Panoramic Photography - Photos and Tips

[Robbie B]

I couldn't find a thread specifically for panoramic photography so I thought I'd start one. I've been debating doing panoramic shots for a while and Rob D has pushed me over the edge this morning.

I go away tomorrow and am staying in a very nice location next to a dock where I think the sun rises just behind. I want to get up early and do a panoramic shot of it. I've got a tripod with spirit level, remote and filters. Anything else I need?

Any tips?

Edited by Robbie B on Friday 10th June 11:15

[Galsia]

I'm not a great photographer but make sure that you use exposure lock if you're going to be stitching photos together.

[kman]

Having a tripod so that you can rotate is a must but you got that covered. I'd recommend for a wide landscape you shoot portrait frames - you will need to take more shots but when you come to stitch them together and crop you have more height to play with.

[kman]

here are a couple of my favourite shots I've taken:

[RobDickinson]

Robbie B said:

I couldn't find a thread specifically for panoramic photography so I thought I'd start one. I've been debating doing panoramic shots for a while and Rob D has pushed me over the edge this morning.

I've done what!?!

Rules I dont always follow:

Meeter for the scene and lock the exposure in . Usually means blowing some hilites somewhere, use manual mode or exp lock.
Try use a lens not at its extreems where distortion and vignetting happen. So if you shoot 20mm dont use a 10-20 use your 17-55 etc. Tho this is down to the gear. Use longer focal lengths if possible.
Rotate your camera around the front of the lens, not the sensor , not you.

Buy/use good stitching software that can fix all those issues you have because you forget all of the above.

[ian in lancs]

kman said:

Having a tripod so that you can rotate is a must but you got that covered. I'd recommend for a wide landscape you shoot portrait frames - you will need to take more shots but when you come to stitch them together and crop you have more height to play with.

yep

Good idea for a thread! I've got some Hong Kong and NZ Pics I post up when I get home

[ian in lancs]

Some work in progress









be kind.... still learning!

And one that I learnt a lot from!!!

[RobDickinson]

Ian they look superb just learning myself..


Pegasus Bay by robjdickinson, on Flickr

[ian in lancs]

RobDickinson said:

Ian they look superb just learning myself..


Pegasus Bay by robjdickinson, on Flickr

Thnaks!

I guess you recognise the first pic - Fox Glacier and last pic - Tasman Glacier, Mount Cook. We had 10 days on South Island and 4 on North Island in April this year. I'm still going through the 3-4000 pics.... 7000 incl HK!

[Chicken Pox]

RobDickinson said:

Rotate your camera around the front of the lens, not the sensor , not you.

Sorry being thick/ tired I don't understand what you mean

[RobDickinson]

Chicken Pox said:

Sorry being thick/ tired I don't understand what you mean

You want to be turning the camera around a no parallax point, and that isnt you or the sensor, its usually the front of the lens.

http://www.panoguide.com/howto/panoramas/panohead....

Usually done using heads like this:

[Chicken Pox]

Merci, picture worth a thousand words.

[DIW35]

If you give a big enough overlap you shouldn't have to worry about your rotation point. I typically overlap each image by 50% or more and have never had a problem stitching them together.

[john185k]

One from Scottish Trossachs on Wednesday evening, 6 images stitched together

[Oystercatcher]

One of the first ones I did, 4 shots hand-stitched in PS

Rothesay panorama by Nevyn2009, on Flickr

A more recent one, cheated and used autostitch (Isle of Bute looking towards Arran)

Dunagoil by Nevyn2009, on Flickr

[Colin RedGriff]

There are a lot of Panoramas on the thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[ian in lancs]

all the above are panoramas taken by sweeping from a fixed point. Ive just seen a national geographic programme where they used the technique to shoot a huge tree. They set the camera on a vertical gantry parallel to the tree and lowered it in stages taking pics as they went. They actually used two cameras side by siide to get the width. When stitched together it was an awesome detailed distortion free cover pic.

Edited by ian in lancs on Saturday 18th June 19:10

[ian in lancs]