First attempt at panorama

[The Weird Witch]

I was recently visiting a temple in Kamakura called Hase Dera, when apon climbing up to the very top limit of the temple my friend and I found an amazing view of a near by beach and of the city of Kamakura. This is my attempt of caturing that view. It was taken with my D40 and kit lens, with out the aid of a tripod (forgot to bring it and it was too late when I discovered my mistake to go back for it). I took 4 shots of the view then used a free program to sitch them. I them cropped the result a little in photoshop 7.
I would like opinions on what I could improve on (aside from next time not forgetting my tripod).

[surfingjoe]

The execution is OK. When shooting a few frames for the intent to stitch a panoramic shot together in the future, there is probably a few very important rules.

As you were able to get away without a tripod, I wouldn't recommend the practice. If you want to take a Panoramic shot, that is of great quality, a TRIPOD is a requirement in my book.

Check the metering at each end of the panoramic. The reason I mention to check the meter at each end of the panoramic, is to be careful the number of stops between the first shot and the last shot of a panoramic. Try to make sure the lighting hasn't changed more than one stop throughout the panoramic, Two stops at the utmost.

I think the most common mistake made, is to let the camera meter and expose each frame differently. Shoot aperture priority to make sure the aperture remains the same throughout the shots.

To illustrate, I shot the following panoramic, and made the mistake of letting aperture change between frames. While I corrected the lighting with photoshop, you can still see the aperture change affect in the middle of the shot. Look at the sky in the middle, the blue is un-naturally darker.

[Mstee4eva]

I agree with Surfingjoe! You might also want to lighten the shadow areas in PS! The picture is nice for your first time trying, practice trial and error and a lil advice is how we learn.

[The Weird Witch]

Thank you for your posts.
I will follow all the good advice here.
I have a question though if I might, Surfingjoe in your post you were talking about metering and about how its not a good idea to let the camera take a meter reading for each shot. I was wondering if you could explain the technique one might then use in order to get a good exposure when, lets say for example, that one end of the panorama is two stops away from the other? I imagine that one would somehow shoot the two "extremes" at their respective stops then somehow shot the inbetween sections in the middle of the "extremes"?
Sorry if this is a stupid question, I've got a bad case of insomia and thus haven't slept for four whole days (I don't count passing out from exhaustion sleep though), so forgive me if I'm not grasping the obivious m(_ _)m
Thanks again

[wulf]

Manual mode is your friend. If you want, you can pick a point in the scene and look at the settings the camera picks under one of the more automated modes but then switch to manual and you won't suffer because the camera decides to get clever between shots.

You might also want to take several passes with slightly different settings (shutter speed is probably the best option for adjustment). This won't work if it is a cloudy, windy day and light is changing frequently but otherwise will give you more options when you get back home and want to piece them together. Your shot is underexposed in most areas except where the sun hits the water on the right.

A tripod is certainly useful but not essential as long as your shutter speeds are fast enough to avoid camera shake and you allow a lot of crossover between each individual shot.

Wulf

[The Weird Witch]

Thanks Wulf,
As with everything in life the answer is thinking for yourself isn't it? Not letting the (in this case) camera do it for you
To ask one last annoying question, how does one meter (and set what values one wants) in manual mode? I'd consult my manual but its in Japanese, and I don't have a reading level to that point.

[surfingjoe]

What I mean by metering is to set the camera to aperture priority and observe the shutter speed selected by the camera throughout the panoramic sweep. Hopefully the shutter speed hasn't changed by more than 2 stops (unless that is an effect your looking for like the suns rays splashing across water (as Wulf mentioned). If the shutter speed changes more than a few stops, then the panoramic sweep may have lighting changes between frames that are near impossible to match up. I've had it happen.

After seeing the shutter speed selected by the camera in aperture priority, I would then set the camera to manual. And Wulf is spot on about bracketing in manual. Shoot at an aperture that is appropriate for the landscape and a shutter speed that is within the range of light for the setting and then sweep the shots. Then bracket the shutter speed and sweep again.

There are niche products, that are made for tripods that make sure the sweep of shots are kept level. I consider keeping the camera level on a tripod a must, because when hand holding throughout the sweep, you can't help but have your camera go up and down as you sweep. The tops and bottoms of these frames won't match up and then have to be cropped out of the final picture. Using a tripod and keeping it level then allows each frames vertical resolution to be fully utilized.

So in summary

• check the shutter speed selected by the camera while in aperture priority
• set the camera to manual
• sweep the landscape (overlapping the frames) using the manual settings
• bracket the shutter speed and sweep again

Note: I have been successful simply utilizing aperture priority appropriate for the landscape scenery.

[wulf]

Metering is just the stage of getting an idea of what combination of ISO, shutter speed and aperture will give you a good exposure. Since I work in manual mode most of the time I normally adjust the aperture to give the depth of field I am after, leave the ISO at 200 and then guess at a shutter speed.

If the result is too light I go for a faster shutter speed; too dark and I make the speed slower. If there are other factors, for example I can't hold the camera steady at a slow enough speed, I will look for other solutions - for example, in that case, I would need to open the aperture up, increase ISO or both.

Wulf

[Micah Olson]

Nice work, keep it up. I haven't tried this yet but want to soon.

[gomo64]

I saw the picture and a liked.

Then I read all the advices and when I finish I do not like the picture any more.

And that is good. It means that still is a nice picture but with a few changes, she and I can take a better picture with the same condition. A lot of the times I blame the "dark" of the room, "too much" sun, to blame my bad pictures.

Thanks for the advices and thanks for a good panoramica.