I got a note from an old photographer pal of mine asking me to share the 'panorama' technique, and I'll be happy to share the method Ben Stallings demonstrated at one of the mini'app'les annual meetings.
If you don't care about this, scroll down to **
I use an Olympus digital camera and Adobe Photoshop 'Elements' on a G3 iBook. Your mileage may vary.
Olympus offers a shooting mode called 'panorama' which uses the exposure, focus and white balance of the first shot in subsequent shots up to 10 shots. If I'm shooting a scene with a wide variation in lighting I'll look for a natural boundary between the differently lighted areas and shoot the scene straight. I used the fringe at the bottom edge of this roof to transition the exposure.
If the focus shifts from distant to close-up I shoot it straight and try to blend the focus transition. In this next shot you'll notice I didn't zoom so the building looks barrel shaped. (more on that next)
I try to overlap the frames about 20%. I go to some effort to keep the camera level from shot to shot. These digital cameras have some distortion in their wide angle view which can be problematic during editing. If there are a lot of straight lines in the scene I'll zoom in a little, maybe half way, to eliminate this distortion. If you frame the shot using the digital display you can actually see the curved lines straighten out as you zoom in a little. I try to start the shooting sequence from the left or top.
The Photoshop editors credo is "Want a portrait of your cousin, give me a picture of her dog, all I need is the eyes."
Adobe Photoshop Elements is a bare bones image editing program that costs under $100 if you shop around (eBay for instance). It has all the tools I need but one, and that is 'Actions' which would let me record several editing steps and repeat all of them in one step. Oh Well, maybe next upgrade.
In Elements I open the first frame and increase the canvas it is on by clicking Image>Resize>Canvas. In the canvas box I position this first frame at the center top or center left position and choose an new dimension that will accommodate the final photo. Note that I've increased the height from 11 to 20 inches. (simple math):
Then I open the next frame and key in: command 'a' (select all)>command 'c' (copy)>command 'w'(close window and display the first frame)>command 'v' (paste copied image onto the first frame). This is a lot quicker than it sounds because my thumb never leaves the command key.
In the upper right-hand corner of the window are some file tabs; click on 'Layers' and set the opacity to 70%, thus:
Now the second frame is a ghost image I can move around over the first image to align it. If needs be I can go to Image>Transform>Perspective to try to fix any alignment problems the wide angle lens has introduced.
There is an erase tool on the left side of the window that looks like a blackboard eraser. I use it to smooth out the transition between frames. At some point I run the opacity back up to 100% and if I'm satisfied with the alignment I repeat the process for all the frames until the pano is complete.
THEN !!
Then I key Layers>'Flatten Image' to make the picture one complete whole that can be edited as a whole. I select View>'Fit on Screen' and crop away any excess canvas. Then I use Image>Resize>'Image Size' for the final image size and I usually set the smallest dimension to 400 pixels and 'Resolution' to 72. As your editing skills progress you'll find all sorts of ways to cover your tracks and repair things.
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Here is another spiral staircase. I used it as a model for the above dissertation. It's very 'Me Tarzan'.
I'm sorry if I upset you with my grief at loosing the Green Chairs restaurant. I got to thinking about it last night and recalled a time when I suggested the owner put in a wireless internet system. Another friend in PDC has an internet shop and I tried to get these two guys together. To help do that Juan Carlos gave me his name and number and said he could be reached at his other restaurant if he wasn't at Green Chairs. I'll be darned if I didn't save that note and tried to look him up today. . . . . . and found him ! His restaurant is on 35th between 30th and 32nd.
It was just lunch time and Juan Carlos not only recognized me but was filled with conversation which was never the case at the 6th Street location. It was all business and no time to chat so I guess reducing his responsibilities were good therapy. The cuisine has changed some, and for the better. Here is a chicken dinner, roasted in a mild BBQ sauce with Broccoli and Spaghetti. There was an excellent bean soup to start and OF COURSE the 'to die for' yellow salsa and chips. Iced Jamica to drink and all for 40 pesos. (note the food colors are Red White and Green)
"Viva Mexico"
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