Stitching interior panoramas?

[Primoz]

Hello!

Since I don't have a wide-angle lens I often try to achieve the similar effect by stitching many photos taken at 17mm in one huge panorama...
But with interiors I often get problems when photoshop doesn't stitch the edges right or I am missing an important part of the scene or I get very weird distorsions...

How do people stitch for example 360 degrees interior shots so well? Is there a dedicated software to fake the ultra wide angle effect Is there a special procedure when taking pictures to be sure you got all information from the scene you need to succesfully stitch the image (by how many degrees I should rotate the body during shots etc.)?

I have done quite many succesful panoramas so far, but it's not reliable - sometimes the stitched photo just won' come out good - it has errors...
Like this for instance: it's fine - but what if I wanted more control over the perspective and distorsion?

20120829_153236-Edit by Primoz Kovacic, on Flickr

Thanks for your help and advice!

P.S. A panorama bracket would probably be a good idea when shooting vertically, I guess??

 

[joshhuntnm]

Photoshop has a great tool for this but it is buried pretty deeply in the menu structure. Once you get the hang of it, is is pretty incredible. You don't even need the shots shot on a tripod.

 

[spacefuzz]

If photoshop isnt working try Microsoft Image Composite Editer, its done a pretty good job for me and is free.

 

[Big Mike]

The further away you are and the loner the focal length you use, the easier it should be to stitch. Keep in mind that when you are closer to things, and you're using a wider angle lens, the edges start to get more and more distortion...and that's where you will run into problems with stitching. So rather than shooting at 17mm, try it at 50mm. It will take more photos, but the end result will have more pixels for you to work with.

If you're not already, shooting vertically is better because there is less distortion on the long edges than the short ones (closer to the centre). Ideally, you want your camera on a tripod and you want your axis of rotation to be at the nodal point of the camera. Most tripods don't allow that, especially in vertical, which is where an L-bracket comes in handy. Other things to add might be a pano head or at least some sort of sliding attachment and maybe a leveling plate to go between the tripod and the head. Of course, you may not need all of that. People take decent panos handheld, but I guess it depends on your expectations.

Part of the issue is whether something is close to you in the photo. The closer something is to the camera, the more careful you have to be about proper rotation etc.

Lastly, you might consider something like a Gigapan head. GigaPan: Store: EPIC, EPIC 100, EPIC Pro Robotic Camera Mounts for Gigapixel Panoramas, GigaPan Stitching Software, GigaPan Gear, Product Reviews, Distributors

Photoshop (especially the more recent versions) do have a pretty good stitching ability...and there are several options to choose from. You might have to try it a few different times to see which options work best for you. That has been my experience anyway.