What to do with panos? And an experiment...

<p>From time-to-time I take panos, and judging by what photographers were doing in some national (US) parks I visited recently, other photographers were using the built-in pano feature of their cameras quite a bit. (I think I have such a feature, but I always take discrete shots and then stitch them in Photoshop.)</p>

<p>But, what do I do with the panos? The best thing is to print them very large and hang them on the wall. I'd love to have some 3- or 4-foot-wide panos like that, but (1) I don't have the wall space, and (2) that's too expensive for each pano that I'd like to view.</p>

<p>My guess is that most photographers don't do anything special to view panos, resulting in a display like the photo shown here, taken on a recent trip to Colorado National Monument. Very unsatisfactory to me.</p>

<p>Anyway, I've experimentally come up with another approach, which you can take a look at here:</p>

<p>http://basepath.com/pano/</p>

<p>This attempt scrolls automatically. I have another variation that allows the user to scroll with mouse or a finger (on a tablet or phone), but I like the automatic one better.</p>

<p>I'd love some comments, both on how you prefer to show your panos, and on what you think of my experimental approach. (You can have the source for free. To get it, just display the source for the page in your browser.)</p><div></div>

<p> I use panos to stretch my horizons --- Oh, that was bad!</p>

<p>That's a great approach, which I've seen done for everything from archeological digs to some architectural skylines in Paris and Sydney. I don't do enough panos to learn the tricks of the software scrolling trade. Mostly they end up sitting on the pc for periodic viewing. Thanks for the show though.</p>

<p>I like it. It gives us an additional tool that will be useful. Is the scroll speed adjustable? Will it work in the 360 degree continuously without reversal?</p>

With that moving pano one gets the feeling not that the image is scrolling across the screen but rather that the viewer is turning facing from, say, the western horizon to the eastern horizon taking in a 180 degree view. I assume that is not the case but when at the actual scene you would only glance from left to right to take in the entire scene without much head turning.

<p>I used the panorama feature on my Sony A65 for the first time last February in Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. It took a while to get used to how fast/slow to move but I liked the results. I was shooting with a 10-20mm Sigma lens and was pleased with the results. Anxious to see what a couple of them looked like printed, I sent them on to MPix. I sent them full size file and they could only be printed 5" x 30". I don't know if that was a result of the wide angle or something else. I really wanted them larger as well......</p>

<p>[[ I don't know if that was a result of the wide angle or something else. I really wanted them larger as well......]]<br /> <br /> I think the Sweep Panorama mode on the A65 only produces lower resolution images. For truly large panoramas, you will need to shoot individual frames and stitch them together in Photoshop or similar later.</p>

<p>http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_a65_review/image_quality/</p>

<blockquote>

<p>The Sony A65 allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching and even successfully compensates for moving subjects. The main catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>@steve: The scrolling speed and smoothness are determined by two parameters: number of pixels to scroll at a time, and how often to scroll. I played around to come up with something that would be smooth, as the panning easily overloads even a fast computer. With a very fast computer (faster than my 2009 iMac), it would be possible to adjust the speed. As is, I was happy to come up with something that works. On my Samsung Chromebook, scrolling is too slow. My Raspberry Pi was much too slow. That's with a big screen. On my iPhone or Google tablet, scrolling is very fast, even though those processors are relatively slow, because so many fewer pixels have to be moved.</p>

<p>360-degree continuous scrolling isn't possible with pure HTML and JavaScript. For that, you need lower-level programming.</p>

<p>I make mine the old fashioned way - panning and stitching from still shots. I sometimes add the dimension of HDR, especially for otherwise featureless skies. That's much appreciated by Seattleites, who spend most of their year in relative gloom.</p>

<p>Picture frames are made in 1:3 formats in at least two standard sizes - 8"x24" and 12"x36". Either is a very reasonable size to hang on a wall, and the 1:3 aspect ratio is clearly a panorama, not some ordinary format.</p>

<p>It's fun and easy to make panoramas, but too expensive and a huge burden limited wall space to print most of them. I try to choose subjects which represent a certain geographic area in a unique way. I have sold a few framed prints, but also made them as gifts for friends and relatives. Recent subjects include the Chicago skyline from the Planetarium, the Table Mountains between Golden and Denver, and Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It's not something I do in a hurry, and usually with a digital Hasselblad. Any camera will do, especially if you turn them vertically for maximum detail. If there are any important objects within 75 feet, you must use a nodal slide to avoid ghosting.</p>

<p>Some I've made into Quicktime "movies", where the viewer can scroll horizontally and vertically as though looking around. This is effective for interiors, for realtors, homeowners or just entertainment. The computer doesn't have to be fast if you keep the resolution in line with the monitor - like 1080 px tall. I've made fixed panoramas of rather mundane scenes during concerts for use by the organization in their websites and brochures.</p>

<p>@Edward: I've been thinking of a movie, instead of scrolling the large JPEG. Did you use some app to convert the pano to a movie? I think once I had a slideshow app that could do a "Ken Burns" effect like that... maybe that would work.</p>

<p>I remember doing a couple panos back in the film days where I literally cut the prints with a knife and glued them together. Digital has definitely made the process a lot easier.</p>

<p>What is a nodal slide, please?</p>