Panorama Tips

jcmonty

jcmonty

Member
Hey guys,

Anyone have any tips on how to take panoramas? I have someone wanting me to take a tricky panorama (aerial obviously) which captures both the sunrise from the east and sunset in the west. This would at least require two flights and some slick photoshopping. He wants to use it as artwork on a few large canvases for a wall in his house. So it has to look good :)

However, I haven't much expeirence with aerial photography (just videos - waiting on my shudder trigger). Anyone have tips? I am using a T2i with the 18-55mm IS kit lens. I also have a 50mm prime F1.8 and 55-250 zoom both of which not so hot for videos but may be good for stills. My guess is not since the goal would be to capture a lot of sky. Also, have gopro hero 2, but I want to avoid that because of the image quality.
 


jcmonty

jcmonty

Member
Thanks, I will check it out! My wife is pretty good at photoshop, so hopefully we can come up with something. The sunset/sunrise thing is going to be difficult but pretty awesome if I can do it :)
 

hjls3

hjls3

Member
I happen to live in a valley that runs north south. mountains covered in fall colors east and west of me. i hope you dont mind but i am gonna give it a whirl too. I wont get to it till next week, but it sounds fun. I will share with you my results.
 

jcmonty

jcmonty

Member
Hey man, no problem. It wasn't even technically my idea :) Excited to see what you can come up with. Just make sure to share any techniques!
 

plingboot

plingboot

Member
another vote here for hugin, a very capable app and what i've been using since the demise of kekus panotools.

shooting one aerial pano which stitches correctly is tricky, stitching two from exactly the same point and height will be tough.

personally, i'd be looking to shoot and stitch both as independent panos then overlay them as equirectangular projections in photoshop and work elements from one into the other.

ideally you would be shooting with a full frame sensor dslr, portrait orientation with a high quality full frame fish eye like canon 15mm, a complete pano can be shot in 8 frames including zenith and nadir, so from the air you could probably get away with angling the camera down a little and shooting just 6 frames. less images = less stitches = less problems with paralax errors.

really interesting project.
 

jforkner

jforkner

Member
The key to good pano stitching is to have the lighting in the different frames as close to one another as possible. This typically means shooting in manual-mode so the f-stop and shutter speed are the same---this helps areas like the sky blend together. But this works best when all the frames are shot at approximately the same time.

When shooting east in the morning, west in the evening, then blending, that may not work. I'd suggest shooting a series test shots in the morning to get a range of settings (f-stop, shutter speed, & ISO), then do the same thing in the evening---shots from the ground should be adequate, but should be done about the time you plan to fly. Then compare the two sets and identify the settings that result in a similar sky color. Use these settings in manual mode when you fly. Determining the time-of-day when the sky is similar in brightness & color is something else your test shots can help with (i.e., taking a series of shots, say, every 15 minutes might help).

Another thing you'll have to deal with is shooting the house (or the area where the frames will merge) from the same angle so they blend properly. And as was mentioned in a previous post is the alignment of the images. If you don't shoot from the same height, or very close to it, aligning the shots will be a challenge.

It's a novel idea; but I think, very challenging. Another option may be to take two distinct, but similar, aerial shots of the house at sunrise and again at sunset; then use framing as the way to merge the two photos together. For example, create a diptych (two related pictures in a single frame). If the subject (the house) is the same (even shot from different angles), and the lighting was similar (even though taken at different times of day), the result could be very effective.

Here's a link to a photo lab that does MetalPrint Clusters - http://www.bayphoto.com/metalprints/wall-clusters-splits/arrangements.html. These are several related photos printed to form a particular grouping---they happen to print these on aluminum plates and are quite striking. This concept may work for you and be easier than trying to blend two distinct images. BTW, I've used this lab and the metalprints are excellent.

Hope that helps, and good luck.


Jack
 

plingboot

plingboot

Member
totally agree on manual setting…

when i shoot regular panoramas, everything is locked off at a single setting - focus, aperture, shutter speed and white balance.

I usually take a reading from light and dark areas and settle on a good average, based on test shots.

I then shoot 3 bracketed shots at each angle +2 stops, middle, -2 stops. I set up a project in hugin using the middle set of images then use that as a template to stitch the over and under exposed sets. I'll then use bracketeer to create a faux HDR image - to bring out detail in the shadows and highlights.

An awful lot of time and effort goes into the stitching process and that's with images shot using a 360precision, lens specific tripod head… still there can be errors.

Trying to stitch one pano from shots taken on an ever moving heli will require even more time and effort. It can be done - there's a bunch in russia who do aerial panos from 'real' helis and their work is outstanding. But like many others they've spent a lot of time and effort perfecting their process.

As far as different skies go, you should try to use the enblend stitcher with hugin, that does a pretty good job of blending colours so the joins look less obvious - but expect to do lots of photoshop work too…
 

yeehaanow

yeehaanow

Member
Some things that will help the stitching process is to be as far from objects as possible, (like houses and such)
If you don't have an OSD telling you altitude, then use a piece of string with a weight on it to get the same height in both shots. Someone could even hold the string while you apply just enough throttle to keep it taught. Just be sure it's tied at the CG :).

You have a choice of either shooting portrait style (camera sideways) with a fisheye lens, which will make a spherical panoramic (interactive type) and I believe can also be flattened out to print.. not positive on that.
OR
You shoot landscape mode and you'll need a lens with minimal distortion. The 50mm would work, but it will take many more shots to get the full image. A wide lens will not work well.

It's a great idea and tricky shot to pull off. I might have to try it myself.
 

jcmonty

jcmonty

Member
thanks for all the feedback! A lot of good advice. I am going to give it a whirl and see what happens. I got my shutter trigger in today and took some practice shots. I think it's completely doable for at least a single setting panorama. Combining two will be difficult for all of the reasons stated above, but it's worth a shot!
 





B

broadwing

Member
The process:
Heavy Hexacopter with rotating camera, canon 500d 8 mm lens, 6 photos.
Use PT GUI, Photoshop and convert to SWF.

High 80 - 120 meter.

For the building project in the centre of the town 30 - 40 meter.

Hope this will help,

rgds,
Koos Maring

http://www.broadwing.eu
 

vispaaja

vispaaja

Member

DucktileMedia

DucktileMedia

Drone Enthusiast
ok, I'm impressed! I would think it's hard enough on the ground needing a special tripod mount to keep your nodal point stationary for the 360. But apparently this is not so critical. I found Hugin to be hard to get to work right without very precise camera positioning. Love these! nice work guys.
 

vispaaja

vispaaja

Member
IrisAerial said:
I would think it's hard enough on the ground needing a special tripod mount to keep your nodal point stationary for the 360. But apparently this is not so critical.
Click to expand...

As the distance to the closest object increases, camera position becomes less critical. Small distorsions can be manually fixed in photoshop. Most people worry way too much about getting the nodal point perfectly centered in the camera gimbal.
 



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