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Hi Pentaxian friends.
I went out and shot a few pictures today. I wanted to try to get some panoramic images. I only converted two, and I did it actually with Photoshop Element 7. I was going to purchase ArcSoft’s Panorama Maker 4 Pro, but it seems that Element 7 does a pretty good job. I might have saved myself $79.00. What do you suggest for software?
Surprisingly, the two pictures herein were done shooting “handheld” with no tripod or special panoramic heads. I used my K20D with the new Pentax DA* 55mm f/1.4. All shots were taken in manual mode. I used the green button for testing the suggested aperture/shutter speed, and interpolated the results to 1/30th sec @ F/22 for maximum depth of field. I know these aren’t the greatest panos, but I will get it right with a little practice. I am awaiting my panoramic head for adjusting the nodal point and shooting at closer range.
Hi Pentaxian friends.
I went out and shot a few pictures today. I wanted to try to get some panoramic images. I only converted two, and I did it actually with Photoshop Element 7. I was going to purchase ArcSoft’s Panorama Maker 4 Pro, but it seems that Element 7 does a pretty good job. I might have saved myself $79.00. What do you suggest for software?
Surprisingly, the two pictures herein were done shooting “handheld” with no tripod or special panoramic heads. I used my K20D with the new Pentax DA* 55mm f/1.4. All shots were taken in manual mode. I used the green button for testing the suggested aperture/shutter speed, and interpolated the results to 1/30th sec @ F/22 for maximum depth of field. I know these aren’t the greatest panos, but I will get it right with a little practice. I am awaiting my panoramic head for adjusting the nodal point and shooting at closer range.
Click here to enlarge the picture above.
Click here to enlarge the picture above.
Thanks for reading,
Yvon Bourque
8 comments:
Yvon, it looks good to me.
I've shot a few handheld panoramas myself and I find that the panorama software I use always managed to correct any angle mistakes I made. The best results were always achieved with a tripod, but great results were also within reach handheld. I can't remember the name of the software I used now as it's been a while since I used it. I'll have a look and see if I can find out though.
One thing which I enjoyed doing when shooting for panorama was to shoot with my camera in the vertical position and then panning the scene. I did about six or seven shots doing this, and when stitched together, they gave me a panorama with a great resolution. Not that I really ever had that much use for such a high resolution, but at the time I was using a 2mp Nikon compact which, at the time, was a high end model. I think this was around 1999/2000. I was only 12 at the time and thought it was great fun. Now I would much rather be out photographing than behind the screen editing shots, so I havn't really tried panoramas. I expect the software has really improved since then though.
The great thing about doing panoramas back then was the fact that you would get a higher resolution. With a 2mp image, more resolution actually made quite a big difference. Today though my K200D provides me with more than enough resolution. I'm still tempted by the K20D though, but I'll probably wait for the K300D to come along. The K200D provides more than good enough quality images. The only thing I can think of that I want is better high ISO performance. Specifically at ISO 1600 as I find myself using this setting more and more often.
yeah the panos look great!
i find shooting in vertical orientation gives better panorama results.
there is an interesting (free) software called autostitch developed by some university guys. it uses advanced algorithms to stitch, and can assemble panoramas from separate shots that are not only offset horizontally but vertically too!
Also free and insanely powerful is Hugin - my software of choice. For some things I have found that CS4 has gotten quite good, but it cannot do everything that Hugin can.
Thanks to everyone that gave me alternate free software. I will make sure to download them and try them. I am going to make a large panorama 14" x 36" to hang on my wall.
Almost all of my panoramic pictures are handheld, with the exception of those that are shot at dusk, or night. Then you really need a tripod.
For panoramic pictures I've been using PTGui. And even with the enhancements that are available in photoshop cs4 this program works a lot better(imho).
I recently took a few handheld shots and stitched them into fairly good Panos using the free Microsoft ICE software. Free is always good!
It's inspired me to get out and try some more panoramas, having never attempted them before.
Yvon, I've used ArcSoft's Panorama Maker since 2004, and think it's both easier and a bit more accurate than doing the deed in Photoshop CS3. If you do more than a few panoramas, I think the specialized software begins to justify its cost.
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