Thanks to all the people that come and contributed to the workshop, ...you will find the three main workshop files at the bottom of this page, plus links to the software used. I'm going over the notes i recorded and will create a tutorial on the main questions that everyone had in order to (hopefully) clarify the answers. I will to this by way of recording the whole procress of greating a major piece, ...so don't look for anything untill spring of 2008.
Thank you. -charlesthomas

Panorama Workshop

Making Large Scale Images From Your Point And Shoot Digital Camera

I'm going to start it off with a demo for using your camera without a tripod, a technique i use for making 'sketches' of locations that i may use later for large scale images.

The camera i'm using for this demo is a 4 mega pixcel Canon G2 which has a 7mm wideangle to a 21mm telephoto setting (35mm equivalent is 34mm to 102mm). The software will be Canon PhotoStitch and a new panorama software called Calico.

Canon has a panorama setting on this camera, ...i think i've used it once, you can go blind trying to use their setup! So, unless you have better than 20/20 vision, I don't recomend it.

If you have read anything about shooting pans, the one thing that is always talked about is the parallax phenomenon. That's when you shoot a scene with near and far elements in it, the camera movement will change thier relationship unless the newel or nodal point (the term used in photography) is the same for each shot. That's why you not only need a tripod, but you need a setup that will keep each shot using that same nodal point. The optical center or nodal is different for each lens and best determined by experimentation.

So, you ask, how to I shoot without a tripod? Well, first you have to setup yourself as that nodal point by using your camera strap to move the camera on your neck in a wide arc and overlap your shots by 50% or more, try to have the subject at the same distance...

...then when it comes time to use the stitching software your going to lie and tell it that you shot the scene not with a 34mm but with a 340mm lens.

You may have to play with your settings, ...I'm using fuzzy math here.

Other points to keep in mind:

  1. Use manual settings for the shoot.
  2. Use a level in your hot shoe to aid in maintaining the horizon.
  3. Find a comfortable shooting position with the strap kept taut.
  4. Relax and shoot, (1) hold the position until the previous shot fades, then move to the next shot. Repeat. or (2) if your camera has a continuous shooting mode, try that.

PART ONE: Making Large Scale Images From Your Point And Shoot Digital Camera

Panorama Workshop Part1/3 ...right click to download (39.9 MB MP4)

PART TWO: Using PhotoStitch and Calico software

Panorama Workshop Part 2/3 ...right click to download (125.8 MB MP4)

PART THREE: Using PhotoShop software

Panorama Workshop Part 3/3 ...right click to download (145.9 MB MP4)

PhotoStitch - PhotoStitch panorama software comes bundled with Canon cameras / printers and is for Windows / Macintosh.

Calico Panorama - Calico is an automatic multi-row stitcher for the casual photographer. Calico was developed with ease of use in mind. Unlike many other stitching programs, Calico does not limit you to a single row of images or a 3x3 mosaic. With Calico, you can shoot several rows of images or a single row. It's your choice. Calico requires OS X.4 (Tiger).

   

© copyright charlesthomas eaton 2007
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