Large Scale Panoramics

the only way I found to stitch the pictures together for these wrecks was manual mode with photoshop – by lighting problems, it allows to change luminosity for each picture which help a lot for a global homogeneity!

Claude

the only way I found to stitch the pictures together for these wrecks was manual mode with photoshop – by lighting problems, it allows to change luminosity for each picture which help a lot for a global homogeneity!

 

Claude

 

 

Claude send me your pictures from Rubis..... i will try to stich them with stiching software (some are very powerful)

Very interesting thread............ Since 1 month, I'm trying to make QTVR underwater: I really LOVE THEm!!!!

making underwater panorama isnt as hard as it seems. But there is a lot of editing work after the dive!!!! But making 360x180 panorama is a torture!!!

 

Here is some samples (Im working on the technique so I hope next panoramas would be better)

 

Inside the Wreck This one was really hard to make.....

 

3 m stop this one too was very difficult to stich: software cant find controls points to stiche because there is only blue.....

 

Mediterranean landscape Dont know why music loop is playing too fast on my browser

 

 

I tried hotspots too....... but need to work again on it......

0

Montremian landscape

 

 

I love this one..... really relaxing ambient and good memories

Montremian landscape cylindric

 

 

Hop you enjoyed them..... I cant stop myself playing with my QTVR....its so fun......

This is nice. What software tools here..Quicktime Pro and?

Anyone have any input on which application is best; Autopano Pro, Double Take, Panorama Factory or even just Photoshop CS3?

I use Panavue Image Assembler and have been well satisfied with it.

It adjusts exposure and does a really nice job blending. Here are a couple of handheld ones that I did. Click the image to see larger ones.

Sunset in Boynton Beach Inlet:

Here's one of an orchestra that is particularly difficult because of movement. Panavue did a great job:

-- Martin

http://www.pbase.com/mschiff

Claude send me your pictures from Rubis..... i will try to stich them with stiching software (some are very powerful)

I've tried a lot of them... as soon there are no real distinct repairs (like for the sub), they are lost in their work!

Stitching 3 pictures together is not the same as stitching 30...

This is my first large scale panoramic, the ship is just over 100meters long at a depth of 43 meters. I think I finally found the exposure trick to make sure each frame looked fairly similar but I also lucked out that the visiblity remained fairly constant for the photos. There are three divers with doubles near the stern if you can find them that will give you an idea of the scale.

WOW I'm ammazed at both the sub and the wreck, great shots (and some real PS skill).

I assume that they have been shot by swiming along the site not from a fixed point such as a tripod ?

(Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

How many individual photos went into them ? Is it possible to show an unblended shot such as with a bright rectangle around each photo or post one of the single images to get some idea of the scale and amount of stiching done.

Again, WOW, I'm amazed. Going to go for a splash on Saturday and try and do what I'm sure will be a very poor copy.

Cheers,

Richard B.

This was done while kneeling on the sand at 40 meters or so and shooting offhand.

This was done while kneeling on the sand at 40 meters or so and shooting offhand.

Now thats nice !!!!

Dive safe

DeanB

I shoot big panorams topside all the time - stitching up to 20 shots together (even more for HDR panos). Photoshop can do it but it is cumbersome compared to dedicated programs. The best one I have used is RealViz Stitcher Pro. I am about to try a new one called Autopano that is getting rave reviews from panoramic photographers I know.

Both Stitcher Pro and Autopano do automatic color adjustment so you do not have to worry about the exposure. They also do the alignment and other hard parts.

I am going to try do some reef panoramics my next dive trip, but that will not be for several months.

Note that there a couple key points in taking panoramics:

- You want to keep the camera level. One way to do this is to hang a string with a weight (plumb bob) from the camera - that gives you a virtual visual reference to help keep the camera at 90 degrees to the string. I have done this topside, but not done it underwater yet.

- Another trick for taking good handheld panorama is to get a grid viewfinder screen for your camera (Nikon, Canon and most other cameras have them). This gives you a visual reference for lining up the panorama shots. I took panoramas of glaciers in Greenland from a boat handheld and they came out great.

- Allow about 25% overlap between shots. This makes it much easier to stitch. This is also another reason for the grid screen.

- The best resolution comes if you shoot with the camera in PORTRAIT mode, NOT LANDSCAPE. That puts more pixels along the short edge of the panorama. It means you must take more shots, but that is relatively easy. This also affects your lens choice - you may not need a very wide lens.

There are a bunch of good web sites on panoramic photography - do a search and you'll find lots of information. A lot of it will mention finding the "nodal point" of the lens. That is NOT required unless you are doing super critical work very close to the lens, AND you have a tripod. So you can ignore that for UW use.

I've tried a lot of them... as soon there are no real distinct repairs (like for the sub), they are lost in their work!

Stitching 3 pictures together is not the same as stitching 30...

I think autopano pro (APP) is the most powerful for this kind of job: I know the problem (look at my VR in the wreck or the diver in the blue: no repair!!!) But you can help the programm: they cant stich automatically. but you can put "control point" to align images. APP really works fine (it has stichen 1600 pictures together: its the world record).

In my pano, there are 12 pictures to stich..... a lot of time working on APP for sure!

I too use and love autopano pro.

I agree, Panorama Factory has been my mainstay for many years. One can horizontally stitch any number of individual photos together and either create a flat or circular panorama. You can even take several horizontal panoramas and stitch them vertically (change picture orientation eg. rotate right or left 90 degrees) with higher or lower lever panoramas to create and monster panorama. You can then take the panoramas and bring them into Photoshop for some tweaking. Personally, I never use a wide angle lens for panoramas because they introduce a lot of barrel roll and other distortions. Panorama factory can deal with this but it's a lot of extra work and is time consuming. One other thing, manual exposure and manual focus (never change either of these through the shots).

Hope this helps.

Hello, new to the forum, and just wanted to put my two cents. I shoot mainly stitched panoramas, and have tested many stitching software apps, and the best I've found so far is Autopano pro, and would recommend it to anyone.

Here is a vertical sample (though this one was done by hand in Photoshop).....

Visit My Website

Hello, new to the forum, and just wanted to put my two cents. I shoot mainly stitched panoramas, and have tested many stitching software apps, and the best I've found so far is Autopano pro, and would recommend it to anyone.

Here is a vertical sample (though this one was done by hand in Photoshop).....

Visit My Website

Welcome Craig. Some wonderful images you have there.

what an interesting thread, with some amazing images!

I thought I'd give you my lazy persons way of doing it. I have only taken a few panoramas (and none underwater yet) and since I'm very lazy I like the simplest way to take and stitch them. I know that it's advisable to use a tripod but I never have one with me when I decide to take a panorama so I hand hold and try and keep the focus rectangle as straight as I can. I tend to use my 18-200 (at the 18 end) and either portrait or landscape the images (depending on mood at the time of taking them).

When I get home I load all the raws into adobe camera raw and with them all selected tweek the highlights and lowlights to make the histogram look a little better (although to be honest I'm not actually sure if this histogram is for all or just the first one. I think its for all). Then I click the open in photoshop button. Then I auto merge the lot! This method is good for me, no jpgs, no tiffs etc. I wander off and do something else while it processes then I flatten it and do any post processing (like cropping, filling in white patches, applying filters etc). Since I know I'm going to shrink them for display (on the web, I've never tried printing them) I don't mind if there is a few anomalies. On the whole I think photoshop CS3 does a grand job considering what it has to work with

Pre 2008 I used to use Archsofts panorama maker 4 when I had a compact camera (which produced jpgs) but I personally don't like the auto is as good as the PS CS3 auto.

Heres one from my recent trip to Raja Ampat, I took 31 photos for this (lots of overlap) but PS crashed so I used every other one and made this from 16 images, I think ist the only 360 degree one I've ever managed:

http://www.pbase.com/suzy_walker/image/110107314/original

Here are a few more I've taken. http://www.pbase.com/suzy_walker/panoramas