First Attempt at Panoramic Stitching

http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-4219thru4221
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-4614thru4616
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-4662thru4665
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5230thru5234
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5380thru5392
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5402thru5405
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5600thru5602
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5906thru5908

Comments are welcome!

 

Oh yah, 56k warning. Even these downsized pictures range between 10 and 20 MB

 

I called the thread "first attempt at panoramic stitching," but I guess I really should have called it "First attempt at shooting FOR panoramic stitching."

I used Photoshop, but not by hand.

The photomerge function works remarkably well at aligning, rotating, blending colors, etc.. You just have to be methodical in taking the pictures. If horizons are way off, you're going to lose a lot of the image if you crop to rectangular. Also, chances are a scene will be brighter from one side to the other, so I was changing shutter speeds as I shot to maintain equal exposure. It will adjust brightnesses itself, but I wanted to avoid that as much as possible.

In the ones that worked the best, I overlapped each photo by about a quarter of the frame. That gave it enough info for fairly seamless pano.


For reference, the biggest one (http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5380thru5392) is 12 shots (3 rows of four exposures) and presents almost 180° of viewing angle. The walkway I'm standing on (bottom left and bottom right) is roughly a straight line (Point Of View centered on the page in this map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dubrovnik&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=50.244827,79.013672&ie=UTF8&ll=42.642301,18.109025&spn=0.002873,0.004823&t=h&z=18&iwloc=A)

 

I get most of my prints at costco. If I were to print these, I'd probably buy a nice epson or something and do it myself so that I have full control over color profiles, aspect ratios (which are very odd), etc..

Hmm, interesting, though I'm not sure I'm quite sure how that will affect the final stitching. It's still roughly a cylinder, rather than a pan (rectangular). Intuitively, I'd expect that what you'd really want is rotation about the sensor. These were all handheld anyway

HAHA, nice. Yah, that's quite wide. Most of these were shot at 24mm with the exception of the final which was at 105mm.

Croatia is amazingly beautiful. I didn't decide to start shooting for pano until halfway through the trip. I wish I'd done some in the Plitvice Lakes park. Holy hell, most beautiful place I've ever been to (and I've stayed over the water in Bora Bora).

(Not my photo, but I can vouch for the accuracy of the water's color): http://www.sal.wur.nl/NR/rdonlyres/6145215A-EED5-4A9E-B3F1-DC248B839301/81446/plitvice1.jpg

Thanks.

 

I sized them all down to a maximum of 5000 pixels (either horizontal or vertical), so now the maximum file size is only about 2.5MB. Should make it more manageable for most of my "audience" (i.e. family who aren't exactly computer savvy).


Also, I added a couple more. Check them out:




http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-3767thru3768 <- not really a pano, just did it because I didn't have a wide enough lens to shoot the whole building
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-4224thru4225
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5156thru5161
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5299thru5304
http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano/MAB-SEP2009-5893thru5896 <- not really a pano, just did it because I didn't have a wide enough lens to shoot the whole building

 

I've been asked in PMs where the photos were taken.


Zagreb: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-3767thru3768
Porec: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-4219thru4221
Porec: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-4224thru4225
Ancient Solona (near Split): http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-4614thru4616
Split: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-4662thru4665
Split: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5156thru5161
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5230thru5234
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5299thru5304
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5380thru5392
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5402thru5405
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5600thru5602
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5893thru5896
Dubrovnik: http://hypercontrast.com/temp/Croatia/Pano...09-5906thru5908