Photo Stitching

[lenjames]

As a beginner living in the South of Spain (with some beautiful views of the ''El Torcal'' mountains) can anyone give me some advice and recommendations on some reasonably priced, (or even free) photostitching software? I have downloaded a trial version of ''Arcsoft Panarama'' (about $40) which seems to work well but, any other recommendations please? I use Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9 for editing which, (for me as a complete novice) works pretty well and, i'm happy with the results but, it may be that another Editing programme has this feature included which works well? Any ideas appreciated please.
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[freygr]

Smoky City Design, Panorama Factory, Version 1.23 (version number may be off) is a now freeware. Panorama Factory version 4.XX is under one hundred US dollars. I've been using it since version 2.x and it only has gotten better.

For editing I use PhotoShop LE now PhotoShop Elements. You really need both unless you buy PhotoShop CS or Paint Shop Pro, now Corel. But for basic editing I us the suite that is in my Photo DataBase program: Thumbs Plus and that is around $80.00 US.

Both Thumbs Plus and Panorama Factory can be download (trial) and purchased over the WEB.

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

take a look at this thread

Grand Canyon!

[Chunk]

Besides the software there are some other things that can make stitching panoramas a little less painful.
Zoom in to get a normal perspective rather than wide angle. That makes matching things up a lot easier.
Give yourself a generous overlap. I use about 1/3 overlap between adjacent pics.
Use manual exposure and focus to eliminate differences among your shots.
Place your camera on a level tripod.

And most important...post your work here so we can enjoy it too.

[freygr]

If you really into Panoramas there is a special tripod head which will let you find the nodal point of your lenses so the camera's rotation point is on the lens's nodal point. With a 10mm lens you can take a spherical in something like 9 to 12 exposures, one time around and a up and on down.

Unluckily I can't afford the $500.00 tripod head :-( But for general scenic panoramas were there isn't any objects in the foreground, it's really not a requirement, but for a spherical panorama in a room, it is a required piece of equipment.

[lenjames]

Thank's very much for all the advice/guidance, Chunk, i'll post some on here later after i've played a bit. freygr, like you i sure aint got $500 to spend on a tripod head either so, i'll practice with a steady hand.

I Like this site and it's forums very much. Refreshing to see advice and guidance given by the knowlegable to us learners without the downputting attitude i've seen on some other sites forums, well done.