360 photography puts everything on display! (- or rather appears to do so). Few blemishes can be hidden by framing the shot. This is part of the beauty of panoramic photography - a much richer environment where 'views' are seen in context and the user is allowed to immerse themselves in the environment. If you dont see the 360 player please rollover the blank white space below.
Panoramic Photography 360
panoramic photography, 360 degree images, examples techniques and equipment
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Interior panoramic of Artist's Home
360 photography puts everything on display! (- or rather appears to do so). Few blemishes can be hidden by framing the shot. This is part of the beauty of panoramic photography - a much richer environment where 'views' are seen in context and the user is allowed to immerse themselves in the environment. If you dont see the 360 player please rollover the blank white space below.
Monday, 28 November 2011
Panoramic photography of historic houses
Permission to create panoramic photographs – please!
One of the main issues is to get permission. Good panoramic photography just can't be done whilst the custodian is looking away. To obtain permission it's important to present a credible 'project'. What are you hoping to achieve? How will the images be used? What's in it for the house?
The trouble with panoramic photography in Historic Houses
Historic houses are often museums, they hold valuable collections that must be cared for and protected and they are open to the general public. This may require you to work in low level light conditions, within barriers and with the risk of people getting in your way.
Research the property before the day of the shoot. Get a clear idea of the shots you want, so you don't spend too much time setting up in the 'wrong' location. Talk to staff about busy periods so you can avoid those. Travel light and agree an area where you can safely 'dump' your things. Take out public liability insurance!
The crucial bit is to get the first images done although they may not be perfect due to restrictions imposed on you. But, you will soon find a willingness to 'extend' your permission if you supply the House with images they can utilise on their website or in brochures.
- Do your research
- Get permission
- Avoid busy periods
- 'Travel light'
- Take out public liability insurance
- Give something back
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Panoramic Photography for Micro-stock
Section of 360 panoramic image |
Panoramic images can be square
Very appealing and striking images can be made by using different projections when stitching panoramas. Some effects may be too extreme but used creatively they can enhance the message the image conveys.
The farm is a small universe |
Panoramic wide angle view of building and garden |
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Panoramic photography, Level it up
Its amazing how many cheap and poor quality hot-shoe levels that are out there. What's the point of an inaccurate spirit level? Well, there is no point, its a waste of time, money and effort using a hot-shoe level that isn't accurate.
Panoramic image of Historic Anchers House in Skagen in Denmark |
I Love my Manfrotto two axis bubble level
Manfrotto produce quality equipment and their spirit level is no exception. The Manfrotto two axis bubble level is precise and fits snugly on the hot-shoe. The Manfrotto level is 5-10 times more expensive than the cheapest on the market and look deceptively similar, but it has one major advantage - it is accurate!
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Panoramic Pan-head, Nodal-Ninja
I love my Nodal Ninja
The Nodal Ninja range offer super quality and accuracy for its relatively low price tag. It is sturdy and easy to use even with a large professional SLR.
You will soon realise that accuracy is the mantra, when creating successful large scale panoramic images. A sloppy approach to recording image sequences will see you spend hours lining up images and retouching bad stitching. This is where a quality panoramic pan-head enters the picture.
A good pan-head:
- allows you to accurately align the rotation of your camera to its optical centre
- provides easy to use, accurately spaced and adjustable rotation increments
- is sturdy even with a large SLR mounted and does not start to wobble in a breeze
One bad image can ruin a whole panorama! Or have you tearing your hair out in frustration spending hours in Photoshop.
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Panoramic Photography, the Tripod
Panoramic photography and tripods are inseparable especially when recording HDR where perfectly aligned multiple exposure are required.
Solid and Sturdy Tripod
The point of a tripod is obviously to have a sturdy support. Attach a panoramic pan-head on top of your tripod and maybe a levelling device and suddenly the weight of the camera is moved 30-50 cm above the base plate. This will affect not only the sturdiness of the tripod but also put strain on every nut and bolt in the tripod. But whilst you want your tripod to be solid you also have to consider its footprint.
Tripod Footprint for Panoramic Photography
If you record 360x360 degree panoramic images your tripod will feature in the final image. The footprint of the tripod is therefore an issue. The smaller the tripod footprint the less time spend in Photoshop cloning it out - but the narrower the tripod spans the more susceptible it is to movement.
One obvious place to cut down on the footprint is the tripod camera head. You may opt for a simple ball head with no large handle protruding out from the tripod but they can be a pain to adjust when trying to level the camera. Personally I prefer a compact camera head with small controls. It doesn't add to the footprint and it makes levelling much easier.
Tripod essentials for panoramic photography:
- Sturdy also when the camera is placed above the base level on panoramic pan-head
- Well designed joints and operations that can be locked solid without effort
- easy and flexible adjustment controls for levelling
- Small footprint
The Manfrotto range consist of well designed quality tripods that balance weight, sturdiness and footprint well for the money. The joints and controls are fluid and easy to operate and they lock solid without effort. I didn't opt for the carbon option, although it would have been easier to carry, I find it a bit too light and expensive. Having said that, another tripod 'must have' is a small hook from which you can hang your camera bag, not for convenience but to add weight thus sturdiness to the tripod
There are loads of other quality tripods on the marked and the important thing to stress is that you get what you pay for – and cheap tripods just aren't worth bothering with – most are useless when it comes to panoramic photography
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Panoramic stitching software
Achers house in Skagen, Denmark, panoramic photograph of living room |
Stitching software comes in different configurations and some will include VR output to HTML or Flash. Personally I prefer stitching software that concentrates on the stitching part. Software that does both stitching and VR tours often involves a compromise in either the stitching or the VR part or come with a hefty price tag.
I love my PTGUI
PTGUI is based on Panorama Tools and is a specialist stitching Software. I have stitched perfect panoramic images consisting of over 250 high resolution RAW images, doing nothing more than selecting the files and output options. But, its when things go wrong that I really appreciate the ease of the manual controls.
PTGUI analysis stitching points and will guide you to the problematic ones with no more than a double-click. When creating manual stitching points the software will suggest an appropriate match making the process much faster.
The software automatically recognises multiple exposures. It links matching images and enables good exposure control and output to HDR.
When I have pre-viewed a stitch and I am happy with all alignments, I love playing with the perspective options. As I supply micro stock sites, where very wide images don't perform well, the ability to quickly change perspective and cropping is essential for me.
Panoramic stitching software essentials
- Works with large number of files, large file sizes and RAW images
- HDR ability, automatically linking sets of multiple exposures and good exposure control
- Powerful and accurate automatic alignment of images with options for manual adjustment of stitching points
- Flexible perspective settings
- Good blending ability
- Ability to output very large uncompressed files
- Batch stitching