9:11 PM
The wind was howling today during lunchtime when I went out with a friend to take some shots in Wellington. There is really a lot to capture and I will make this a more regular lunch time thing for sure.
So, back to this image, it is a 4 shot panorama taken handheld. Stitching was done in CS5. I am still a CS5 noob - coming from using The Gimp. I had to perform some warping to get a straight horizon.
Let me offer some tips for shooting panoramas:
- Choose a low ISO. Since you will be doing a fair bit of post processing, it is best to start off with as little noise as possible.
- This one is very important. Set your camera to automatic and take a light measurement on your main focus point of the panorama. Note the f-stop and shutterspeed.
- Set your camera to manual mode and dial in the f-stop and shutter speed to make sure all your shots match in exposure level.
- Make sure you take all images on the same zoom level.
- You may refocus, but try and keep your focus point at the same distance.
- Use a tripod, else make sure you use image stabilizing when handheld.
- Shoot vertical. A number of vertical (portrait) photos will stitch best into a horizontal (landscape) panorama.
- As you take your shots, make sure you have at least 20% overlap between shots.
- Quick Cheat - if your camera has focus dots in the viewfinder, try to have one of these dots track the horizon as you rotate to take the images.
Canon 600D, Tamron 18-270mm f3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD. Focal length 18mm, Exposure 1/320sec at f8, ISO 100, Focus auto, VC on, Flash none, Filter none.
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