PHOTOGRAPHY

Any camera will do for taking the photos. A digital camera is easiest because you do not need to have the film processed and then scanned.

Scope the shot(s)

It is always important to appreciate the scene you will be photographing. Take time to stand where the panorama will be taken from and slowly turn around to see that all aspects of the scene will be appropriate. Then take time to look through the camera, again slowly turn around and see how the scene will look.

You can take panoramas without a tripod but you must try and keep the camera as steady and level as possible to avoid having to crop crucial details (Figure 1) . You also must be very careful not to move the camera from the center of the panorama. Make the your camera the center of the axis of rotation when shooting (Figure 2a). Try to avoid using your own body as the axis of rotation (Figure 2b).

FIGURE 1

You also must be very careful not to move the camera from the center of the panorama. Make the your camera the center of the axis of rotation when shooting (Figure 2a). Try to avoid using your own body as the axis of rotation (Figure 2b).

FIGURE 2a	FIGURE 2b

 

Using a tripod can save a lot of photo retouching later on. Something else that can save you a great deal of trouble is keeping the tripod level. Make sure your tripod is level, then make sure the camera is level on the tripod.

When taking the photos make sure there is an overlap between the images of around 30% (Figure 3). This figure does not have to be 100% accurate, but try to make sure there is enough overlap to identify 'identical' points in the adjoining photos.

FIGURE 3

To gain a greater vertical field of view, it is common to take the panorama photos in portrait mode (Figure 4). This means you turn the camera on the side and each photo will be higher than it is wide. It will take more photos to make a panorama this way, but the extra vertical detail is often worth it.

FIGURE 4

The focus for each photo should be set to a large depth of field (Figure 5). That way everything is in focus, the foreground and background will be sharp and clear. Use the same focus settings for each shot, otherwise stitching software may have trouble identifying 'identical' points in adjoining photos.

FIGURE 5

 

To easily stitch photos together the exposure should be the same for all photos. However this is not always wise because important detail in the photos may be lost in shadow or blown out by excessive light.

It is safe to alter the exposure slightly between each adjoining photo and hence 'build up' to a change instead of making dramatic changes to the exposure.

Another method of coping with dramatic lighting differences is to shoot two exposures and combine them in a photo edit program later. You take two sets of photos at different exposures, build the panoramas for both of them. Load them both into a photo edit program and then taking the best of both photos combine the two. There are many techniuqes for doing this, a simple way is to put one panorama on a layer beneath the better one and erase areas of the top layer to expose the better parts below.

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