Panoramic photo help please

Dear all,

I have taken a set of three digital photographs and would like to join them
together to make a panoramic photo.
I have suceeded in doing this in the past, but can't remember how!
I believe that I probably used either Photoshop or Corel's PhotoPaint.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

Thank you,

Adam

PS and PP are not the best tools for pans. The best one I've found
is from http://www.paroramafactory.com PF seamlessly merges
pans, corrects for lens distortion and corrects for variations in
exposure between frames. It works best with at least three frames
with plenty of overlap. I usually shoot pans without the aid of a tripod
but you need to be careful to shoot in the same plane and avoid
camera tilt although PF will correct small inaccuracies. Rotate
round the camera, not your body, to minimise foreground parallax
errors. Plenty of practice is needed!

Graham

"Adam Gamsa" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

I have taken a set of three digital photographs and would like to join
them
together to make a panoramic photo.
I have suceeded in doing this in the past, but can't remember how!
I believe that I probably used either Photoshop or Corel's PhotoPaint.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

Thank you,

Adam

PS and PP are not the best tools for pans. The best one I've found
is from http://www.paroramafactory.com PF seamlessly merges
pans, corrects for lens distortion and corrects for variations in
exposure between frames. It works best with at least three frames
with plenty of overlap. I usually shoot pans without the aid of a tripod
but you need to be careful to shoot in the same plane and avoid
camera tilt although PF will correct small inaccuracies. Rotate
round the camera, not your body, to minimise foreground parallax
errors. Plenty of practice is needed!

Graham

"Adam Gamsa" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

I have taken a set of three digital photographs and would like to join
them
together to make a panoramic photo.
I have suceeded in doing this in the past, but can't remember how!
I believe that I probably used either Photoshop or Corel's PhotoPaint.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

Thank you,

Adam

"Adam Gamsa" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

I have taken a set of three digital photographs and would like to join
them
together to make a panoramic photo.
I have suceeded in doing this in the past, but can't remember how!
I believe that I probably used either Photoshop or Corel's PhotoPaint.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

Thank you,

Adam



On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 10:18:40 +0100, "gsum" wrote:

PS and PP are not the best tools for pans. The best one I've found
is from http://www.paroramafactory.com PF seamlessly merges
pans, corrects for lens distortion and corrects for variations in
exposure between frames. It works best with at least three frames
with plenty of overlap. I usually shoot pans without the aid of a tripod
but you need to be careful to shoot in the same plane and avoid
camera tilt although PF will correct small inaccuracies. Rotate
round the camera, not your body, to minimise foreground parallax
errors. Plenty of practice is needed!

Graham


Below is a review about a few panorama applications, a reply to
someone else's post in the past, but I never sent it (due to disgust
with humanity as a whole or some other reason at that time). I
thought the information might be valuable to others and they might
get some use out of my past typing effort:



On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:59:28 +0100, Donald Gray
wrote:

Some of them exhibit curvature distortion caused by not using a tripod
and pointing the camera down during the sequence of shots (Its a bit
difficult not to point the camera down when photographing the Grand
Canyon from its rim!)


No need to apologize for that. I saw that you use Panorama Maker.
I've not found Panorama Maker to be very effective with difficult
angles nor unique low-contrast lighting situations. Some of the
better panorama stitchers out there can deal with that situation you
are running into.

One newer program I've tested, Panorama Factory v3.3 (from
http://www.panoramafactory.com/ ) seems to be able to handle some
rather difficult situations, and is worth looking into for those
that need a capable panorama stitcher with one-click stitching (like
Panorama Maker). But it also allows for some really extensive
fine-tuning for those that want to dive deeper into getting the best
out of their panorama panels. It's not easy to access nor use their
more advanced stitching options, but it's nice to know they are
there. I mention it only because it's a very capable program, with
simplicity of use like the one you are used to, but it won't solve
your curved horizon problems (usually).

Above all I've found that Panorama Tools (freeware) with the PTGUI
front-end to be able to handle the most complex situations, but it's
not a one-click program. It might be more learning than people care
to take on. However, the existence of this software is why I felt
the need to reply to your post.

(Important note: Ipix software company has recently tried to sue the
author of Panorama Tools, to get his amazing freeware off the net
(which he has done to avoid the hassle). A strong-arm bullying
tactic. Spread the word to boycott this asinine Ipix company.
Practices like that should given zero-tolerance in a community of
artists and creative professionals. Let Ipix know this by helping to
destroy any gain they had hoped to make. Avoid their software at all
costs, even if they release it for free one day. No doubt they will
just change their name to distance themselves from their
self-created bad press, but their values and behaviors will follow
them like **** in hiking-boot cleats. Now, back to the more
important information...)

The problem you describe in the Grand Canyon rim not being linear
can be handled with PTGUI. To solve this: In the program I will
define a final panorama image much larger vertically than the
original panorama, then shift the whole panorama either up or down
within that new image space. Effectively creating a new
false-horizon and image-area that wasn't there when I originally
took the photo. PTGUI will do its best to try to set a new horizon
for you when you select a higher or lower center-point for the whole
panorama, leveling out that curved horizon problem. Then just load
the final panorama into any editor and crop out the large black
blank area (above or below) your panorama image. I'll sometimes
purposely shoot panorama shots on a non-leveled tripod just to
maximize the picture data, knowing that later I can use this trick
in PTGUI to still get flat horizons.

Another panorama maker that has shows some promise for other
difficult panels is PixMaker Pro from www.pixaround.com
For some reason it has been able to handle some situations that the
above 2 cannot handle. This program has an option to adjust the
"tilt" angle of the original panels if taken from a tilted camera,
but I've not played with it enough to know how well it can correct
for errors like you are experiencing. It's worth checking out
though. The program and interface seems a little too simplistic, but
it's done one or two panoramas for me that no other program would do
accurately, for one reason or another.

I've probably tested every panorama maker program out there by now,
and I'd have to say, these 3 rate highest on my list, PTGUI (running
Panorama Tools), Panorama Factory, and PixMaker Pro (in that order).
Each can do something the others cannot handle, and they do it well.

I thought you might like this info if you are getting bit by the
panorama-bug. It's been a daunting task for me to test each program
over the years to find their strengths and weaknesses, and to weed
out the real lame ones. This info might save you some headaches.

"Adam Gamsa" wrote in message
...
Dear all,

I have taken a set of three digital photographs and would like to join
them
together to make a panoramic photo.
I have suceeded in doing this in the past, but can't remember how!
I believe that I probably used either Photoshop or Corel's PhotoPaint.
Can anyone help me with this, please?

Thank you,

Adam



On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 10:18:40 +0100, "gsum" wrote:

PS and PP are not the best tools for pans. The best one I've found
is from http://www.paroramafactory.com PF seamlessly merges
pans, corrects for lens distortion and corrects for variations in
exposure between frames. It works best with at least three frames
with plenty of overlap. I usually shoot pans without the aid of a tripod
but you need to be careful to shoot in the same plane and avoid
camera tilt although PF will correct small inaccuracies. Rotate
round the camera, not your body, to minimise foreground parallax
errors. Plenty of practice is needed!

Graham


Below is a review about a few panorama applications, a reply to
someone else's post in the past, but I never sent it (due to disgust
with humanity as a whole or some other reason at that time). I
thought the information might be valuable to others and they might
get some use out of my past typing effort:



On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 21:59:28 +0100, Donald Gray
wrote:

Some of them exhibit curvature distortion caused by not using a tripod
and pointing the camera down during the sequence of shots (Its a bit
difficult not to point the camera down when photographing the Grand
Canyon from its rim!)


No need to apologize for that. I saw that you use Panorama Maker.
I've not found Panorama Maker to be very effective with difficult
angles nor unique low-contrast lighting situations. Some of the
better panorama stitchers out there can deal with that situation you
are running into.

One newer program I've tested, Panorama Factory v3.3 (from
http://www.panoramafactory.com/ ) seems to be able to handle some
rather difficult situations, and is worth looking into for those
that need a capable panorama stitcher with one-click stitching (like
Panorama Maker). But it also allows for some really extensive
fine-tuning for those that want to dive deeper into getting the best
out of their panorama panels. It's not easy to access nor use their
more advanced stitching options, but it's nice to know they are
there. I mention it only because it's a very capable program, with
simplicity of use like the one you are used to, but it won't solve
your curved horizon problems (usually).

Above all I've found that Panorama Tools (freeware) with the PTGUI
front-end to be able to handle the most complex situations, but it's
not a one-click program. It might be more learning than people care
to take on. However, the existence of this software is why I felt
the need to reply to your post.

(Important note: Ipix software company has recently tried to sue the
author of Panorama Tools, to get his amazing freeware off the net
(which he has done to avoid the hassle). A strong-arm bullying
tactic. Spread the word to boycott this asinine Ipix company.
Practices like that should given zero-tolerance in a community of
artists and creative professionals. Let Ipix know this by helping to
destroy any gain they had hoped to make. Avoid their software at all
costs, even if they release it for free one day. No doubt they will
just change their name to distance themselves from their
self-created bad press, but their values and behaviors will follow
them like **** in hiking-boot cleats. Now, back to the more
important information...)

The problem you describe in the Grand Canyon rim not being linear
can be handled with PTGUI. To solve this: In the program I will
define a final panorama image much larger vertically than the
original panorama, then shift the whole panorama either up or down
within that new image space. Effectively creating a new
false-horizon and image-area that wasn't there when I originally
took the photo. PTGUI will do its best to try to set a new horizon
for you when you select a higher or lower center-point for the whole
panorama, leveling out that curved horizon problem. Then just load
the final panorama into any editor and crop out the large black
blank area (above or below) your panorama image. I'll sometimes
purposely shoot panorama shots on a non-leveled tripod just to
maximize the picture data, knowing that later I can use this trick
in PTGUI to still get flat horizons.

Another panorama maker that has shows some promise for other
difficult panels is PixMaker Pro from www.pixaround.com
For some reason it has been able to handle some situations that the
above 2 cannot handle. This program has an option to adjust the
"tilt" angle of the original panels if taken from a tilted camera,
but I've not played with it enough to know how well it can correct
for errors like you are experiencing. It's worth checking out
though. The program and interface seems a little too simplistic, but
it's done one or two panoramas for me that no other program would do
accurately, for one reason or another.

I've probably tested every panorama maker program out there by now,
and I'd have to say, these 3 rate highest on my list, PTGUI (running
Panorama Tools), Panorama Factory, and PixMaker Pro (in that order).
Each can do something the others cannot handle, and they do it well.

I thought you might like this info if you are getting bit by the
panorama-bug. It's been a daunting task for me to test each program
over the years to find their strengths and weaknesses, and to weed
out the real lame ones. This info might save you some headaches.