[Polly]

Someone, elsewhere, recently posted a link to free pano software called "Autostitch". having tried it myself and seen some very good panos from others I can thoroughly recommend giving it a try for yourself.

There's also a new tool in the CS2 upgrade that corrects lens distortion - if you find any in the resulting pano)

The d/ is HERE

The proggie is very simple to use - virtually no user input required.

Should be good for some of those awesome mountain peak views in Canada! You can create several rows so you can get height as well as width all in one scene.

Have fun.

Polly

[slejhamer]

Thanks Pol. I just read an article in Outdoor Photographer about panoramic macros (!!!), and was thinking about trying some shots like that. I'll take a look at Autostitch. Do you think it's much better than the built-in pano tool that comes with CS?

[Polly]

Thanks Pol. I just read an article in Outdoor Photographer about panoramic macros (!!!), and was thinking about trying some shots like that. I'll take a look at Autostitch. Do you think it's much better than the built-in pano tool that comes with CS?

It's definitely better and more capable than the CS (photomerge) tool. It can often join pictures that PS/CS rejects.

The other thing it can do, that the PS tool, or other pano tools can't do is to stitch several rows one on top of the other. I don't often do panos, was completely befuddled by the pano tools software but this autostitch does everything I need, along with the distortion correction and warp tools in the CS2 upgrade if any tweaks are needed to finsh off the end product.

Sorry I have nothing to show you - all mine (so far) are highly personal and specific panos of home and garden + local shopping parades but I promise you this gizmo is well worth trying out.

Autostitch is a small d/l of slightly less than 1Mb, nothing installs on the PC and it just runs from a desktop folder. All you have to do is open the proggie, import your images then ok it and it does everything else itself.

Just be sure to shoot the pix overlapping so the prog can find stiching points and yer away. It's an outstanding piece of kit - freeware too

BTW - I really do think the CS2 upgrade is worth going for. Nice 'Adobe Bridge' for file sorting and management with inbuilt online search and access to about 270,000 free stock images, inbuilt PS upgrader, several new interesting and useful tools.

I'm a geek, I'm a geek. I'm a grannogeek freak ........... LOL

Pol

[Polly]

Thanks Pol. I just read an article in Outdoor Photographer about panoramic macros (!!!), and was thinking about trying some shots like that.

Now that does sound like an interesting idea for experimentation!

Thanks for the inspiration!

Pol

[Kombisaurus]

oooo yes! Thanks for this post Polly.

I am going on a little trip to the Kimberley region of Western Australia next month for a wedding (the north western corner of Australia - very remote but beautiful).

I had a Sigma 10-22mm ultra-wide zoom lens on order which I was really hoping to get in time for the trip for some spectacular landscape shots, but it seems sigma are having problems manufacturing these lenses and they have been delayed yet again. So I had to cancel my order. I was feeling sorry for myself, but most of the shots I will be taking will be fairly static landscapes, so stitching them together should work fine.
Some good photo-stitching software could well be my saviour for getting the wide-angles I'll be wanting. Its a shame you can't really use polarisers when putting together panoramas like this, although polarisers can do strange things with ultra-wide angle lenses even when not stitched together I guess.

For those shuttertalkers not familiar with the Kimberley region, here is a good website to get the general idea.
http://www.kimberleytourism.com/

I'll be based in Kununurra for a week, and the plan is to hire a 4WD with a friend to get out and about. I can't wait! A week will only be long enough to get a taste of the place I think, but I suspect I will come back all ready to quit my day job and take an indefinate trip driving the kombi up there. hehe

I've got another wedding to go to in New Zealand in Feb next year... so I'd better have an ultra-wide zoom lens by then for more spectacular landscapes.

[EnglishBob]

I use Canon's photostitch and Elements 2 has another panorama section, photostitch has given me the best results.

[Polly]

oooo yes! Thanks for this post Polly.

I am going on a little trip to the Kimberley region of Western Australia next month for a wedding (the north western corner of Australia - very remote but beautiful).

I had a Sigma 10-22mm ultra-wide zoom lens on order which I was really hoping to get in time for the trip for some spectacular landscape shots, but it seems sigma are having problems manufacturing these lenses and they have been delayed yet again. So I had to cancel my order. I was feeling sorry for myself, but most of the shots I will be taking will be fairly static landscapes, so stitching them together should work fine.
Some good photo-stitching software could well be my saviour for getting the wide-angles I'll be wanting.

.

You should be ok 'autostitching' for some good landscapes. the software will be able to handle, for example a block of 12 shot maybe 4 horizontal and 3 vertical, or even 5 x 4 ....... which means you can get more foreground and sky. That's the advantage of this particular software's ability to stitch eg 3 rows stitched on top of each other.

Be aware of cloud movement. If they're blowing along rapidly that can cause some ghosting in the final pano stitching, so it's something to consider when framing the shots.

You have time before the wedding trip to experiment so have some fun and see how it goes.

Polly