Stitching Several 6x12 Images

[andy]

with enough overlap you should be able to get pretty good results from the photomerge feature in photoshop. I've stitched together a four 4x5 negative panorama, and while my imac didn't like it, it was doable. You just need a lot of ram and some patience. With that many frames, you're going to have a massively long image, but the file should be manageable--just make sure you use the identical settings on the scanner and that your exposures are consistent.

[Tin Can]

I found the limit in PS CC trying to Photomerge 50 Nikon P7000 vertical images of a block long wall mural.

I had to break it down to 10 images at a time , then try to merge the results.

My old computer choked on the full thing.

I got something in the end, but never printed.

I need to revisit the project, as the mural was removed during construction of the 606, which is right out my front door. I also now have a better computer.

[Jim Jones]

I'll be moving the camera parallel to the scene—no rotating involved.

Ouch! Unless the subject of each shot is entirely in the same plane and same distance with no detail in the foreground or background, the images won't overlap perfectly.

[koraks]

How are you going to print this? I mean, I know that epson drivers have a maximum number of pixels on the long end of an image that they will print; not sure about other brands. Won't this be an issue with an image this wide?

[Richard Wasserman]

How are you going to print this? I mean, I know that epson drivers have a maximum number of pixels on the long end of an image that they will print; not sure about other brands. Won't this be an issue with an image this wide?

I can not print to the size I want and would need to send this out to someone who can.

All this has been very useful—thanks. I will start trying some different ideas to see where they lead me. I'm thinking I'll start with something more modest, maybe 2 or 3 stitches to see how it goes (and looks). Thanks again for all the input!

[Greg Miller]

I need to stitch multiple negatives together to get the image I want, it can't be done with only 1 or 2 exposures. I haven't thought all this through yet, but I am thinking about prints in the 5-6 foot wide range, maybe longer, by whatever height they work out to. Doing some rough math I'm thinking they will only be about 6 inches tall. I may need to refine my concept a bit...

I've done what you are planning (albeit with digital). I stitched 2,000 photos taken from a moving boat. So parallel movement and varying distances from the boat to the shoreline. And shooting for an entire day with constantly changing exposures. End result was a panorama covering 150 miles of shore line (printed to 80 feet). All very doable. The biggest concern I would have is that the auto-stitching softwares available did not handle the stitching very well - I ended up manually stitching it (twice - I had to do both shores of thew river; so 300 miles of shoreline). So you'll probably want to learn some Photoshop skills like Free Transform and layer masking.

Actually by biggest hurdle was layers of buildings, and distant mountains. Areas of buildings (like New York City) are very problematic. The Empire State Building is very tall but also far from the shore. So it appears pretty static while moving parallel to it, while shorter building along the shore will move significantly form frame to frame. Distant mountains behave the same way relative to closer objects.

(shameless pitch; if anyone wants to see the end result they can order a signed copy form my web site)


As for a computer, by far most important is having as much RAM as possible. The more RAM, the faster the processing. I currently use 32 GB on my Photoshop computers, but would complain at having more.

[Richard Wasserman]

I've done what you are planning (albeit with digital). I stitched 2,000 photos taken from a moving boat. So parallel movement and varying distances from the boat to the shoreline. And shooting for an entire day with constantly changing exposures. End result was a panorama covering 150 miles of shore line (printed to 80 feet). All very doable. The biggest concern I would have is that the auto-stitching softwares available did not handle the stitching very well - I ended up manually stitching it (twice - I had to do both shores of thew river; so 300 miles of shoreline). So you'll probably want to learn some Photoshop skills like Free Transform and layer masking.

Actually by biggest hurdle was layers of buildings, and distant mountains. Areas of buildings (like New York City) are very problematic. The Empire State Building is very tall but also far from the shore. So it appears pretty static while moving parallel to it, while shorter building along the shore will move significantly form frame to frame. Distant mountains behave the same way relative to closer objects.

(shameless pitch; if anyone wants to see the end result they can order a signed copy form my web site)


As for a computer, by far most important is having as much RAM as possible. The more RAM, the faster the processing. I currently use 32 GB on my Photoshop computers, but would complain at having more.

Well if you can stitch 2,000 images I guess I can do half a dozen! Thanks, this is encouraging. Any chance your 80 foot prints can be seen anywhere? They must be astounding and I'd love to see them.

[Greg Miller]

Well if you can stitch 2,000 images I guess I can do half a dozen! Thanks, this is encouraging. Any chance your 80 foot prints can be seen anywhere? They must be astounding and I'd love to see them.

Right now they are in storage at the museum. I need tpo make time to get them displayed in more venues.

You can see the museum exhibit at the bottom of this page. This was a very large gallery room in the museum - I think 60 feet across.

[sanking]

Right now they are in storage at the museum. I need tpo make time to get them displayed in more venues.

You can see the museum exhibit at the bottom of this page. This was a very large gallery room in the museum - I think 60 feet across.

Greg,

Wonderful project, and fabulous work in shooting and creating the panorama. I assume you had to do lot of free-hand work in assembling the panorama.

Wonder if you would comment on how the logistical aspects of image capture traveling in a boat.

Sandy

[Kirk Gittings]

Ouch! Unless the subject of each shot is entirely in the same plane and same distance with no detail in the foreground or background, the images won't overlap perfectly.

ditto and also in terms of being able to print it one would need a rip that had unlimited length settings which I think Image print or Quadtone neither PS nor LR can do it.