The power of Photoshop! 10x8 negatives stitched

[Paul Greeves]

This may interest the photographers, like myself, who shoot large format film then scan and output the prints on an inkjet printer.

I have stitched digital files before but never tried stitching scans together. I found a subject that would test the power of Photoshop. The 10x8 camera was set up and I checked the focus on the three different views. My tripod head has degrees marked on the base and I calculated the amount necessary to overlap the images by about a third.

I closed the lens and took the first image. I then loaded the next sheet, moved the head through 20 degrees and took the next shot. I repeated this for the third and last image. The negatives were processed individually for the same time and temperature to ensure a consistent result.

Each negative was scanned on a Epson V750 using the exact same settings. In Photoshop the negative were stitched by going to File - Automate - Photomerge and selecting Perspective from the list of options.

Here are the three images that were scanned.

[Paul Greeves]

Here is the final image. It took over an hour to join the three images together. The final image was over 1.6GB! I printed the final image on my Epson 7800, giving a 24"x85" print. It could have been printed to 4'x13', without interpolation, if I had a printer that large.

Amazingly, Photoshop stitched the images along joining beams but never crossing a diagonal. There was no need to edit any misalignment. What is more amazing is how Photoshop has corrected the perspective without any distortion.

This facility is only available on Photoshop CS3 or CS4. The CS2 version is more basic.



If you would like to view more of my photographs and see a high quality version of the final image, please visit:

http://www.digitaldarkroomuk.com

[Chris Strobel]

Big thumbs up on that one Paul!Next you need to do a multirow panorama with the 810

[Paul Greeves]

I think what this image illustrates is that Photoshop should be able to join any subject. I purposely chose this subject for its complexity and it worked a treat. It is essential that the camera is perfectly level, particularly if you use a wider lens.

[dazedgonebye]

Should be able to make a reasonable sized print from that. :-)

[jb7]

Amazing-
all that information squeezed into an image 173 pixels high



Seriously though, it does look good-
I considered doing the same myself, but using shift on the rear-
so that the pictures were part of the same image circle anyway-

Just haven't found a suitable picture yet...


joseph

[nathanm]

That's an ambitious project! You are one patient man, Paul. 1.6GB

[Paul Greeves]

With hindsight, I think I could have achieved the same result with a 5x4 camera. The use of a 10x8 would only really be necessary if you wish to have a bill board size photograph!

[willwilson]

Looks good Paul and sounds like a fun project. I am a big fan of lf and film, but I think digital is king when it comes to stitching. Digital also allows you to shoot over and under exposed shots easily in order to achieve ultra high dynamic range.

Have you visited gigapan.org? I rented a gigapan for a job recently and had a blast tinkering with the thing. Definitely not lf, but it has some similar qualities, specifically patience and pre-visualization. It took about 45 minutes to take the shot below (220 images, 1225 megapixels) and 9+ hours for the gigapan software to stitch it. The final image is too large for me to open in photoshop it crashes my computer!

http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=19978

[Vaughn]

Interesting project! Did you set up the 8x10 so that it rotated on an axis centered on the center of the lens?

Vaughn