Topic: USA storm panoramics

[Brad Hannon]

Hi all, been using the CS3 panoramic feature on some of my images from 2007 and 2008.  CS2 couldnt do a good job but CS3 can!  here's some from 2007:

[Richary]

Some excellent pictures there. The software that came with my new Canon is supposed to do that as well though haven't played with it yet.

Might have to go and visit my father who has been experimenting with digital photography as a retirement hobby for a few years now and doing that sort of thing.

[Michael Bath]

Lovely Brad - are you able to explain a little more what you mean ?  I assume you are using a stitching feature in Photoshop - how many shots are you joining together ?

[Brad Hannon]

Hi Michael, yes i'm referring to the automate/photomerge function in CS3 which in comparison to the same feature in CS2 is a major improvement from my experience - I had also read this in a review so I was eager to try it.  CS3 seems to be able to match images with different exposures and different saturation levels (typical of my frantic photography when a supercell is looming!), correct these differences and stitch them fairly well - CS2 simply couldnt do it.  The most impressive thing is that it will merge wide angle shots (mine were taken with Canon 17-40L and 10-22 lenses) and then allows you to 'correct' the edge distortion remaining on the sides of your new panoramic image - its brilliant.  I'll put some more examples up when I can.

Richary, obviously im not sure which Canon software you have but the Canon photostitch I have used in the past wasnt bad but had its limitations.  There was little forgiveness if you didnt line up the shots well, get the exposures right for each shot and didnt cope well with merging wide angle shots.  I was left with obvious stitch lines which werent good. If you get a chance, try both and compare and let us know what you think.

[Richary]

It says it is Canon Photoswitch 3.1.

Not sure exactly which software you are using when you refer to CS3. My dad has a Pentax I think it is and finds the software fairly good though the more frames you put together horizontally the more you lose at the top and bottom?

Will have to try a few and play with it. There is probably an ideal setting to reduce lens distortion (like 50mm used to be standard for 35mm cameras). This would be somewhat shorter on the digital.

[Michael Bath]

I'll have to try it out. I normally don't bother with panoramas because it is time consuming and the results are not always ideal. But seems the Photoshop tool does an amazing job.

[Brad Hannon]

Not sure exactly which software you are using when you refer to CS3.

I am referring to Adobe Photoshop CS3 which has a dedicated photomerge function which is pretty intelligent from what I can tell.  On a similar note, CS3's high dynamic range (HDR) function is also pretty cool.

Michael, I highly recommend you do try it, especially with the vistas you have up there.  I can imagine a line coming through with the rolling hills I've seen in some of your shots in panoramic. As I said, you can go quite wide with each shot if you want and CS3 will auto adjust for that and then you can fine tune with the distort controls or obviously you can reduce the angle of each shot (assuming a zoom lens) and take more shots to avoid distortion.  i find the wide angle shots work well because theres less time involved in shooting, hence less chance a dynamic scene like a storm will change between the first and last shots.

[Jeff Brislane]

CS3 is fantastic for stitching allthough there are a couple of other stitching programs out there that have more functionality. I been stitching like crazy since i got CS3 several months back.

Brad, i've found that I can shoot 28 or 35mm and not get any cloud movement between shots. I've even stitched a 7 shot beach time exposure with moving waves and clouds where each shot was about 15-20 seconds and with a little work afterwards it looks fantastic.

Best thing though about stitching with CS3 or other new software is that in a lot of cases i simply haven't used a tripod and seen little difference other than having to crop a little more in the end! Shshsh don't tell anyone though ;-)

Regards Jeff.