PhotoShop: Panoramic Question

[bp4life71]

Ladies and Gents,

To do panoramic in Photoshop, do I take a few pictures side by side and then they stitch them together laterally? How do you make them match up?

New here on this, so the answer might be obvious, but not for me.

Thanks!

 

[Inst!nct]

i dont think photoshop is the best program to create panoramas, maybe to edit it sure, but try creating it in the many free programs that are available for you on the interwebs. For example:

AutoStitch
Free Panorama Photo Stitching Software: Stitch Overlapping Images to Make a Panoramic Picture (thefreecountry.com)

gl!

 

[ann]

when taking the photos you need to overlap about 25-30%, keep the exposure the same, if necessary change shutter speed, not fstop so you maintain the same DOF.

i agree with the above, there are better stitching options than photoshop.
the software will do all the work if you have given enough overlapping.

 

[Inst!nct]

ah forgot to mention you will NEED a tripod, and shoot in manual mode, with preferably the same focus

 

[creisinger]

Photoshop CS4 has a pretty useful interface for panoramic images but there are much better tools out there.

Get PTGUI Download PTGui or PTGui Pro - PTGui for a free test run - this software does a good job.

As "ann" mentioned before:

- Use a tripod (easier but not a must)
- all settings have to be at manual (ISO, aperture, shutterspeed, white balance AND focus!!!)
- overlap 30% or even a bit more, depending on what you are shooting. A scene with little details like a sky with very few clouds could give you a problem if you only overlap 20% or so.

A panoramic scene with a forest is less of a proble due to the many details that help the software to identify overlapping points.

Good luck!

 

[battletone]

ah forgot to mention you will NEED a tripod, and shoot in manual mode, with preferably the same focus

I don't see why need is emphasized.

 

[creisinger]

ah forgot to mention you will NEED a tripod, and shoot in manual mode, with preferably the same focus

I don't see why need is emphasized.

Well a tripod will indeed help to produce better quality. I don't think it's "easier" to do it hand held.

For someone starting out with panoramic images it's a great help to use a tripod - it eliminates a few issues that a beginner will run into such as not perfectly sharp images which make it harder for the software to align them, same height of horizon in each shot (if shot horizontally) and most importantly the pivot point barely moves while tripod mounted compared to hand held which can be a major issue if you have objects in the very close foreground.

Having a tripod mounted on a regular tripod may not be the best solution but still better than hand held.

 

[battletone]

ah forgot to mention you will NEED a tripod, and shoot in manual mode, with preferably the same focus

I don't see why need is emphasized.

Well a tripod will indeed help to produce better quality. I don't think it's "easier" to do it hand held.

For someone starting out with panoramic images it's a great help to use a tripod - it eliminates a few issues that a beginner will run into such as not perfectly sharp images which make it harder for the software to align them, same height of horizon in each shot (if shot horizontally) and most importantly the pivot point barely moves while tripod mounted compared to hand held which can be a major issue if you have objects in the very close foreground.

Having a tripod mounted on a regular tripod may not be the best solution but still better than hand held.

Yes, but none of that equals capital NEED, as in, you can't without.

 

[creisinger]

...Yes, but none of that equals capital NEED, as in, you can't without.

True.

 

[jnm]

ah forgot to mention you will NEED a tripod, and shoot in manual mode, with preferably the same focus

you don't need a tripod. ive made some great panos handheld.

CS4 is as simple as it can be to stitch them together. i just asked a similar question in the 'beyond the basics' section. whats nice about using photoshop is you can make your lightroom edits first then send them directly to photoshop.

 

[Inst!nct]

...Yes, but none of that equals capital NEED, as in, you can't without.

True.

i guess youre right, but still, in my opinion, cheap tripod = 50 dollars, wasting time on photoshop trying to straighten your picture = worth some money too

 

[Hooker771]

Also shoot vertically, when you go to crop the photo you will be glad you did. Also when you blow them up to print they are much wider and look much better

 

[Wolverinepwnes]

just use the automate function, it will do everything automatically!

 

[Darkhunter139]

...Yes, but none of that equals capital NEED, as in, you can't without.

True.

i guess youre right, but still, in my opinion, cheap tripod = 50 dollars, wasting time on photoshop trying to straighten your picture = worth some money too

Are there any 50 dollar tripods worth getting even? I cant pick one but I dont want to spend to much.

 

[creisinger]

It's no problem to stand on a mountain and shoot a huge panorama hand held as long as you don't have trees or anything of that kind in the foreground obstructing the view.

This would cause problems when stitching.

It's crucial to have a tripod, preferably a panorama-tripod where you can align the sensor with the pivot point of the tripod. That allows you to do the wildest panos even when something is 4 feet in front of you.

I think at that point you would have to give up doing that by hand.

Here is what I did with a tripod. I used a D70 and stitched 12 images together. Longest side was over 4800 pixels in the final, cropped result. Forget doing this hand held. Background was added in post.