Panorama

[erikzen]

I like the idea of shooting a Panorama but I'm usually disappointed with the results. Primarly I think this is due to the unconventional size you inevitably end up with.

This one was done using an Olympus E-520 and the Master software. What I don't like is that each individual photo has rounded edges so to get a straight line a fair amount has to be croppped from the top and bottom.

What do you think of this image and is there a better way to do this?



Edit: I just noticed I didn't crop the image properly and you can see the rounded edge I was referring to in the upper left hand corner.

[guzziknight]

How did you shoot this? Was the camera horizontal, or vertical? Looks to me like it was horizontal. If that's the case, try shooting verticals, and stitch them together. Either way, you'll still lose some of the image to cropping, but with the vertical, you'll get more usable image. You'll have to shoot a few more shots, but it's worth it.

Here are 2 examples.

1. Horizontal shooting:



2. Vertical shooting:

[erikzen]

It was horizontal as you guessed. That is a great tip! Seems so obvious now but I never would have thought of it.

[daq7]

Yeah good tip. Kind of impressive to try to do a panorama of moving water. I am not sure it entirely works, because the water is awfully blown in the highlights.

[erikzen]

You're right, daq7. The whitecaps lose too much detail. Lighting conditions were kind of tough.

[guzziknight]

It was horizontal as you guessed. That is a great tip! Seems so obvious now but I never would have thought of it.

Don't feel bad. I got that from someone else as well, and as soon as he said it, I went, "DUH!"

[mjs1973]

Panoramas are fun. I always orient the camera the opposite way that I'm creating the image. If I'm shooting a horizontal pano, I shoot vertically, if I'm shooting a vertical pano, I shoot horizontally.

When it comes to shooting moving water to make a pano, I try to use a slow enough shutter speed to get a good blur of the water. The smoother the water, the easier it will be to blend the stitched photos together.

[Frog]

It looks better on your flickr page,(click photo). The black background there helps.
I go with the advice already given