Keeping Camera On Same Plane for Diptych, Ttriptych, Panorama

[spacegoose]

I got a reply from David, to paraphrase, he said he keeps the camera as level as possible in all directions and pans across.

Also, his lens is slightly wide, which causes things not to "match up" - which he said is fine and what he prefers, as within reason, the breaks and bumps add to the shifting time and space feel.

Bill

[Bernard_L]

If I understand well, the OP wants to photograph a flat object (triptych, rug, ext) such that the various shots will merge properly.

Lots of answers are off the mark. Talking about panning, nodal point. That is for a panoramic landscape, avoiding front/background parallax errors, and still requiring a panorama software to do the proper geometrical transforms (to rectilinear, cylindrical, etc). And, by the way, everybody parrots "nodal point", it's actually the entrance pupil that must be kept fixed.

Spacegoose, what you need is:
(1) To have your film plane parallel to the plane of the object. That would be required even in a single shot so that parallel lines remain parallel.
(2) To move your camera in that plane. There you have options:
(2a) Professional. Buy a length of optical-bench style extruded Aluminum bar; they exist in lengths up to at least 2.5m (8 foot). You can also buy a kind of trolley. Just an example:
http://www.newport.com/X95-Structura...1033/info.aspx
(2b) DIY. Lay down and somehow keep fixed on the ground something like a straight U-profile of steel, measured to be parallel to the object. Start with two of your tripod feet against that rail, and keep them that way when you move the camera.

Hope this helps

[Andrew O'Neill]

I read an article about this once years ago I think in PT magazine... the photographer stuck clear acetate on the GG and traced the main lines of the scene with a non-permanent marker. This helped him to line up lines when he turned the camera. I can't remember if he panned on the lenses nodal point, though...