Ross Brown dot net

There’s nothing like a panoramic photo to capture beautiful scenery (unless you count actually being there, of course). I’ve been taking panoramic pictures for a couple of years now and I thought I would share them with you, as well as some tips.

Here’s the first panorama I took, from the bank of the River Thames in Wallingford (UK).

(Click for a larger version)

I was fairly happy with it, for a first attempt. I used the Canon Photostitch software which came free with my Canon 350D camera. It’s done a fair job of stitching the photos together, but there’s some noticeable lines where the joins have been made. Also, I let the camera take care of the exposure setting, so the sky changes colour across the scene.

I was a bit disappointed with the end result, so I did what everybody does when they want to learn how to do something - I Googled it. I got some useful tips:

Turn Auto-exposure OFF

Turn Auto White Balance OFF

Turn the Flash OFF

Use one Focal Length for all shots in the sequence (manual focus, not AF)

Use one Size/Quality for all shots in the sequence

Use a tripod whenever possible – especially when objects are near to the camera

If a tripod is not available, lock elbows and pivot on one spot – keep camera level.

Use 25%-50% overlap for each shot

Use reference points on the landscape when moving the camera.

Go beyond 360 degrees when shooting for 360 degrees panoramas – mark your tripod with a piece of tape

Create time-based groups – wait no more than 40 seconds between shots

Insert visual dividers (black shots, or a shot of the ground / your hand) between sequences

Be aware that an object in motion may cause problems when stitching

Be aware that scenes without much detail (cloudless sky over flat sea) are more difficult to stitch

Armed with this information, I was certain my next panoramic photos would be better.

In February this year, we had a holiday in New Zealand - one of the most scenic countries in the world. I was itching to try out the panoramic techniques I had learned and soon I found a couple of decent places to practice taking panoramic shots.

This one is of Gibson Quay in Hokitika:

After seeing the results, I discovered I needed to add another point to my checklist:

• DON’T use a polarising filter!

The variance in the sky was too great, but by stitching only some of the pics together, I got a better result (I used it right at the top of this page).

Also, to get the absolute best sized panorama:

• Take portrait (tall) shots

I also ditched the Canon software in favour of Arcsoft Panorama Maker. The Arcsoft product not only had a better UI, I think the results speak for themselves. There’s another (free) piece of software which seems to be particularly good at panormamas - AutoStitch. It also works with more than 16 pictures and intelligently stitches together pictures, they don’t have to be sequential. Here’s AutoStitch in action, on some pictures I took overlooking Arthur’s Pass:

Incidentally, I also ditched the Canon Zoombrowser software and started using Picasa to organise my photos. To be honest, I was not impressed with any of the Canon software that came with my camera - it all seemed like it was written for Windows 3.1 and had the UI to match.

During the February trip, we were lucky enough to stay at a friend’s bach (holiday home) which had a fantastic view of Lake Brunner. I got up early and took lots of shots. (Too many in fact, the Arcsoft software has a maximum of 16 per panorama). Anyway, this is the result:

Much better!

There’s still a bit of banding visible, but it’s still a cracking shot.

We liked New Zealand so much, we decided to move there, so in April we came out for good!

Just recently, after things had settled down a bit, we went away for the weekend and I took a couple more panoramas. This one was taken from the side of the road:

It’s a nice shot, but the ‘jagginess’ of the straight lines on the road is a little off. Not much can be done about that, but it’s a lesson learned for me.

On the way back, we stopped at the top of a mountain and I took another one:

The two vehicles to the left of the shot are actually the same one, taken as he was parking. He appeared in two photos, which were then stitched together. (If you look at the large version, you can see the join if you look at the handrail). You can also see my shadow at the bottom of the shot, but I left it in because I actually quite like it being there.

When we got back home to Whitby, the weather was still great so I drove to the waterfront and took a panorama of the inlet:

I think that one is particularly good - I guess practice does make perfect.