Panorama Photos with your phone

[raid]

I am using my iPhone 6 mostly for panoramic images. They don't always come out the way I want them to. The panning has to be done while holding the iPhone vertically, and swinging the phone camera from left to right. I want to learn from you all about useful tricks for improved image quality with phones for panorama shots.

I have noticed that the best looking images result in evenly lit scenes and with no moving objects.

If there are people moving fast, their heads may get "split" or "chopped into half". I have also had a man with five pairs of feet (and as many heads)!

Conjecture 1: If a person is moving from left to right, the images come out OK.

Conjecture 2: The exposure is automatic, so the speed of rotation as I take a photo is not affecting the exposure, but it may impact the sharpness of the image. Hence, if a person in front of me is going from left to right, I need to rotate faster from right to left. This is similar to panning, but in the opposite direction.

Trick 1: I have take images from left to right by holding the phone upside down. It works.

Trick 2 : I have taken photos from top to bottom to get a vertical panorama image. It works.

Caution: The iPhone cannot handle big difference in light intensity for one scene. Often, I have dark and very bight scenes in a panorama image, but this will then require some patch-up job in LR to slightly reduce the problem.

Please share with us here your experiences.
I am posting below a few snapshots from my recent visit to Seattle.

 

[raid]

This was on Third Avenue in Seattle. People danced in the park area.

Same place:

 

[raid]

I took this snapshot from the hotel window on the 26th floor during sunset. I turned off all lights in the room to reduce reflections on the window glass.

 

[raid]

I walked back to the (closed) Pike Place Market, and I took this photo, looking out to the street.

Same place:

 

[f16sunshine]

Hi raid

You can change the direction of the shot by tapping on the arrow before shooting.
It will flip around and start from the other direction.... Toggling as you tap it again to flip back and forth.
Try it,... You will see 🙂

 

[raid]

Pike Place Market

 

[raid]

Hi raid

You can change the direction of the shot by tapping on the arrow before shooting.
It will flip around and start from the other direction.... Toggling as you tap it again to flip back and forth.
Try it,... You will see 🙂

Thanks! I am looking for such tips.

 

[raid]

The person in the center was (legally) smoking "stuff".

 

[raid]

This is an example for problems in the image.

 

[mdarnton]

A few of us in the Chicago large format group went out shooting a month or two ago, and I shot this with my phone in panorama mode:



Pritzker Pavilion
by Michael Darnton, on Flickr



Then yesterday we needed a new photo of the shop for our Facebook page, so this, representing nearly 360 degrees (most of four walls) of the front room:

 

[raid]

Both pano images look excellent to me.

 

[raid]

How do you rotate the camera during a panorama shot?

 

[majid]

You can actually buy clockwork rotating bases for the iPhone to make the process smoother, and there is an app, Cycloramic, that claims to be able to do so just by the vibration from the phone's buzzer alone.

That said, you can't expect a simple panorama app to deal with moving objects. Even pro panorama jigs would need repeat exposures and layers to remove ghosts.

 

[raid]

Hi Majid. I will read about Cycloramic. Thanks for the tip. I will try to keep it all basic and simple.

 

[mdarnton]

I rotate very slowly when I do it. I have noticed that the pictures aren't sharp if I move too fast--probably simply motion blur.

 

[raid]

The motion blur is worse when panning very slowly and there are people moving. Parts of these people will not show up in the final image. Other parts of the people will show in multiples.

 

[photomoof]

I try to avoid the center bulge.

Try to avoid the "hallway" effect at both ends, with a "corner" in the center -- this is caused by moving past the center point when you pan. Avoid it and no bump.

 

[raid]

Thanks for this useful tip.

 

[plummerl]

While you're on the Seattle theme, here's one from last Wed. The last time the M's shined:

 

[photomoof]

Here is a shot moving, rather than turning, the camera. IMO, in many ways, given what the camera will do natively and using helper apps like Hydra (high resolution) the iPhone is simply amazing. Panos using the app "Photosynth" are fun, but the app is difficult to master.

About a 10 foot long dining car model at the Smithsonian in DC.