Panorama

[IanRB]

What is the best way to do these. I have seen some really neat looking panoramas on this site and i wanted to give it a try. I tried with my little point and shoot just to get a feel for it and plus it has a panorama assist mode. When you have your set of pictures what program is the best to use? i tried this one thing but it was kind of complicated and it didnt come out too well for me. Any tips or techniques that you guys can give? Thanks

 

[StreetShark]

I know a few things such as the same exposure settings for every shot, use a tripod. and leave a little room to over lap.

 

[auer1816]

Definitely same exposure settings for each shot -- full manual mode. Tripods help, but aren't completely necessary. More than a little overlap is generally a good idea. And a good piece of stitching software is a must.

I was using some Canon stitching software for a while, but then I found a neat little application called AutoStitch. It's free, and it works better than the Canon software. It works really really well. Plus it's free.

I looked as hard as I could and I didn't see any stitch lines or repeat material. Not only that, but it can do two-dimensional stitching to make some HUGE shots. I don't know how it works, but it figures out where everything goes all by itself -- the pictures don't even have to be in order -- and you don't have to give it any hints as to which individual shots belong where. Really trippy.

 

[IanRB]

Wow auer thanks that sounds really cool. Ill have to try that out. As for manual and stuff im just using my inexpensive point and shoot for these because it has a panorama assist setting where it shows a little faded image in the corner to help line up the shot, so i figured id try it with that before i go to my old slr film camera. Film seems like it would be harder to do panoramas with. Ill try a few later on tommorow maybe and if theyre good enough ill post them to show how they came out.

 

[Alex_B]

well, if you want to create a perfect panorama which does not only show some mountains lined up in the distance, with nothing in the foreground, then you need a panorama head for your tripod. This head ensures that you rotated the lens and camera around the nodal point and you do not get any parallax-shifts which might make stitching a nightmare or plain impossible.