PANO Question
Aug 21, 2014 10:34:53 #
Everything I read says to shoot in manual exposure. Doesn't make sense to me. If, for example, a 5 image pano: Which metering method? I would think "average". Where do I point the lens in each exposure to keep the group of 5 even? It seems to me that setting the camera on auto exposure would give me the balance between all 5 exposures that I'm looking for. Why am I wrong? I tried my 1st pano using my little point "n shoot all aoutomatic Canon that I had in my pocket & except for some mis allignment (hand held) and very easily fixed banding. It turned out OK. Picture below.
Aug 21, 2014 10:37:18 #
TheDman
Loc: USA
If frames of a pano are shot at different exposures, you're going to see banding (I'm sure there's a better term for it) where the program stitches the frames together. Shooting all of the frames at the same exposure ensures invisible stitching transitions.
Aug 21, 2014 10:47:24 #
Aug 21, 2014 10:53:31 #
Aug 21, 2014 10:54:07 #
wireman8 wrote:
If using auto, settings could change between shots.
Exactly.
If you meter your 5 shots manually, you can decide what to set your exposure at. Auto will try to make each one have the same brightness level, which you know, as you look around it changes.
With a manual exposure the resulting images will also change, but that is what should happen.
Aug 21, 2014 11:07:16 #
wireman8 wrote:
Not just could, almost certainly will. Try watching the exposure as you pan across the landscape - one side will be brighter than the other. This makes matching the shots that much more difficult.If using auto, settings could change between shots.
Ditto for white balance, although if you shoot RAW you can make them all the same in the RAW convertor.
Aug 21, 2014 12:12:55 #
dnathan wrote:
Everything I read says to shoot in manual exposure... (show quote)
I like that picture.
:thumbup:
Aug 21, 2014 15:39:36 #
dnathan wrote:
And that is your answer. It turned out OK. Picture below.
Depending on whom you ask you will get different answers. Since you ask a broad audience you will get conflicting answers when.. well, 'it depend'.
There is a forum specialized in panoramas, you may want to ask there too as these folks make panorama seem easy.
Personally I have broken all the rules of panoramas using not only variable exposures but also variable focusing points. dof always stay the same though - WIDE -.
Aug 21, 2014 19:26:28 #
The answer always remains the same.
You choose OR the camera chooses.
If it chooses, you deal with.
If you choose, you can adapt.
It never "depends",
it may work out, or it may not.
BUT
the final choice is the photographer's.
Whether it is to let the camera guess, or to decide for themself, what is "correct".
You choose OR the camera chooses.
If it chooses, you deal with.
If you choose, you can adapt.
It never "depends",
it may work out, or it may not.
BUT
the final choice is the photographer's.
Whether it is to let the camera guess, or to decide for themself, what is "correct".
Rongnongno wrote:
And that is your answer.
Depending on whom you ask you will get different answers. Since you ask a broad audience you will get conflicting answers when.. well, 'it depend'.
There is a forum specialized in panoramas, you may want to ask there too as these folks make panorama seem easy.
Personally I have broken all the rules of panoramas using not only variable exposures but also variable focusing points. dof always stay the same though - WIDE -.
Depending on whom you ask you will get different answers. Since you ask a broad audience you will get conflicting answers when.. well, 'it depend'.
There is a forum specialized in panoramas, you may want to ask there too as these folks make panorama seem easy.
Personally I have broken all the rules of panoramas using not only variable exposures but also variable focusing points. dof always stay the same though - WIDE -.
Aug 21, 2014 21:16:40 #
Thank you all for taking the time to help me. I'm going to shoot a lot of panos using different techniques so I can compare my own. Thanks again.
Aug 21, 2014 21:31:46 #
I shoot them in Auto All the time. But with PS you have a blend mode that stitches them together quite well. Other programs may not do such a nice job.
Aug 22, 2014 02:17:33 #
A panorama I made 5 years ago that breaks all the rules.
I moved while shooting, I adjusted the exposure and I adjusted the focus.
Basically you can do anything if you pay attention. I discovered this mural as I was picking up a rental car. I just pulled my camera out and took pictures while walking to the parking lot, no planning, no preparation. Many of the artifacts (ghost car, missing tree trunk and so forth could have been avoided had I taken the time).
I moved while shooting, I adjusted the exposure and I adjusted the focus.
Basically you can do anything if you pay attention. I discovered this mural as I was picking up a rental car. I just pulled my camera out and took pictures while walking to the parking lot, no planning, no preparation. Many of the artifacts (ghost car, missing tree trunk and so forth could have been avoided had I taken the time).
Aug 22, 2014 05:43:36 #
dnathan wrote:
Everything I read says to shoot in manual exposure... (show quote)
Manual exposure and focus are a given, but when you have extreme contrast, so is raw. Take a reading for the brightest area of the scene, and for the darkest, then, making sure you do not overexpose the highlights, pick an exposure that will work for the entire image, even if it means slightly underexposing some of the image. You want to use your camera in portrait mode, to minimize distortion and provide a greater vertical angle of view, and overlap the images around 50%. Any exposure differences can be easily adjusted during raw conversion, and you can assign a white balance to the whole set before exporting for merging.
Aug 22, 2014 06:11:39 #
It is actually normal for exposure to vary from one side of the frame to the other depending on your relationship with the sun ie sun angle and direction. but yes being in full manual would mean that nothing changes and so your pano software would not have to work so hard.
I recently did a pano with everything in manual and then did the pano in Ps using Auto blend layers in the edit menu and you could see where all the joins where. I sorted that problem when I used the Merge as a Panorama command in Lr.
I recently did a pano with everything in manual and then did the pano in Ps using Auto blend layers in the edit menu and you could see where all the joins where. I sorted that problem when I used the Merge as a Panorama command in Lr.
Aug 22, 2014 06:19:31 #
dnathan wrote:
Everything I read says to shoot in manual exposure... (show quote)
You can get by using what ever mode you want if the scene is evenly lit and the subject and distance is uniform.
If these conditions are not met then manual, in some instance manual everything, ensures uniformity throughout the finished image.
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