Panorama
Different types of panorama
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In this article I'll go through basics of creating panorama photography and then go deeper
to the ways how I use panoramas in photography. I will go through basics, equipment, software
and techniques I'm using to create panoramas.
In Wikipedia panorama is defined like this:
In its most general sense, a panorama is any wide view of a physical space. It has also come to
refer to a wide-angle representation of such a view — whether in painting, drawing, photography,
film/video, or a three-dimensional model.
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1. Basics
1.1 Types of panorma - Rectangular panorama
These panorama's are presented as rectangle images. There are few reasons to shoot rectangular
panorama's:
- image ratio [Example]
- angle of view [Example]
- increased resolution [Example]
- altering depth of field (not possible to achieve very narrow depth of field with wide angle lens)
[Example]
There are many ways to create rectangular panoramas:
- crop
- stitch: shifting the lens, taking photos at different angles
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Example panorama picture.
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1.2 360 degree VR panorama
In this form of photography viewer sees the the scene like being in actual shooting location. This form of
panoramic images need to be viewed with viewer which typically allows user to rotate the view and some
allow also zooming. 360 degree VR panoramas are very good for many commercial purposes, for example
virtual tours to houses at real estate business.
Personally I consider these panoramas as documentation, not as "fine art" photography. This is because
the panorama made with this technique "just" documents the location since photographer does not
decide the composition of image. Technically these panoramas are very challenging to create.
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Example quicktime VR.
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1.3 Common problem - Parallax
1.4 Common problem - Dynamic range
2. Equipment
2.1 Panoramic tripod head
Panoramic head is needed
My personal selection for panorama head is
Nodal Ninja 5L.
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Example panorama picture.
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2.2 Lenses
Choice of lens depends quite a lot about what are your goals. There is no single good selection
for all kind of usage. Personally I use mostly short tele lenses for panoramas, but if I would have
to shoot 360 degree VR then I would use full frame fish eye, unless higher resolution is needed.
Generally benefit of wider lens is that you don't have to take smaller number of photos, which means
less time shooting images and less time spend on digital darkroom. Drawback of wider lens is that
parallax or tilted rotating axle becomes problem much easier.
Benefits of longer lens are higher end product resolution and less issues if panorama head is not used.
Drawbacks are that you need to shoot more photos, higher stability requirements for panorama head
(vibration from mirror slap etc.). Also longer lenses have narrower depth of field, which can be either
benefit or drawback.
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Example panorama picture: very wide field of view, normal looking picture with ultra resolution&narrow DOF.
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3. Software
3.1Autopano Pro
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In this article I'll go through basics of creating panorama photography and then go deeper
to the ways how I use panoramas in photography.
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Example panorama picture.
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3.2 Hugin
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Hugin is free software for panorama creation, based to Panotools library. I use Hugin when
I need to do things manually.
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Example panorama picture.
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3.3 Photomatic Pro
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Hugin is free software for panorama creation, based to Panotools library. I use Hugin when
I need to do things manually.
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Example panorama picture.
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4. Techniques / Tutorials / Workflows
Here are links to workflows I'm using to create panoramas. Even your choice of software
and equipment is different, you can achieve similar results
- Rectangular panorama
- 360 degree VR
- Narrow depth of field panorma - Method 1: using narrow aperture photo for
control point definition and wide aperture images for final stiching
- Narrow depth of field panorma - Method 2: using shooting pattern and Autopano
Pro's import for GIGAPANO VAI MIKÄ SE NIMI OLI helping the stiching
- Narrow depth of field panorama - Method 3:
- Narrow depth of field panorama - Method 4:
- Sift lens close-up panorama
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Example panorama picture.
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In this article I'll go through basics of creating panorama photography and then go deeper
to the ways how I use panoramas in photography.
|
|
Example panorama picture.
|
Panotools Wiki (also lot of information which is not Panotools specific)
Panoramic headsNodal Ninja
Really Right Stuff
Virtual Reality Photography
360rage - Panorama hardware and heads
Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: part 1
Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: part 2
Cambridge in colour - Digital panoramas: Projections
Panoguide: the guide to panoramas and panoramic photography
SoftwareCubicConverter (QTVR)
PTgui
AutoPano Pro
Panoramafactory
PTmac
Hugin
Panomundo QVTR howto
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