Recommended settings for panoramic photos?

[limvo05]

Hello Experts,

I was wondering if there's such a thing as recommended settings for panoramic photos? By settings I am referring to focal distance, focal length, Tripod, L Bracket, Manual focus, manual settings, etc.?

Lastly, what would be the ideal number of photos needed for an optimal panoramic photo? 3, 5, 7, 9? How much overlapping would you be taking?

Thank you,

LV

[Waddizzle]

There are no recommended settings, just recommended best practices.  No one can predict camera settings.  You have to figure that out for each shooting scenario.  I like to shoot landscape panoramic shots, though.

1. I use a leveling base on my “landscape” tripod.  You need to more then level the camera.  You also need to level the tripod head so that you it does not begin to pitch and roll as you pan along the horizontal plane.  Besides, it is far easier to level a tripod head than a set of tripod legs.
2. I like to roll the camera to a portrait orientation, so that merged image has a taller aspect ration, instead of looking like a ribbon.  Most ball heads have a fairly accurate 90 degree notch cut into them, but you do need to check it.  I have become hooked on using my 70-200mm lens, which has a tripod foot that allows me to loosen it, and rotate the entire camera/lens rig to any angle.
3. The better cameras have a built-in level, which is the last thing that i use.  When I level my rig, I start with the legs and work my way up.  Because I use a leveling base, my goal with the legs is to make sure they are stable.  Next, I use the leveling base to get the tripod head in a vertical position.  
4. Next, you want to level the quick release clamp on the head, many of which have a built-in bubble level.  This can be done before you arrive at the shooting location.  Finally, I mount the camera, and check its’ built-in level.  
5. Use manual camera and lens settings.  You do not want the lens to refocus when you press the shutter.  Neither do you want to alter the exposure when you press the shutter.  Use manual mode, and use a fixed White Balance setting, not Auto WB.
6. Typically, I will use Av or Tv mode to meter the scene, and then use those settings in Manual mode, so that they do not change from one shot to the next.  It is crucial that each frame have an identical exposure, especially if there is significant amounts of sky in the frame.
7. I try to overlap successive shots by 1/3, which gives the merging software more of something to work with. This works out very well for nearly any application that merges frames into a panoramic image. 
8. Typically, I try to keep the total shots down to 3-5 shots.  You will find that your application software will usually have some undocumented limit on file size.  While it is not a hard ceiling, merging too many images can and will reduce the resolution of the individual frames when you have too many of them.

Hope this helps.

[ebiggs1]

No different thant shooting any scene.  Just do what the conditions tell you.  This one I recently posted in another thread was just a series of hand held snap shots. I wanted more in the photo than my 24mm lens could show. So, pano ................

The particulars are 28mm, f9, 1/320 and ISO 200. Pretty standard settings.  It was six or seven shots as I recall.  The best way for you to learn is, go do it.  Do it a lot.   

[zimou13]

I recommend you make any post-processing image adjustments after your images have been stitched into the final panorama. If you need to make adjustments prior to stitching, be sure to apply the same adjustments to all of the images that will comprise the final panorama. see: Bluestacks TextNow Photomath

[RobertTheFat]

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@zimou13 wrote:

I recommend you make any post-processing image adjustments after your images have been stitched into the final panorama. If you need to make adjustments prior to stitching, be sure to apply the same adjustments to all of the images that will comprise the final panorama.

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But the final panorama is a JPEG file, isn't it? Which limits the range of editing that you can do, doesn't it?

If you edit the RAW files in DPP, you can use a recipe file to ensure that the same changes are made to each component. Lightroom probably has something similar.

[Waddizzle]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@zimou13 wrote:

I recommend you make any post-processing image adjustments after your images have been stitched into the final panorama. If you need to make adjustments prior to stitching, be sure to apply the same adjustments to all of the images that will comprise the final panorama.

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But the final panorama is a JPEG file, isn't it? Which limits the range of editing that you can do, doesn't it?

If you edit the RAW files in DPP, you can use a recipe file to ensure that the same changes are made to each component. Lightroom probably has something similar.

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I agree with making the same adjustment to all frames.  But, it is best to do as little as possible prior to the stitching.  

Remember, the JPEGs produced from the RAW files are what get stitched, not the RAW files.  Once you start editing, then JPEG compression can cause the overlappping areas to not line up as well as they should.  You wind up with jagged overlaps.

Lens correction for barrel distortion is one of the worse culprits to cause alignment errors, which is why it is inadvisable to use a wide angle lens to make a panorama.  Canon’s Photostitch application defaults to lenses having a minimum focal length of 50mm.

Not using lens correction is why I like to use my 70-200 to make panoramas so much.  It does not need much correction.  The only adjustment I make prior to stitching is White Balance.  

I even have a color temperature dialed in when I take the photos, to guarantee that the exposures come out the same.  I have always wondered whether or not WB has any impact on how the camera meters the exposure.

[ebiggs1]

"I recommend you make any post-processing image adjustments ..."

No not really.  It is better to have all the images similar.  The closer the better. But some people try to make panos harder than to do then they are.  There is lots of software that will combine images but LR is just about the best.  Not surprising I guess.

While just about any lens can be used, one thing to remember is to turn your camera vertical and not horizontal.  It is surprising how many experienced folks forget the camera can shoot in the vertical position.

The one I offered of Ellis Island was seven shots with a 28mm lens and in vertical position.  They are just quick snapshots because the scene was bigger than I could show with one shot. Nut'in fancy!

LR has an option, Sync Settings. I always use that first. I also have a certain import preset that gets applied automatically.  DPP4 has a similar feature but I don't remember or if it has pano ability since I don't use it very often.

[ebiggs1]

"But the final panorama is a JPEG file, isn't it? Which limits the range of editing that you can do, doesn't it?"

It is better to have all the images similar to start with.  One other thing is to try and keep the horizon level beside to other tips I suggested.  In my humble experience anyways.

[limvo05]

All,

What do you think of this? The one thing I don't like about this photo is that, I used a 3 stop Soft ND Grad and placed the filter line a bit too high aboe the horizon, as a result, the upper portion of ther sky is a bit darker than the lower section. This is mostly because it was rather difficult to judge when looking through live view and bright daylight. Perhaps, the next time, I put a towel over my head to block direct sunlight from messing up with the LCD display?

Thanks,

LV

[Waddizzle]

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@limvo05 wrote:

All,

What do you think of this? The one thing I don't like about this photo is that, I used a 3 stop Soft ND Grad and placed the filter line a bit too high aboe the horizon, as a result, the upper portion of ther sky is a bit darker than the lower section. This is mostly because it was rather difficult to judge when looking through live view and bright daylight. Perhaps, the next time, I put a towel over my head to block direct sunlight from messing up with the LCD display?

Thanks,

LV

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Your image does not appear.  Remember there is a 5MB. Maximum File size limit.

I do to recommend using a graduated filter to make a panorama shot.  

What I have done is take a series of HDR shots, and then stitch those together into panoramic shot.  This actually produced more noise than simply stitching the original 0 Ev shots, and then processing them in Lightroom with its’ digital filters.