lemlakit

Regarding the Panorama > capture the building in a video > then select the frames to stich
Mel Jordan wrote

lemlakit

Regarding the Panorama > capture the building in a video > then select the frames to stich
Mel Jordan wrote

RichinSeattle

Moving the camera won't work well. Each shot will have a different perspective focal point. What you're trying to do is create what an architect calls an elevation (without perspective). However, you might get acceptable results by walking down the opposite side of the street, as far from the building as possible, and taking a large number of shots using your 70 mm. lens. BTW, I'd suggest using PS Elements' panorama ("merge") function rather than a free app.

Chappy1101 Loc: Glenview, IL

Quick note on half your challenge, keeping camera perpendicular to the building. Assuming the builders did a reasonable job, it’s a good assumption that the building walls are very close to vertical. So perpendicular is the same as keeping your camera level (horizontal) and at the same height. If your camera has a level/horizon feature (as Z6 et al) that will be an easy and reliable guide. Otherwise you might consider jury rigging a small level on the tripod. Then there is the distance from the wall...

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Interesting. Peter Lorber did a similar panorama years ago, on film no less. This was of a very long printing press and it entailed a cart on rails, giant film canister and a single exposure with synchronized movement of film and the cart. Might give him a holler: His web site. He is an expert in panoramas of all sorts.

LewSpecker

Make sure you hold the camera vertically. Otherwise you will have a narrow (vertically) narrow pano. It will require more images but a better result. ICE works just as well and faster than Photoshop Merge.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

I don't think most stitching software is set up to handle linear photography--most expect all the shots to have been made from the same location.

SonyDoug

Rich, you're right to a certain extent. When I said I had success, I thought I did, except for the left starting end of the panorama there was a small section that wasn't right, that was easily cropped off. Closer examination further down the pano-image I noticed a few very slight errors or distortions which were barely noticeable to me and would likely not be noticeable to someone not familiar with the building I shot.

As far as the software I've got a theory..... ICE would barely touch the panorama, only about two of the images were used. So my immediate thought is high end software like ICE would not perform the job if it determined there were problems. Where as, the lower end software just continued and made the best of problem areas.

Using my car as a mobile camera platform worked well. Having accurate camera leveling and perpendicularity to the object seem to be most important. Now that Seattle's snow is history I 'll try some other shooting locations.

Steven Loc: So. Milwaukee, WI.

I once read an article about 30-40 years ago of a photographer wanted to do the same as you. What he finally did, or I'll say "attempted", was to mount his film camera on a studio dolly, hold the film release button down, put it on "bulb", release the shutter and started rolling down the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Never saw how it turned out. All I can think of is that he drew the film back into the cartridge while moving and that he must have had two of the dolly's wheels propped up to the curb and pushed. What can I say?

SonyDoug

After yesterday's outing, nice sunny, 45 degree day, I may have the process nailed down. Online research tells me what I want to do is "parallel motion panorama" or "linear panorama". It's an issue that's been discussed a bit and presented solutions mostly needed specialized cameras and software where for certain situations accurate panoramas were critical. For my use I'll be satisfied with a hi-res panorama that a casual observer won't see obvious distortions or discontinuities.

My tentative solution is to establish a parallel line to the face of the building to be panorama'ed. Using my Bosch laser measuring device establish equidistant points on each end of building. Stretch a string/ rope between those points. Mark points on the ground with chalk along the string, then remove string. Use another laser head mounted on tripod that projects a straight line on to the ground allowing the moved tripod assembly to maintain a perpendicular line of sight to building by aligning the projected line on the ground to the chalk marks. All of the items needed are already owned by me. It's just a matter of mounting everything on a heavy surveyor's type tripod which I also have.

Spacing between overlapped images can be pre-determined (calculated) by using the lens's field of view and distance to building. 70mm and a longer lens worked well yesterday. For yesterday's shooting I was able to use concrete seams in a paved area fronting on a building to crudely maintain the important camera alignment. My best panorama yesterday covered 100 feet at 153 mp.

I believe all the setup and a shoot could be done by myself in an hour+ and quicker with a helper.

David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA

It does take specialized software to do linear panoramas. I know the Autostitch tool I used in the past was not able to do those. Not sure about Lightroom.

Ed-arg Loc: Buenos Aires, Argentina

ICE has four camera movements to select: rotating and three diferent planar motion. Looks like one of the planar motion could be useful for your problem.

dvbird

I would consider treating the store front separately from the foreground, and hope the sky is not detailed. Try splitting the images and stitching a foreground,, then a top, then stitch this together. And the foregrounds are not rectangles but trapezoids.