Panoramic landscape - any advice?

[Scatterbrain]

Can anyone help me with Hugin? I've stitched a panorama together, but when I save it it's in a file format not recognised by photoshop. Does anyone know how to get round this as I'd like to do some croping & general elements (I have PSE5).

[inkista]

Maybe you're confusing the stitched pano with the Hugin project file? When you do a File -> Save, you're saving the Hugin (.pto) project file, which contains all the parameters for the stitch--it's not a graphic file. It's useful if you want to adjust the stitching parameters to rebuild the pano.

The pano itself will be output with the name and type you specified when you stitched the pano. I'd recommend using TIFF file format. PSE can understand that, and you won't lose anything to compression if you're going to edit it further.

[Scatterbrain]

Thanks. Yes, I think you are right.

Now...deep breaths...here is my first attempt at a panoramic landscape shot. Feel free to comment on flickr if you want to.



I do have other series of source images that will enable me to build a wider image. Are there any set parameters to a panoramic shot or do you just crop to whatever seems appropriate?

Thanks for your help everyone.

Scatterbrain

[dcclark]

If you're planning to print the photo, one of the standard panorama ratios is 2:1 (twice as long as it is tall). Another is 3:1 (three times as long as it is tall). Choosing one of those ratios will help when getting a print made.

If you don't want to print -- do whatever looks good!

[inkista]

If you covered the whole circle, you could make a QuicktimeVR, but that way madness lies, said the crazy lady.

It looks great! Love that you thought about the overall composition of the finished pano! That's a skill a lot of folks never master.

[Jo E]

For the Mac user, is there a way to do this on Aperture 2 or would it be the same as downloading the Hugin plugin as well? I have a Seattle skyline that I needs to be put together but I have no idea where to start. Any advice would help.

Great photo by the way!

[Jenny - Cape Town]

Hi,

Another option for creating panoramas is Microsoft ICE (image composite editor). It is a free download and I have been very pleased with its results.

Well done though, with what you did do - Hugin is a bit confusing.

[flomaster]

Originally Posted by cowlemon

try autopano pro

I'll second AutoPano Pro as I have used HUGIN as mentioned below and AutoPano Pro is MUCH easier to work with.

Originally Posted by dcclark

I highly recommend hugin, mentioned above. It comes with an automatic control-point generator, which can be a great help if you don't want to do all of that alignment by hand. It also has exposure matching, just in case you messed up the exposure from frame to frame. I have used it many times quite successfully.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by Jo E

For the Mac user, is there a way to do this on Aperture 2 or would it be the same as downloading the Hugin plugin as well?

Hugin's not a plugin. It's an application. It's cross-platform, so you can run it on a Mac, Windows, or Linux box.

AutopanoPro is Windows software and doesn't run on OSX, without some form of Windows emulation.

I'd recommend Kekus's Calico, which is an OSX port of Autostitch. It's the same codebase that AutoPanoPro uses. Autostitch itself is open source and can be used on a Windows box for free, but both AutoPanoPro and Calico are commercial software.

Hugin may be harder to use, but it's far richer, feature wise, and far more flexible in the types of panoramas it can stitch. And it's open source, which means free as in free beer, and technologically it tends to be on the bleeding edge vs. other stitchers.

PTGui is a commercial piece of software that also runs off the PanoramaTools code base (which is what Hugin uses), and is the closest to a push-button solution for all types of panoramas (cubics, cylindrical, etc.) that I've seen. It's cross-platform (Mac/Windows, no Linux), and relatively expensive to the cylindrical-only Autostitch-based tools.

[Jo E]

Originally Posted by inkista

Hugin's not a plugin. It's an application. It's cross-platform, so you can run it on a Mac, Windows, or Linux box.

AutopanoPro is Windows software and doesn't run on OSX, without some form of Windows emulation.

I'd recommend Kekus's Calico, which is an OSX port of Autostitch. It's the same codebase that AutoPanoPro uses. Autostitch itself is open source and can be used on a Windows box for free, but both AutoPanoPro and Calico are commercial software.

Hugin may be harder to use, but it's far richer, feature wise, and far more flexible in the types of panoramas it can stitch. And it's open source, which means free as in free beer, and technologically it tends to be on the bleeding edge vs. other stitchers.

PTGui is a commercial piece of software that also runs off the PanoramaTools code base (which is what Hugin uses), and is the closest to a push-button solution for all types of panoramas (cubics, cylindrical, etc.) that I've seen. It's cross-platform (Mac/Windows, no Linux), and relatively expensive to the cylindrical-only Autostitch-based tools.

I just downloaded Calico and it worked great but didnt realize that I actually had to pay for this. I am not going to be doing panos a lot and rather not pay for it. so if their is a free software I would greatly appreciate it. I am downloading Hugin right now to see if that might work. Thanks again.