Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

[19ninety]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

how do you deal with moving objects/people in a pano scene? just a case of taking many images, until theres enough to work it out. Clouds cause me troubles too on a clear day, but sky is a bit easier to workout with PS as not much detail.

[John Houghton]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

how do you deal with moving objects/people in a pano scene? just a case of taking many images, until theres enough to work it out.

If you allow a decent overlap, there's not usually too much of a problem. Anticipation and timing will help a lot. Often, you can take an extra shot covering a potentally difficult area with the camera rotated into landscape orientation for maximum width (the main shots normally being in portrait). The latest blending programs (like Smartblend and Enblend) now do a good job of routing the seam line around objects so that ghosts and disembodied legs are largely eliminated.

John

[Stephen]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Hi John, thanks for your input. I use Panorama Factory, and generally it does a pretty good job on fully automatic. Maybe if I was to try again with more user input it would do a better job.

I bought a license a while ago for the PC and thankfully when I moved platforms to a Mac they gave me the Mac version for no extra charge, so I feel some loyalty towards them. I'll have a look at the ones you mention though.

I was impressed with with your 360 VR panorama at Greenwich. Presumably this requires some special software if only to show it in a window on your web site? PF will do 360 panos though I have never tried one and therefore I'm not sure how it would render it for viewing

[John Houghton]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

PF will do 360 panos though I have never tried one and therefore I'm not sure how it would render it for viewing

There are far better stitchers around than Panorama Factory. Its main limitation is that it won't do proper multirow panoramas. Nor does it handle extreme wide angle lenses like fisheyes. have used PTGui for the last eight years and not found anything better, though it isn't the easiest to learn. Autopano Pro is the new kid on the block and is a very capable automatic stitcher and relatively easy to use. Even easier is Autostitch, which is free and can give excellent results. You should try sticking you three images into that! The new stitcher in Photoshop CS3 is also very good, though not for VR work.

The process for producing VR panoramas for the web is:

1. Take the photos covering the entire 360x180 degree view, including the bit under the tripod or your feet.

2. Stitch the images into a 360x180 equirectangular image. Patch the nadir to eliminate the tripod.

3. From the final equirectangular image, generate a Quicktime cubic .mov file. Some stitchers will do this, but you can use Pano2QTVR to do this (free version available). It will also generate 6 cubic tiles (90 degree rectilinear views: four around plus one up and one down), which are convenient for patching purposes - easier than editing the heavily distorted equirectangular image at the zenith and nadir.

4. Use the detectVR script and sample html files from the DevalVR web site for displaying the panorama on the web (free). The script is used by the html file to discover which viewer plugins are installed and display the .mov file or flash version accordingly. It's not difficult to produce uncomplicated web pages like those on my web site.

John

[ekkl]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Got to say there are some brilliant pictures on here, (I feel a bit embarrassed putting mine up) all are superb and I really love AT's picture of Brixham.

I was just looking through some old discs last night for some pictures for my website when I came accross these of Devils Dyke looking north over Sussex. They were handheld using a Canon S400.

I just stitched them together using Canon Photo Stitch.

There are six pictures in all and you can virtually see all the joins Never mind, first time at this and the software done it for me.

It does inspire me to get out and take a few pics this weekend and try some new stuff. Concentrate a lot more rather than just sweep accross the landscape snapping away and also use a tripod too.

We should have a vote on this thread for the best stitch, any chance of sorting that out?

[paul.r.w]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

I've posted this before, but it's the only one I've done.

On the Nile at Aswan

[Pol]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

My latest panorama is a VR taken at Greenwich Royal Observatory a couple of days ago with a handheld Canon 40D. The queue of students is to get the must-have photo astride the line of the Greenwich Meridian with a foot in each hemisphere. It's a biggish download, so not for dialup connections:

http://www.johnhpanos.com/royalobs.htm

(It's worth trying the Devalvr viewer, which is a very small download and gives a smoother display than either Flash or Quicktime).

John

Well I knew I was going to be in for a treat when I spotted your posting and I certainly wasn't disappointed! This is wonderful. It has real presence and beautifully presented too.

Superb!

Pol

[StuartR]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

If you allow a decent overlap, there's not usually too much of a problem. Anticipation and timing will help a lot. Often, you can take an extra shot covering a potentally difficult area with the camera rotated into landscape orientation for maximum width (the main shots normally being in portrait). The latest blending programs (like Smartblend and Enblend) now do a good job of routing the seam line around objects so that ghosts and disembodied legs are largely eliminated.

John

Excellent shot as usual John (EDIT: whoops, just noticed I referenced the wrong post!) - any chance of a detailed tutorial? Well, if you don't ask.....

On the Greenwich theme, here's one of my 9 shot (3 x 3) panos (? or is it a "joiner"?). I posted this one a while back so it may be new to some. I was really impressed with how well PTGui handled this set of images, given the complexity of the rigging etc. Taken before the unfortunate fire - not sure how the renovation is coming along - anyone know?.

[John Houghton]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Stuart, That's a very nice stitch; you seem to be doing well enough with PTGui.

Despite appearances in the news footage, they say only 2% of the boards of the Cutty Sark have been lost. Many of the burnt boards can apparently be planed back to sound timber, and a good proportion had been removed for renovation work before the fire. The iron frames have mostly survived with little distortion. A notice outside said the boat is expected to be back on display in 2009, though there was no indication of how much would be restored by then.

John

[jojo]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

You might need your sunnies on for this one! This was taken about four years ago in Sedona, Arizona, famous for its red rocks amongst other things. I used my first digital compact (the original Ixus) with a mammoth 2.1 mp!

[Mike Parr]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

I have never created a Pano until today..............this was taken yesterday specifically for this thread. My brother and his boy were visiting so I took them to Mawgan Porth. I wasn't going for hi tech I just hand held three shots of the beach and crochet them together and this is the result. I quite like the Idea of doing more so its off to the wide open moors next.



p.s My brother and his son are in the foreground

[Stephen]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Thats a cracker Mike, thanks for making the effort, and glad the thread inspired you to do so. I love the position of the house on the left too, it really helps to balance the picture.

I'm going on a jaunt next week to the Lakes, with some pals, which include Ian & Julia. I'm going to try a few panos, and even shoot them in portrait mode to give some height to them.

If anyone is in or near Keswick next Thursday, you are welcome to join us.

[Mike Parr]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Cheers Stephen, I love the lakes Ive walked a lot of them, so im so jealous.......unfortunately its a little far from cornwall............I like the idea of shooting in portrait, Ive always thought panos seem to loose something in that perspective...........I might try the same thing on the moors here, I have a couple of sites in mind, I feel an early morning trip coming on

[John Houghton]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Mike, I like your Morgan Porth panorama very much. The light is very nice, despite the lack of sunshine. It does look to me like the central image is a bit darker than the outer two, though, which may possibly be due to using the camera in auto exposure mode. If that is so, you can make blending easier if you shoot all the images with the same exposure (and white balance).

You might like this Cornish panorama taken at Tintagel. The sky was mostly grey and featureless, with only fleeting glimpses of the sun. I added a more interesting sky from a panorama that I took at Woolacombe beach!



John

[Mike Parr]

Re: Post your panos here (warning horizontal scrolling)

Hi John, I did wonder how to compensate for that, I was so chuffed at the result i went out and did this, not sure if it counts as it is only 2 images joined