Creating panoramas

Quamichan Lake near Duncan, BC.

The above photograph is a panorama - a wide view of a scene.  It is difficult to capture a panorama with an ultra wide angle lens in a single shot as the extreme distortion renders the background very small, often to the point of insignificance.  It really depends on the situation, but when wanting a wide shot of an area which really catches me I find there is nothing better than creating one on my own.

The process is relatively simple, but a few pointers helps the process along quite a lot.  The basic process involves taking a number of photos of a scene, each one progressing through an arc, with a modest amount of overlap between shots.  I typically take between six to ten photos, depending on the width of the scene and the focal length of the lens being used.  A longer focal length requires smaller angles of change and more images, but you are paid off with a larger background relative to the foreground.  Lower focal lengths means that you can rotate through your shooting arc with less shots, but the background is smaller relative to the foreground.

I used a focal length of 38 mm on a full frame camera to capture the seven or so images used in compiling the panorama.  After converting the raw images to usable jpegs I used the photomerge feature of photoshop to connect the images.  There are a few options you can play with to help with the rendering, but the auto feature often does a pretty good job.  I also use the reposition option regularly.  After the merge has been successful you may have to go in and fix any glitches.

In terms of shooting panoramas, below is a list of techniques that I have developed over time.

  1)  Set camera to manual exposure mode; as you rotate through the exposure arc your camera may alter aperture or shutter speed in an auto mode.  In manual mode the exposure will be the same in all photos.
  2)  Before starting, make sure you are happy with shutter speed and aperture.  Rotate through the arc and pay attention to how those values change.  Adjust exposure up or down depending on the situation.
  3)  Pick a focus point according to what your depth of field issues are.  I like to use a smaller aperture if possible and pick a point of focus to give me a wide range of focus.
  4)  Set your camera's lens to manual focus.  This way the focus will not change as you move through your shots.
  5)  A tripod is very helpful, although not mandatory.  Rotate through the arc and make sure your horizons are where they are supposed to be for the start and finish.  Make sure the camera is level; I use a camera with a level indicator in the viewfinder to help me keep everything square.
  6)  Once it is all set up, determine how much of an arc each shot will take in.  I do this by looking at a point in the previous image where the next shot is to begin.  I start out left and move right in my panoramas.
  7)  If you are using a tripod lock your vertical and angle of inclination gimbals locked so that the only motion to occur will be rotation in the horizontal plane.  If your tripod has an angle indicator for rotation you may want to predetermine what rotational angle you will use.
  8)  Start your run.  Once you are all set you should be able to compete the shots in less than a minute, depending on shutter speed.
  9)  Import into photoshop or other program which allows stitching and do your work.

What I love and hate about panoramas done this way is that you end up with absolutely huge files, especially if you save them with no reduction as a tiff file.  It is not uncommon to end up with a 200 or 300 megabyte file.  However, take that image and print it on a wide format printer with roll paper and you can produce some incredible images.  Stunning to be sure.