even through out.

1. Do I need a long or short lens for the job? (was using 17mm on DSLR)
2. Do I use manual exposure control to have a fixed exposure or use the automatic exposure of the cam?
 

It's not just the camera. The stitching software used is just as important. If you know how to use Photoshop, then I suggest Panorama Tools. It is the only stitching software I know of that can correct for pitch, yaw and roll. The only problem is that is is slow and you need to manually alignment the control points.

If you are using other less powerful stitching software like Panorama Factory, you have to make sure your camera is dead even and aligned to the horizon with no pitch or roll.

Whatever software you use, use manual exposure and lock the white balance otherwise the colours and brightness will be uneven. Do no use a polariser. Using a smaller aperture helps in reducing light fall-off thus helping with the seams. There are other tips like shooting with your camera rotating over the lens nodal point. However, this is not that critical in your photo as all the subjects are far away so you will not have any significant problems with parallax errors.
 

CYRN said:
Hi,

I need some advice on how to shoot panaromas. Why I'm asking this? B'cuz I was trying to shoot a 360Deg panaroma, and when I tried to stitch it together.. it was a disaster.

THis is the pana
Sg360_L.jpg


The horizon is skewered. Not that concern about the exposure though, but would be nice is it can be even through out.

1. Do I need a long or short lens for the job? (was using 17mm on DSLR)
2. Do I use manual exposure control to have a fixed exposure or use the automatic exposure of the cam?

stich manually :D

1: use a lens with lens distortion
2: Manual with manual white bracketing to maintain a constant colour and exposure for easy stiching
 

Hi, I'm interested in panas as well cos of my upcoming trip to NZ.... just want to ask how to pan the camera on a tripod? How do I make sure I cover everything evenly?? Sorry cos I dun even know how to begin to ask questions about pana shots...... thanks!
 

http://www.pbase.com/image/27358457

Actually, the focal length of the lens dosen't matter. I took this using a 50mm, 80mm equiv on a DSLR, stitched about 10 shots together.

For me, i my tripod has a spirit level, i just use it to ensure my camera is straight throughout all the shots.

Exposure wise, i metered, and then switched to manual.
 

Hello Junyang,

The pana comprises of more than one shot.... which frame did u take the reference metering? Did u keep the metering values constant throughout? Thanks!
 

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