Best panoramic photo - shopped or not!

[Victress2007]

Since I just discovered stitching, I had a great time on our cruise, here are a couple of my favs.

 

 

 

Vic

[chipmaster]

Very Nice! Kaua and Napli coast? Is the second from the ship or a heli off the coast?

 

One additional thing you might want to consider is to adjust the distortion. Find attached my quick and dirty attempt out of PSE

[pengu1n]

Here's a couple from our recent cruise. My new sony HX5V does this in camera. I had another camera that did panorama shots, but it always had flaws where the pics were joined. This camera does great, I think. I've only had a couple where I could see the seams.

 

Cozumel:

 

In our cabin:

[B and B Rookie Cannucks]

Speaking of stitiching can some of our resident experts tell me how to "stitch" photos properly. I use a Rebel XSI.

[Victress2007]

Both were of the Na Pali coast, the rainbow just as we were rounding a point to the main viewing area. We had an aft balcony. I figured the distortion was as much about ship movement as anything. I haven't quite figured out the straightening portion of the Panorama Plus 3 program I'm using.

 

As for the stitching program, the one thing I had to realize was don't move your position when taking the pictures, just move the camera from one point to another. After that the stitching is totally computer driven with my program.

 

Vic

[chipmaster]

Here is a very long and detailed tutorial: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/digital-panoramas.htm

 

IMHO the key is wider angle lense, shoot 3-8 multiple shots with overlap of 20-30% of the photo view overlapped. For quick and dirty make sure you rotate around the lense/camera as the center, NOT your body. Shoot a fixed exposure for all your shots, thus you need to consider what offset you want to use to insure no one portion is totally over exposed or under, hard to do for 180 as brightness can vary a lot. I use Photoshop elements and it automatically aligns them very nicely, don't do it often but after seeing the results always wish I did it more.

 

Happy shooting

 

 

 

Speaking of stitiching can some of our resident experts tell me how to "stitch" photos properly. I use a Rebel XSI.

[websailor]

One other critical thing, when you can, is use a tripod! It really helps to keep the camera on the same plane...

 

Here are two I made for 3 pictures each - first Zion National Park, then the Grand Canyon.

 

 

 

And an Alaska Cruise picture....

[zackiedawg]

There are quite a few stitching programs out there, as long as you've shot on a fairly level plane and overlapped each photo by about 20% or so. For wide panos, tripods are the best, as it will keep the camera pointed straight ahead, with each shot being side by side with some overlap. I use a program called Autostitch, which is free, and can stitch quite easily side to side, up or down, or multi-field, and you don't have to load the photos in order. Many others are available, including those within Photoshop type programs.

 

Some favorite panos I've done (small photo posted, with link to larger photo underneath each) -

 

Willemstad, Curacao:

 

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/105792510/original.jpg

 

 

Sunset from my Zuiderdam balcony, somewhere in the Caribbean:

 

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/89133093/original.jpg

 

 

Phillipsburg, St. Maarten harbor:

 

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/69795215/original.jpg

 

 

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, from the mountainside:

 

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/69795313/original.jpg

[trophy_23]

Here are a few from this past year. They are a couple I liked and thought might be worthy of sharing. They all contain 3-6 images stitched.

 

Glacier Bay 2009

 

Ryndam coming under the Lion's Gate Bridge (Vancouver, BC)

 

Vancouver BC Skyline

 

Eurodam and Maasdam 'nose to nose' in Quebec City (Sept 2009)

 

"Sail away" from NYC aboard the Eurodam (Oct 2009)

[bobmacliberty]

Very impressive shots! For those of you using a tripod, are you also using a pano head? I'm wondering if they're worth the money. Like anything tripod related, cost (and quality??) for these heads ranges from cheap to very expensive.

[pierces]

Very impressive shots! For those of you using a tripod, are you also using a pano head? I'm wondering if they're worth the money. Like anything tripod related, cost (and quality??) for these heads ranges from cheap to very expensive.

 

I am just using my autofocus indicator marks in the viewfinder of the DSLR to keep the horizon straight. I may lose a little to cropping, but have found that for the informal panoramas that I shoot, programs like Autostitch (free) and Panorama Maker 2.0 can work well with hand-held shots. My new Sony HX5V, on the other hand, is just a little panorama making machine! Fun Stuff! It doesn't produce the detail like DSLR panos, but for moderate prints (6x18 prints look great!) and web display, it works magic.

 

Examples:

 

Autostitch from DSLR

 

Autostitch from SD800 compact

 

Panorama Maker from DSLR

 

Crop from above showing level of detail.

 

Sony in-camera sweep panorama

 

 

All hand-held.

 

Dave

[zackiedawg]

No pano head for me either - similar to Dave, I just keep the pan/tilt head of my tripod level, using the focus marks in the camera's viewfinder to keep things on track. It's even easier if you are using a P&S that has the ability to display gridlines for thirds on screen - I've used that with all my compacts in the past. Now, my TX1 has the sweep panorama feature like Dave's...so I don't have to do that with the compacts anymore.

[trophy_23]

I don't use a pano head either, but I do use a heavy duty manfrotto tripod with ball head. All of the shots I posted were shot handheld, except the night shot. I use the same technique as the posters above, just handheld panning and snapping away. Then I take the images to 'autopano' to stitch, then I crop it in a bit.

[B and B Rookie Cannucks]

Thanks for the advice and great pics!

Brenda

[Victress2007]

 

Waimea Canyon, Kauai

 

 

 

Volcano National Park, Big Island

[Beckyfaye-2008]

This is a Panaramic view of Bergen in Norway, all the shots were taken hand held, on a Panasonic TZ5 point & Shoot camera.

 

[Beckyfaye-2008]

Here are a few from this past year. They are a couple I liked and thought might be worthy of sharing. They all contain 3-6 images stitched.

 

Glacier Bay 2009

 

Ryndam coming under the Lion's Gate Bridge (Vancouver, BC)

 

Vancouver BC Skyline

 

Eurodam and Maasdam 'nose to nose' in Quebec City (Sept 2009)

 

"Sail away" from NYC aboard the Eurodam (Oct 2009)

 

 

I love the one of the Vancouver Skyline.:)

[canadianbear]

Here are a few from this past year. They are a couple I liked and thought might be worthy of sharing. They all contain 3-6 images stitched.

 

Glacier Bay 2009

 

Ryndam coming under the Lion's Gate Bridge (Vancouver, BC)

 

Vancouver BC Skyline

 

Eurodam and Maasdam 'nose to nose' in Quebec City (Sept 2009)

 

"Sail away" from NYC aboard the Eurodam (Oct 2009)

 

 

Love the "nose to nose" !!!! Sure shows the size difference...