What can you do if the lens you’re using isn’t wide enough to fit in the entire scene you want to capture? We look at the factors involved in shooting and stitching panoramic images.
Panoramas can be created from video clips as shown in the example above, which has been produced by combining six frames, selected from a 4K video clip shot with a GoPro action camera. The end result was a 4724 x 1554 pixel JPEG file that was printable at A3+ (482 x 329 mm) size. © Roger Brown.
The source images for stitching your panoramas can come from all kinds of imaging devices, including smartphones, action cameras and drones. You can also use frame grabs from high-resolution (4K or better) video clips. However, if you want to make very large prints, high-resolution stills frames from a full frame (36 x 24mm) or larger sensor usually produce better results.
Lisa Frost from Bentley’s Camera House in Pacific Fair, Broadbeach, created this eye-catching panorama with shots recorded using a 24mm lens on a Panasonic DC-S5 full-frame mirrorless camera. The resulting 4875 x 1800 pixel image measured 41.28 x 15.24 cm at 300 dpi (the ideal resolution for printing.) © Lisa Frost.
Many cameras (including smartphones, action cameras and drones) include panorama shooting modes that use the movie mode to record a sequence of frames and stitch them together automatically. They can usually record both horizontal and vertical panoramas.
How to shoot panoramas
If your camera doesn’t include a movie mode – or if you want more control and/or higher resolution, the following tips will improve your success rate when shooting images to stitch into a panorama.
1. If you want a natural-looking perspective with minimal distortion, avoid lenses wider than 40mm. Lenses with focal lengths between 50mm and 70mm produce more natural-looking perspectives. Always record with the largest image size and highest quality setting because the more data you start with the more flexibility you have for editing.
This panorama was captured with a smartphone camera using the standard, 23mm equivalent wide-angle lens. Note how the wide angle of view creates distortion, causing the centre of the frame to bulge outwards. (The blown-out highlights in the clouds are due to the relatively narrow dynamic range of the image sensor.)
2. Avoid scenes with moving subjects as changes in subject position will prevent accurate merging.
3. Stand in a position that lets you cover the entire scene without having to move.
4. Keep exposure parameters – aperture, shutter speed, white balance, ISO and lens focal length – the same throughout the sequence. Meter on a mid-tone area that is consistent across the width of the scene you want to capture. Be wary of using automatic exposure systems, particularly when brightness levels vary across the area you want to cover. Check the histogram to see whether tones are correctly distributed and use exposure compensation if adjustments are required.
Contrast the smartphone panorama with this one, which was captured using a 40mm focal length lens on a mirrorless camera. Setting the aperture to f/8 ensured a wide depth of field, while the ISO 200 setting allowed a shutter speed of 1/200 second. Four raw files were combined to produce an 8078 x 3855 pixel image which was output at 68.39 x 32.64 cm at 300 dpi resolution.
5. Smaller apertures – between f/8 and f/11 – make it easier to keep most of the scene sharply focused so stitching is easier. Panoramas look better when everything in the scene is as sharp as possible.
6. Working from left to right, take a sequence of shots, overlapping adjacent pictures by between 30% and 50%. Keep your feet in the same position and swivel from your hips as you pan across the scene. Don’t change any of the camera settings between shots and try to capture all the shots as quickly as possible.
A typical sequence of four frames that will be combined to create a panoramic image. Note the degree of overlap between them and the centering of the frames.
7. Keep the horizon centred if possible – or at least in the same position for all shots in the sequence. High- or low-angle shots will emphasise any uncorrected distortions resulting from the lens.
8. Avoid polarising filters because they are affected by changes in the tones which vary with different angles to the sunlight. Graduated neutral density filters are better for controlling over-bright skies but you must be meticulous with the placement of the horizon.
9. A tripod isn’t essential since most modern cameras (including smartphones) have built-in image stabilisation. However, mounting the camera on a tripod ensures the horizons remain straight. A panoramic tripod head, which can rotate around the central axis of the camera, will keep horizons level and minimise possible distortions in shots at each end of the sequence.
Panorama stitching software
Most photo editing software has tools for stitching together separately-captured frames. Here are some of the options available in popular applications:
ACD See Photo Studio requires you to select the images for merging in the File List pane then click on Process > Photomerge > Panorama to combine them.
Adobe Photoshop’s stitching tools are accessed by clicking on File > Automate > Photomerge. This is the tool we’ll use for the step-by-step demonstration below.
Adobe Photoshop Elements simplifies this with a single Photomerge Panorama command.
Affinity Photo from Serif provides a dedicated New Panorama tool in the file menu, which opens a workspace where you can drop in images to stitch and let the software do its magic.
Corel’s Paint Shop Pro has a similar set-up, requiring users to select images in the Organiser palette, open them in the Editor and combine them using the Panorama function from the Preset drop-list.
GIMP doesn’t have specific stitching tools but you can combine images manually, although it’s neither simple nor intuitive.
Skylum’s Luminar Neo has a Panorama Stitching tool that can create panoramas from multiple photos or a video clip. This software makes extensive use of AI processing so it’s easy for novices to use.
Zoner Photo Studio X is another combined photo/video editor capable of panorama stitching. You simply open the images in the Manager module and click the Panorama button on the right side panel or select Menu > Create > Panorama. Users can adjust the images during the process to make sure they’re in the right order and correctly aligned.
Stitching a panorama in Photoshop
Photoshop’s Photomerge tool can be used to stitch a set of images, whether you’ve already opened them in the editing desktop or not. Here are the key steps for creating a panorama:
1. Click on File > Automate > Photomerge.
2. In the Photomerge dialog box, click on Add Open Files to open the files on the desktop. Otherwise, click on the Browse button and navigate to the folder to select the files.
3. Select a Layout option from the toolbar on the left of the Photomerge dialog box, choosing from the following:
Auto: Photoshop analyses the source images and applies either a Perspective, Cylindrical, and Spherical layout, depending on which will be more effective.
An example of the result that can be obtained when only the Auto mode is selected.
Perspective: Creates a consistent composition by designating one of the source images (by default, the middle image) as the reference image. The other images are repositioned, stretched or skewed to make overlapping content across layers match.
Cylindrical: Reduces the ‘bow-tie’ distortion that can occur with the Perspective layout by displaying individual images as if they were on an unfolded cylinder. Best suited for creating wide panoramas.
Spherical: Aligns and transforms the images as if they were for mapping the inside of a sphere, which simulates the experience of viewing a 360-degree panorama. Best used for 360-degree panoramas.
Collage: Aligns the layers and matches overlapping content and transforms (rotates or scales) any of the source layers.
Reposition: Aligns the layers and matches overlapping content, but does not transform (stretch or skew) any of the source layers, allowing the user to reposition the images.
4. From the selection of options below the Files box, choose any of the following settings:
Blend Images Together is selected by default. This setting finds the optimal borders between the images and creates seams based on those borders, and colour matches the images. With Blend Images Together turned off, a simple rectangular blend is performed. This may be preferable if you intend to retouch the blending masks by hand.
Vignette Removal removes and performs exposure compensation in images that have darkened edges caused by lens flaws or improper lens shading.
Geometric Distortion Correction compensates for barrel, pincushion or fisheye distortion.
Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas generates new, matching content to fill the transparent areas with similar image content nearby.
Photoshop treats each image in a panorama as a different layer, which means you can view them independently and see which sections of each image have been used for the final creation by clicking on the ‘eye’ icon beside each layer in the dialog box.
This screen grab shows the four layers in our panorama, circled in red, with the second layer turned off to show where it was fitted into the panorama.
The final step in the process is to Flatten the image, which combines all the images into a single panorama.
Flattening the image combines all the frames to create your panorama.
Vertical panoramas
While most panorama sequences are shot with the camera held horizontally, most cameras support vertical panorama shooting and you can also combine a sequence of vertical frames in a panorama sequence.
This technique can be used to minimise distortion when you’re not panning across angles much greater than 100 degrees, but care is needed to ensure the overlapping areas are wide enough to stitch seamlessly.
You should also make sure your exposure levels are evenly balanced, particularly when covering relatively wide angles of view.
Useful links
This article by Margaret Brown is an excerpt from Landscape Photography 2nd Edn
Pocket guide Partners: Camera House and Sony
