The power of Photoshop! 10x8 negatives stitched

[Paul Greeves]

I have seen an image of Barack Obama being sworn in as President in Washington. I'm not sure how it was taken but it is a panoramic image and you can zoom in and pick out every detail, down to some of the faces a mile away in the distance.

[Vaughn]

Will -- neat shot(s!). Just curious...what happened to the top of the power transmission tower just to the right of the bridge?

[Paul Greeves]

Hi Vaughn. I just rotated the camera on the tripod head, so this wouldn't have been around the lens axis. The first image is parallel to the beams. I still can't believe Photoshop sorted out all the perspective.

[Paul Greeves]

I have found the image of Barack Obama I was talking about. It too was taken using Gigapan software with a Canon G10 digital compact!

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullsc...648c2b4b06233c

[willwilson]

Vaughn, That structure to the left of the bridge is actually a really ugly (I think) outdoor sculpture. There is a stitching error on the left tower of the At&t building. I would fix it, but like I said I can't open the image in photoshop on my computer, only in the gigapan stitching program.

Paul, I used a G10 as well. It's a nifty little camera, a little noisy but sharp. The smaller sensors in compact cameras allows for huge dof at relatively small apertures, which makes these types of stitched images even more detailed.

[Paul Greeves]

I think they are a brilliant concept. I do own a Canon G10, so I may be tempted by a Gigapan day out if a friend will share the cost. I wonder how they would look printed out on a massive scale?

[Vaughn]

Thanks Paul. What would be interesting would be at the camera position with a print of your image -- just to see how the PhotoShop perspective corrections deviated from "reality".

Could you have moved the rear and front standards back on your 8x10 to center the rotation on the axis of the lens? It would be an interesting experiment to make two such panoramas -- one with and one without the rotation on the lens axis...though with 4x5 to same working with 8x10 negs!

Panoramas are fun to do -- though I do not stitch...I just contact the 8x10 negs side-by-side. I have also photographed scenes that, instead of rotating the camera, I have moved the camera/pod parallel to the scene.

Vaughn

PS...Thanks Will...the Gigapan definitely makes an interesting document!

[Paul Greeves]

I see what you mean Vaughn. I'll try it soon. The pictures were taken with a Canham field camera and the Lens standard can't move far enough back. I've ordered a Canham metal field which might be more versatile.

[Vaughn]

I have found the image of Barack Obama I was talking about. It too was taken using Gigapan software with a Canon G10 digital compact!

I have seen this image before on this forum (I believe we played a "Spot the LF cameras" game -- including the 8x10 Deardorf)-- it looks like, even though he is clapping, the ex-Pres. Bush would have rather been somewhere else.

Vaughn

PS...Paul, talking with folks who do a lot of panoramas, including multi-rows, they seem to emphize the rotation on the lens' axis (focal point?)...which requires some fancy tripod brackets with telephoto lenses, which have the focal point in front of the lens! (I hope I am right on that!)

[willwilson]

Vaughn, I think you mean the nodal point of a lens. Basically you want to rotate your camera around the "optical center" or nodal point of your lens in order to record the images correctly for stitching. This point exist in different places for different focal lengths and different lenses/lenses designs. This allows you to take a corrected series of images that can then be stitched together more easily and with less distortion.

Here's some good info from RRS: http://reallyrightstuff.com/pano/index.html

I bet you could mount a small 4x5 to this...maybe??? http://reallyrightstuff.com/pano/07.html

As with all things large format, rotating a large format camera around its nodal point is more difficult than a smaller camera. But you could rotate a leveled monorail view camera horizontally around its nodal point fairly easy just by adjusting the standards and having the right size rail. Multi-row panoramics would be difficult to say the least, although I bet someone on this forum is doing it or used to do it...Chris Jordan? It's hard to beat a 5dii for this kind of thing.