 Oxbow Bend, Grand Tetons NP - 7 segments
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Photographers have been creating panoramics for quite some time. And while many new photographers think that stitching together multiple images to form a panoramic image is new to the digital age, this is not the case. As far back as 1864, George N. Barnard stitched together three horizontal format frames to form a panoramic view from the top of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee. He was a photographer for the Union Army in the American Civil War and created many striking panoramas in this manner.
The capture medium (solid state cards) we use today may be different from our predecessors, as well as the post processing tools, but the concept remains the same. Take multiple frames covering the scene in question, and append one to the other to construct a much larger image. Today, many photographers are using Adobe Photoshop to accomplish this construction. It’s the tool that I use as well. The latest version of Photoshop (CS4) is remarkably accurate in its alignments and blendings, and its Photomerge function is extremely easy to use.
In this blog entry I’m going to talk about very basic panoramas and not get into the topic of “Nodal Points”. I’ll leave that for a future blog post. So what equipment do I use to create my panoramic images? Well, I have a sturdy tripod (Gitzo 1348), a large ballhead (Kirk BH-1) and my Nikon D300 DSLR camera with an attached L-bracket. Sometimes I will also use a macro focusing rail, but that leads back to the “Nodal Point” topic. The lenses I use will vary. I tend to not go too wide in my focal length choices as I find it makes it more difficult for me to get the natural look I’m going for.
 Mormon Row, Grand Tetons NP - 7 segments
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Creating the Panoramic Segments
Once I’ve selected the scene that I want to photograph, the first thing I do is to firmly plant my tripod. I’ll set my tripod down, and then press down on the legs to make sure that loose soil or debris won’t cause it to move (or drift). I then take time to make sure that the head plate and camera are level.
With my camera mounted in the vertical or portrait position, a tip I learned from E.J. Peiker, I pan across the scene counting how many photos (or segments) it will take to get the coverage that I want. I make sure to overlap the segments by 25 to 33 percent. This overlap will help later on in the stitching process. Let’s say I determined that it’ll take five segments. I’ll then position the camera to the middle (3rd) segment and then pan to the left two more segments to get my starting position. Finally, I will capture the five segments using a cable release to help ensure sharpness.
Stitching the Panoramic Segments
Because I shoot in RAW format, I need to do RAW conversions into TIF files. During this conversion, I make very few adjustments. The adjustments I do make, I will do so for all frames in the set so that I don’t create problems for the stitching and blending process.
Once I have my TIF files, I will load them up into Photoshop CS4. CS4 has a tool called Photomerge that I use to actually do the stitching and blending. I simply select the Photomerge option from the menu (File | Automate | Photomerge) and then set it to the “auto” layout type. The “auto” layout usually does an excellent job. Very rarely will I have to pick the layout type myself. It does happen, but not that often.
Now this is where shooting our pano segments in vertical format comes in handy. Because this gives much more vertical coverage than I would’ve had if I’d shot horizontally, there is now more flexibility for cropping my stitched pano image. When you start creating your own panos, you’ll notice that after the segments are stitched together, the edges of the image are jagged and uneven. This is one of the main reasons for cropping the image, other than for compositional changes.
Finishing Touches
Once I have my stitched, blended and cropped image, I’ll begin my normal post processing routine that I would do to any other photo I bring into Photoshop:
- levels
- color correction
- smart sharpen
- etc…
This has been a very high-level look at what goes into making a panoramic image. At times it can get a little more complex. But hopefully, this should be enough to get you going. In the near future, I should be posting an article on some of the more technical aspects of panoramic photography such as “Nodal Points”. Until then, get out there and start shooting.