Panorama Photography, This is fun...
I bought the Nodal 3 Panorama head when my PowerShot G7 was my main camera. Panorama photography is something that fascinates me and its something I really enjoy doing. When I speak about panorama photography then its about really using the right equipment and software to get the best results. On this one I am a little old fashioned......
Setting up the panorama adapter for the first time after a long period I had to go search for a few answers. Doing that I came across a site that just invited me to spend way more time than what I intended to. I then decided to contact the owner of the site, John Houghton, and to ask him if he would be interested to write something for the Photography is fun website. John replied and said he would think about writing something. John also agreed to answer questions on our forum should any one of you like to give him feedback or if anyone has a question on taking panorama images.
John replied and included a short article:-
Photography has long held a fascination for me, ever since my first camera in the 1950's. I'm best described as a keen amateur (a dabbler, really), as I have never worked as a professional photographer. In recent years, I've concentrated more on panoramic photography generally, and 360x180 degree spherical panoramas in particular.
My first attempt at a serious panorama was made in about 1970. At that time I was using a 35mm Mamya SLR and b&w film. From my 8th floor apartment, I took some shots (without a tripod) of central Stevenage New Town, which was still under construction at that time. After developing and printing the shots, I laboriously trimmed and aligned the prints, and glued them onto a cardboard mount. The result was moderately impressive, though the visible joins spoiled the effect somewhat.
In 1999, I bought my first digital camera: an Olympus point-and-shoot. I only kept it a week before exchanging it for a better Nikon, but my test shots included the wheel of the new London Eye being hoisted ever so slowly into position:
By 2004, I had acquired some experience with Photoshop, Panorama Tools and PTGui, so I dug out my old Stevenage panorama negatives, scanned them into my PC and stitched them with PTGui to get a reasonable print at long last:
I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to stitching, so I try to use a tripod and panorama head (Nodal Ninja 5) to avoid parallax problems, especially indoors. However, some popular visitor attractions only permit the use of a handheld camera. The London Eye is one such place, and shooting a handheld panorama in the confined space of one of the pods, with people inside moving around, is extremely challenging. It took three or four days to stitch a set of images to my satisfaction, (with much Photoshopping), but I was quite pleased with the final image:
It's probably my most difficult stitch to date. Of course, it really needs to be viewed in a spherical viewer for the best effect, as at my web site:
John
http://www.johnpanos.com