FYI - luminous landscape - creating pano using stitching

[GaryLH]

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/having_fun_with_panoramas.shtml

I have been doing this for a while now, but never anything as complicated as the number of shots that were used for some of these stitches. Any just an FYI for those who maybe interested.

Gary

 

[f16sunshine]

I use APP from Kolor. It works very nicely and has great UI. I used PS in the past but no longer have a licensed version on my Computer.
Largest stitch was from 120 frames for a big Ranch real estate job.
The client could literally display the full view from their ranch hilltop and then zoom in to see details.
Shooting with a 100mm lens and stitching a mass of images really improves that zoom-abilty.
You need some heavy duty RAM and an SSD if you want to create printable large finished files.

 

[GaryLH]

Wow...Andy

The biggest I can remember is a 8 shot stitch. I use ps for my stitching work.. Do u like app better then ps or would u still be using ps if u had the license?

Gary

 

[f16sunshine]

I prefer APP at this point.
For one thing it's a nice lightweight program that does one thing.
Workflow goes like this.

I shoot a batch and import to aperture.
*Batch edit all the images for any corrections then save as 50% jpegs or Tiffs.
*Import the entire group using the import tool in APP.
*Click find image and then open edit console.
**From there you can choose the view "perspective" type, Make adjustments and crops, Remove any ghosts, adjust control points, etc..
*Then save the image for it's designated use.

Here is an image that I have handy on Flickr.
This one was just under 20 frames with a 50mm and CP filter on 5Dii.
This was just from when I was scouting the site.
Click on it for a 7500pix version

 

[helvetica]

Glad to see that someone else uses the "hand frame" sequence brake too! As is mentioned in the article, you can net some amazingly fine detail this way, tho it works best on subjects that don't move. Vegetation moving in the wind will cause undue aggravation!

 

[GaryLH]

Thanks Andy. Aperture is a my base sw as well. I will look into APP.

Gary

 

[f16sunshine]

Go for it Gary I think you will like it..
When I trailed it the version was at 2.0 and had no watermark during the trial (nice of them).
I'm on version 3.0 now.

Cheers!

 

[peterm1]

I have been using Microsoft Image Composite Editor - a free download. It works fine but I have not tried stitching any more than two images at a time. It's software that is worth trying and although I thought it has the feel of other freeware software (it could use a little more polish) it functions well so far as I could see. Basically just drop the images to be stitched in the MICE application (its all drag and drop) and the software does the rest. However if you are of a mind to, there are some options to play with. One thing I like about it that it has different stitching algorithms which can be used depending for example on whether you stood in one spot and "swung" the camera or changed position to take each one. It also has options for the size of the composite image saved.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTsZoXbTgHw

 

[majid]

I use AutoPano Giga (the higher end version of AutoPano Pro), it is the often the program behind news-making gigapixel panoramas. You can get amazing results when combined with a Gigapan Epic motorized head and a high-quality telephoto lens like the 90mm Apo-Summicron ASPH.

 

[majid]

I have been using Microsoft Image composite editor - a free download.

Microsoft has put in quite a bit of R&D effort behind panoramas. Photosynth is an amazing piece of technology, but since it doesn't run on the Mac, I can't use it.

 

[GaryLH]

Go for it Gary I think you will like it..
When I trailed it the version was at 2.0 and had no watermark during the trial (nice of them).
I'm on version 3.0 now.

Cheers!

I took a look at the site. I book marked it. Next time I do a pano set.. I will make sure to download the demo to try out. I actually rarely use ps these days anyway.

How good are they w/ upgrades?

Gary

 

[f16sunshine]

I took a look at the site. I book marked it. Next time I do a pano set.. I will make sure to download the demo to try out. I actually rarely use ps these days anyway.

How good are they w/ upgrades?

Gary

Better than me 😛

I've used the program a bunch but never for anything I would consider artistic.
Usually views from houses or of properties for Real estate marketing.
This summer I have a few shots in mind around Seattle. Maybe we should start a stitched Pano W/NW thread.


@ Majid
I checked out the motorized giga. It's a cool piece of gear. Not one I can park $1000+ for occasional use.
I think programs like autopano have begun to make these fancy Nodal point tracking pano heads a bit obsolete for most shoots.
As mentioned, motion in veggies and trees is more of an issue for me so far.
That said I do keep my eyes open for a lightly used and nice priced Gigapan head.

 

[ssmc]

@ f16sunshine - I like the sound of that W/NW thread!


I'm still using CS3 (!) - the Photomerge function works great. I have only tried it with singe-row panos, though, since all mine are shot hand-held. The most frames I've used has been 22, in Death Valley (D700 + 50/1.4G).

The ability to shoot a sequence of many overlapping shots quickly (to reduce movement in clouds, etc.) for this exact purpose is just about the only thing that's kept me from a DP2M, which is a darn shame now that they're reduced...

 

[GaryLH]

Word/no word pano stitch thread -- plus 1 🙂. Give incentive... But as I think about it.. How about any type of stitching? For example faus wide angle from a 70mm lens by stitching overlapping 6 to 9 shot sequence?

Gary

 

[majid]

@ Majid
I checked out the motorized giga. It's a cool piece of gear. Not one I can park $1000+ for occasional use.
I think programs like autopano have begun to make these fancy Nodal point tracking pano heads a bit obsolete for most shoots.

I was referring to the Gigapan Epic 100 ($495, I paid $450 for mine 5 years ago), not the $995 Epic Pro. The Epic 100 is perfectly capable of holding a Leica with a 90mm Apo-Summicron, a Fuji X, a Sigma DP3M, or a Rebel SL1, but the latter not with long lenses.

The point of using a motorized head is not so much to center the axis of rotation on the nodal point, but to take gigapixel panoramas using a telephoto lens. Doing this by hand is very error-prone and most likely to fail.

You'd need a long tele to make a gigapixel panorama. In theory a 24MP M240 with a 90mm lens covering a 24x36 full-frame sensor could yield a full-360 panorama with a resolution of 4 * Pi * (90*90)/(24*36) * 24 = 2.8 gigapixel, in practice most panoramas won't cover a full sphere. The biggest pano I have is a 236MP handheld stitched from 20 M240 exposures in 3 rows with a 50mm lens. To bump that up to a full gigapixel, I'd need 83 exposures and a 50*sqrt(1000/236) =100mm lens. There's no way I could do this handheld with proper overlap.

 

[GaryLH]

Luminous landscape posted another pano tutorial today.. This time from a different writer.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/post_processing_panoramas.shtml

Gary