Panorama

Dear Mohsen, I think you should use the photography related forums, this forum is to help the members use the site. You would probably want to ask this from the guys at the "Photography Practice & Technique Forums".

Have fun.

what you want to know is how to make a QTVR(quicktime virtual reality). to do that you need to know how to do a pamorama first. the QTVR is a version of a panorama. see below.

To do panoramas-

for panoramas- -use tripod. you must keep it level with the horizon. if your tripod does not have a level builtin then buy one that slides into your flash hotshoe. again make a max effort to get the camera level.

-for exposure. set the exposure by pressing halfway and noting the fstop and shutter speed. you are trying to find the brightest part of you panorama scene to be. once you have found the brightest check the fstop and shutter speed. put camera into manual metering mode and use those settings. do not change them for any part of the panorama.

-lens selection. i shoot mine with a 20mm. note: SHOOT THE LENS VERTICALLY. this is the only way to get some vertical scene, otherwise the panorama will be shaped like a hotdog. this is why i went to a 20mm. in vertical you are cutting your angle of view way down. my tripod has degrees engraved in the mount, i was shooting at only a 15 degree spread and in looking at the shots before stitching there wasn't that much overlap. i later shot panoramas with 35mm 50mm 70mm; the hot dog effect was more pronounced. the panorama itself did work. With higher mm lens you would have to go to double rows.

-determine in advance the center point of the scene and try to go X number of shots on each side of it. for me with my setup a 120 degree scene is 7 shots; the center and 3 on each side. if i go with a 35mm lens then a 120degree scene will take 13 shots. no matter what lens you use realize that you are adding only 33% new scene with every shot, the rest is overlap for the right and left adjoining shots. the only exceptions are the end shots in the whole scene. it is possible to add another row above and/or below the first one. this would help the vertical look especially if you are using a 50mm or longer. for multiple rows are the same as 1 row, but you know have to overlap on the vertical as well as the horizontal. you must make sure that there are no gaps.

- i stick my hand in front of the lens and shoot, then shoot the panorama, the 7 shots, then put hand in front of lens and shoot. later i know that everything between hands is the panorama.

-i have used cs2 or the panorama factory software to make the panorama. for either couldn't be simpler simply select the shots and it does the work. this is where using a level pays off. the software is leveling the scene to make the long rectangle, but if the scene was not as level as possible in the first place the vertical becomes less and less(you end up with hotdog shape). so having the tripod and camera level is very important. also when mount and shooting vertically make sure the camera really is vertical, carefully check by looking threw the viewfinder. some tripod vertical adjustments actually go past true vertical, mine does even though it says 90 degrees.

-be sure to use a cable release or the selftimer.

-on focusing- what i do is to simply preset the 20mm lems at infinity, because of depth of field everything from 5.64ft to infinity is in focus at f11.0 distance 200ft. you can also use a hyperfocal focus setup. but thanks to the DOF table, just setting the lens at infinity is simpler. -i left WB alone, that is set at AWB; or you can use a preset setting like sunny or cloudy, but once set do not change it till panorama shots are done.

-online depth of field calculator available here- http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

-parallax error. It is usually not so much a problem outdoor shooting. This is because the distances are greater than inside. In any event if you shoot panoramas outside and at short distances OR any inside any building, you should be thinking of getting a panorama tripod head. This is to eliminate parallax error. I have the panosaurus pano head, cheap durable, and it works.

-for panoramas, the software i use is either panorama factory orPTGui or cs2. the one that works best for me is PTGui. i have since gotton PTGuiPRO, expensive but worth it. has many features and abilities that the other software does not have, including the ability to process 360 and 720degree spherical panoramas, plus many projection types and it does raw and hdr panos.

-on post shooting work. If jpeg DO NOT PP. just use as is. After the pano is made then pp as desired. If raw, does your panorama software do raws? Not all do. If yes raw batch convert only. Do not adjust any 1 shot. All shots must be the same before the pano is made, then do any pp you wish but on the whole pano.

If any pp work is done to the pano before stitching then there will be a difference in the sections, and you could(probably?) get vertical bands where the sections join.

Any questions, please ask. gary

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QTVR=QuickTime Virtual Reality

i have made some QTVR for my own use and showing to my relatives and friends. On my pc. Use google for QTVR and you will get websites that have MANY MANY QTVRS to see. They can be seen using Quicktime 7.x or later.

it is really not a problem if you happen to have the right gear. i use a 6mp dslr, the panasaurus panorama head, a tripod, cable release, and a sigma 12-24mm zoom at the 12mm setting. (i already have my lenses calibrated to be used on the nodal point. i know the numbers, just dial them in). for the QTVR i make 2 complete circles, of 12 shots each, each with the pano head tilted up 30degrees and tilted down 30degrees. except for a very small black circle at the top and bottom, it is is a 720degree spherical panorama. in the future i am thinking of getting the 8mm sigma or the 10-17pentax lens. this would eliminate the black circles. once setup the shooting takes maybe 10-15minutes.

prior to running in the software, i batch process the images, jpegs, in pe6. i use auto level, auto contrast and auto sharpening. once in PTGuiPro they are rotated right side up as a group.

it is then run in PTGuiPro7.8 software to make the finished result. the software runs about an hour or a little less to make the circular image, the QTVR. It is saved as a special format in a folder, and can be viewed in Quicktime 7.x or later. The quicktime 7.x or later can turn the image in a circle or move it vertically.

note hdr QTVR are possible but then you would be shooting multiple exposures of each frame. PTGuiPro will make them. there may be other software that does, but PTGuiPro is the only one that i know that does.