Panoramic Photography – The Technique of Photo Stitching
February 3, 2009
Panoramic photography is a form of digital photography that can capture images that have elongated fields of view. Ideally an image that is greater has a field of view greater than that of the human eye is termed as panoramic. The resultant image generally takes a wide strip form. Panoramic photographs have been taken in sections and pasted together since ages. This was initially done by using a special camera that could rotate in order to reproduce the panoramic shots on a long strip of film. These days it has become relatively simple, you just need to take a series of shots, digitize it and later stitch it together.
The first patent for a panoramic that was obtained had been submitted by Joseph Puchberger in Austria in the year 1843. Later in 1844, Friedrich von Martens from Germany developed a technically superior panoramic camera. After a couple of years in 1888 flexible film was invented, which revolutionized the art of panoramic photography.
This form of photography became increasingly popular to record wars, exploration details, scientific and technical developments and orchestra shows etc. However as time progressed people started using panoramic photography for various purposes like capturing natural wonders on the world and major tourist spots, major events etc.
But there are a few factors to be considered before shooting panoramic images. Firstly, while shooting horizontally or vertically, ensure that you stand in the same position whilst rotating the camera. Secondly, in case of a 360-degree pattern the first and last shot must connect and overlap with each other. Ideally, the images must overlap by 30-50 percent horizontally and at least 10 percent vertically. You must avoid placing subjects that move in the overlapping areas but do not combine with the nearby objects; however you can place different and distinguishing subjects in each overlapping area.
Before you purchase a panorama software you need to check a for few details. Ideally the software should be in a position to handle multiple rows of images. Next you need to check if the software is comfortable with different sized images or same sized images.
Now you can use the panoramic stitching software to stitch these images together. Although the software can automatically even out the lighting effects it is your duty to ensure that you avoid extreme lighting effects while shooting. If possible try and lock the exposure for the particular series of shots. The last step would be to load the panorama images and arrange them in one or two rows and then start the stitching function. Firstly it will stitch the images together and later smoothly blend the overlapping parts.
Panoramic Photography has evolved a long way since it started. These days many cameras like the GE A735 Digital Camera come with in-camera panoramic stitching facility which save you the trouble of loading the images, sorting them and then start the stitching software
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