Filed under: Uncategorized — Penny Adams, Photo Editor at 12:01 am on Thursday, September 10, 2009
Impact With Panoramic Photography: by Professional Photographer Kevin McNeal
Sometimes a single image does not capture the essence of what you are trying to achieve. You are standing on the top of a cliff and the view in all directions is just spectacular. You think to yourself this would be nice to have as one image. Well this is possible in photography with panoramic imaging. Panoramic photography is much wider or taller then a traditional image and is the process of stitching several photos together to make one image that encompasses the whole scene. In the days, of film photography there were dedicated cameras for panoramas but now in the age of digital photography the process entitles several images put together horizontally or vertically. In this article, I will discuss how to shoot a series of images then use an image editor in post processing to automate the process to combine all of the images into one.
Before stitching images together it is essential to learn how to properly shoot for a panorama. If images are not done right at this point, it really makes it hard for an image editor to combine the images into a single one. Although it can be done by handholding a camera this is not suggested. Handholding the camera results often in misaligned images that the image editor cannot work with. This is why when doing any sort of panorama photography I use a tripod. Using a quality tripod that is firm is of the utmost importance so that movement is minimized. Tripods that are lighter or of less quality are more likely to shake in conditions of conditions such as wind, loose ground, or any movement around the tripod itself.
When it comes to shooting a good panoramic image there are a few important things that are vital to the success of the image.
First, when lining up the images it is important to make sure that the camera is level to the horizon and that the camera remains level on the horizon through the process. If you have trouble deeming whether your images are lined up straight with the horizon the use of a bubble leveler can be used. It is a device that fits in the hot shoe grip that assists you in making sure images are lined up with the horizon. The next step in shooting a panoramic is to make sure that you overlap the images. Not only should you overlap the images but also important to overlap them by a sufficient amount. I find that at least overlapping by twenty percent allows for some margin of error when it comes to processing in the image editor. Before pressing the shutter button try to visualize where you would like to start and end and how many images you would like to take. Because you are working with a wider view it is more essential then ever to make sure that everything that is contained in the image strengthens the image. What this means is that everything has a purpose in the image and that you do not include something just because it makes it wider or taller. Compositionally, you want to look for include elements in the image that help connect the images and tell a story. Many panoramic images fail because the lack cohesiveness amongst the elements. Ask yourself if everything in the image connects and whether its inclusion strengthens the image. Start by looking for two points on either end of the scene that frame the image. Specifically, I will try to frame the image encouraging the viewer to lead the eye through the image and not out of it. Using any element that frames the image is where I begin and end. A critical step in the process of panorama photography is to make sure areas where overlap occurs, avoid any elements that are more difficult to blend due to distinct features. More specifically, I do not want to cut main elements in half and then try to stitch together later. So I look to overlap areas that lack any definable features in the image that can make blending more difficult for the image editor later.
A vital aspect of panoramic photography are the settings on the camera. Some basic rules exist that make the process smoother later in the image editor. First, make sure to keep the aperture the same throughout the series of images. If you start at f/16, make sure that all the images are taken at f/16. If you change the aperture then you change the depth of field, which can hinder the stitching of images. Another important ingredient to successful blending is to make sure to keep the white balance on the same setting and to avoid auto white balance. The reason to avoid auto white balance follows that as you shift your camera along the horizon the auto white balance changes to compensate in each scene; when the images are later blended the shift in white balances makes the blending much more difficult. Another element to success is to avoid using a polarizer. The reason for this is, as the polarizer is shifted along the horizon the degree of polarization will change depending on the direction of where the sun is. Most polarization occurs when the sun is ninety degrees to the photographer and gradually less as it gets farther from this. When the images are combined later in post processing the uneven polarization is evident and hard to get remove. So make the process simpler in post processing by avoiding a polarizer.
An effective approach to creating impact in your panoramic photography is to change the perspective of the image. Most photographers shoot a panoramic image with a wide-angle lens and blend a series of wide-angle images together. That would make the most sense if you were trying to include as much of the scene as possible in the panoramic. The problem with the wide-angle approach is that it suffers from too much negative space having everything included. The approach that I suggest to really add impact is to take a series of images with a mid-level telephoto lens in the 50mm – 200mm range and rotate it on a vertical perspective. The telephoto lens compresses all the elements together and allows the image to include just the most important elements. This allows the viewer the opportunity to really feel like they are in the image rather then witnessing the scene from afar. This approach is just one of the styles to panoramic photography but is a viable option when trying to push the boundaries of creativity.
Once everything is done in-camera, the next step in the process of panoramic photography is the post processing in an image editor. There are several image editors out there that do a good job but the one that works best is Adobe Photoshop. More specifically, the latest version, Photoshop CS4, achieves the best results and automates the process so that all that is needed is to select the images and choose Photomerge. With the introduction of stitching in Photoshop years ago, blending was often not seamless and was more trouble then it was worth it. This allowed for many third-party programs to emerge that were dedicated only to panoramas. These included ArcSoft Panaramo Maker, EasyPanoweaver, and Ulead Cool 360. Presently, there are many third party programs that do a good job but with the advances in the latest version of Photoshop CS4 I would recommend doing it all in Photoshop. With new advances like Auto-Align Layers and Auto-Blend Layers that combine to effectively automate the process there is no need to go outside of Photoshop. The following is just one of the ways to post process a panoramic image in Photoshop CS4.
1. Select the images you want to stitch together in Adobe Bridge or Adobe Lightroom. Click on the first image and then shift-click on the last image.
2. Then under the Photoshop menu at top select Tools > Photoshop > Photomerge
3. You will then be presented with a Photomerge option box
4. This is where you get to choose the layout, blend the images together, and the files you have chosen.
5. For general purposes I leave it on Auto, check off Blend Images Together, and press OK.
6. This process will merge the images together and output a single image into Photoshop.
7. Once in Photoshop you are free to crop, edit, save, and print the panoramic image.
The following article is just one of the many ways to do a panoramic image, and as the process grows in popularity so does the methods to achieve the results. The best way to achieve success in panoramic photography is to try things out for yourself until you find a system that works best for you.
A series of Kevin McNeal’s wallpapers/screensavers can be found in the Webshots Pro Shots gallery.
