Panoramic photography has emerged as a new type of photography. To anyone who does not know how it works it is a wonder of modern technology; but photographers know it is not that tricky. During recent years they have made 360 photography so successful that we can’t even think of a realtor site without a panoramic tour of different houses and apartments.
Panoramic photography can be described as “very long pictures”. Although it may not sound very well, that pretty much describes this type of photos. Aspiring photographers are constantly looking for ways of improving their panoramic photography skills. It is very important that they start with simpler pictures, such as landscapes – very early, just as the sun rises, mist or water reflections. As well as that keeping a scrapbook with pictures from magazines they like may also be used for inspiration. Panoramic photography classes or books always come in handy.
The easiest and most common way to do panoramic photography (also known as pan photo) is with a panoramic tripod head. If you are a professional photographer, you could try the one from Manfrotto's, but if you only do it as a hobby, the nodal ninja (www.nodalninja.com),
or the Panossaurus are good options (they allow all the movements as the professional ones, but they are smaller and more fragile) They are sturdy enough to hold up to a Canon 5d or a Nikon d200, which is excellent!
But a good tripod head and a reliable camera are not enough in order to make a panoramic tour. So you need to take the photos! When you take each make sure that you over lap each one by at least 50%. This way when you use the software to stitch it all together it will be so much easier. You need to practice in order to get the best results, but it will sure be worth it!
Try going outside for the first few times. Take several photos with your camera (a rotating camera would be even better, as it swivels around a pivot; but standard tripods are just as good). Make sure the intervals are right (45% to even 50%. Have in mind that the tripod has to be mounted exactly on the central axis of the camera lens. If the tripod is even a bit off, the photos will not stitch properly. As well as that, the un – centered mount will cause parallax errors in objects that are closer to the camera. Once you have taken the pictures check the result; you can also change the location and take a few other sets of photos before taking the next steps.
When the photos are ready you can start compiling them into a single file by using one of the many applications out there. PixMaker, Picasa and Photoshop are just a few of these applications that basically do the same thing: they stitch the photos together, allowing you to create a panoramic tour.
