And here is an HDView of the pano
http://mysite.verizon.net/res8fl1v/HDView1/HDView.htm
Gear:
Olympus e330
35mm macro
Homemade spherical panoramahead: http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/viewtop ... highlight=
Amaryllis macro panorama
Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau
Amaryllis macro panorama
This is one of my first macro panorama's.
And here is an HDView of the pano
http://mysite.verizon.net/res8fl1v/HDView1/HDView.htm
Gear:
Olympus e330
35mm macro
Homemade spherical panoramahead: http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/viewtop ... highlight=
And here is an HDView of the pano
http://mysite.verizon.net/res8fl1v/HDView1/HDView.htm
Gear:
Olympus e330
35mm macro
Homemade spherical panoramahead: http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/viewtop ... highlight=
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rjlittlefield
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Ed, welcome aboard! 
(It is Ed, right?)
This photo is lovely -- beautifully lit and composed.
Reading between the lines, I gather that this image has been "stacked and stitched" to give both extended depth of field and more pixels than your camera can grab at one time.
If so, then that's the first time I've seen it done using a spherical pano head.
Can we get some technical info about tools and techniques?
Thanks!
--Rik
(It is Ed, right?)This photo is lovely -- beautifully lit and composed.
Reading between the lines, I gather that this image has been "stacked and stitched" to give both extended depth of field and more pixels than your camera can grab at one time.
If so, then that's the first time I've seen it done using a spherical pano head.
Can we get some technical info about tools and techniques?
Thanks!
--Rik
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rjlittlefield
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- Posts: 23938
- Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Ken, the type of panorama head that elf describes is used specifically for shooting images to be stitched.
Its job is to assure that the camera+lens rotates around the "entrance pupil" of the lens, when repositioning between shots.
This maintains the same center of perspective for all images and prevents parallax from being a problem.
It's a different function from pan heads for movie cameras. Their primary job is to rotate smoothly while continuously shooting, without concern for exactly where the center of rotation is.
--Rik
Its job is to assure that the camera+lens rotates around the "entrance pupil" of the lens, when repositioning between shots.
This maintains the same center of perspective for all images and prevents parallax from being a problem.
It's a different function from pan heads for movie cameras. Their primary job is to rotate smoothly while continuously shooting, without concern for exactly where the center of rotation is.
--Rik
The process is pretty straightforward.
1. Adjust the pano head for the entrance pupil. On my 35mm macro the entrance pupil moves from about 70mm from the sensor plane at 1:1 to 55 mm at 1:4.
2. Shoot either full manual or aperture priority with fixed WB.
3. The shooting order of the frames doesn't really matter, but it helps to be consistent. I usually start from the lower left, shoot the frame at the closest focus depth then continue shooting the same frame with greater focus depth until the desired DOF is done. My Olympus e330's LiveView allows me to set the focus point accurately, but it's still hard to make sure not to miss a spot. Once the frame is done, rotate horizontally to the next frame and repeat the shooting sequence from near to far. I usually reset the focus point to the near focus point before rotating to the next frame because the FOV changes pretty dramatically. After each horizontal row is completed, rotate vertically to the row and start from the left side.
4. Post processing workflow is to adjust all of the exposures in the RAW conversion (I use ACR) so they are fairly close.
5. Stack each frame
6. Stitch the panorama. I use PTAssembler for this. Output as cropped Tiff. If any of the frames are dramatically different in exposure or WB redo steps 4 & 5.
7. Manually blend seams at 100% to 200%. Enblend or Smartblend can also be used and will probably give better results on blue sky or other low contrast areas.
8. Do normal PP at this point for levels, curves, saturation, sharpening, etc.
I usually shoot outside in natural light, so there is lots of opportunity for failure like the light changing or a breeze moves the subject.
I'm working on a new pano head that will allow vertical and horizontal adjustments as well as the current depth adjustment. I'll post photos of it here once it's done.
I didn't think it was possible to stack successfully by moving the camera instead of focusing with the lens, so I'm looking forward to learning this technique from the members here.
p.s. A link posted by Max Lyons, author of PTAssembler, in this thread, http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=4677, lead me here.
1. Adjust the pano head for the entrance pupil. On my 35mm macro the entrance pupil moves from about 70mm from the sensor plane at 1:1 to 55 mm at 1:4.
2. Shoot either full manual or aperture priority with fixed WB.
3. The shooting order of the frames doesn't really matter, but it helps to be consistent. I usually start from the lower left, shoot the frame at the closest focus depth then continue shooting the same frame with greater focus depth until the desired DOF is done. My Olympus e330's LiveView allows me to set the focus point accurately, but it's still hard to make sure not to miss a spot. Once the frame is done, rotate horizontally to the next frame and repeat the shooting sequence from near to far. I usually reset the focus point to the near focus point before rotating to the next frame because the FOV changes pretty dramatically. After each horizontal row is completed, rotate vertically to the row and start from the left side.
4. Post processing workflow is to adjust all of the exposures in the RAW conversion (I use ACR) so they are fairly close.
5. Stack each frame
6. Stitch the panorama. I use PTAssembler for this. Output as cropped Tiff. If any of the frames are dramatically different in exposure or WB redo steps 4 & 5.
7. Manually blend seams at 100% to 200%. Enblend or Smartblend can also be used and will probably give better results on blue sky or other low contrast areas.
8. Do normal PP at this point for levels, curves, saturation, sharpening, etc.
I usually shoot outside in natural light, so there is lots of opportunity for failure like the light changing or a breeze moves the subject.
I'm working on a new pano head that will allow vertical and horizontal adjustments as well as the current depth adjustment. I'll post photos of it here once it's done.
I didn't think it was possible to stack successfully by moving the camera instead of focusing with the lens, so I'm looking forward to learning this technique from the members here.
p.s. A link posted by Max Lyons, author of PTAssembler, in this thread, http://www.tawbaware.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=4677, lead me here.
-
rjlittlefield
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23938
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- Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
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Ed,
Thanks very much for the detailed description of your technique. It's very helpful.
I was intrigued by your link into Max Lyons' forum.
It's interesting and encouraging to see more links developing between these communities -- stitched panoramas and stacked photomacrography. Yes, I am the same Rik Littlefield. I count among my friends Erik Krause, the fellow whom you credit for ideas about the pano head. Max may also remember me as the fellow who speeded up the Panorama Tools optimizer a few years ago. And despite my best efforts to bypass the discussion, I ended up "writing the book" (here) about how the entrance pupil actually works as the "no-parallax point". That's probably the paper that John H posted about in Max Lyon's forum, and Jim Z refers to there. It is strange how things work out.
Anyway, regarding stack-and-stitch, Max is right. Several of us here have played with the technique, and one member (Steve Valley) has published an insect ID book filled with stack-and-stitch illustrations. I'm probably the most aggressive in terms of pushing the technology and trying to understand & explain how everything fits together. If you search the forum for "telecentric" you will find the key postings that I have made on the subject. However, those will miss perhaps my favorite posting about stack-and-stitch: this one, where I introduced the image that in small form is my avatar, and in large form prints as a 7800 x 7100 image, with detail down to the individual pixels. I had that one printed at 305 dpi, and it is now hanging on walls in multiple locations.
It is a pleasure welcoming you to the macro forums. I look forward to many interesting discussions and seeing more of your beautiful images!
--Rik
Thanks very much for the detailed description of your technique. It's very helpful.
I was intrigued by your link into Max Lyons' forum.
That's very nice!Max Lyons wrote:I certainly can't claim to be the the first person to do this...in fact, I stumbled across this interesting forum the other night where it appears lots of folks have done similar things. Check out some of the work of Rik Littlefield, one of the regular participants...he seems to have done quite a lot of this with insects and other small objects.
It's interesting and encouraging to see more links developing between these communities -- stitched panoramas and stacked photomacrography. Yes, I am the same Rik Littlefield. I count among my friends Erik Krause, the fellow whom you credit for ideas about the pano head. Max may also remember me as the fellow who speeded up the Panorama Tools optimizer a few years ago. And despite my best efforts to bypass the discussion, I ended up "writing the book" (here) about how the entrance pupil actually works as the "no-parallax point". That's probably the paper that John H posted about in Max Lyon's forum, and Jim Z refers to there. It is strange how things work out.
Anyway, regarding stack-and-stitch, Max is right. Several of us here have played with the technique, and one member (Steve Valley) has published an insect ID book filled with stack-and-stitch illustrations. I'm probably the most aggressive in terms of pushing the technology and trying to understand & explain how everything fits together. If you search the forum for "telecentric" you will find the key postings that I have made on the subject. However, those will miss perhaps my favorite posting about stack-and-stitch: this one, where I introduced the image that in small form is my avatar, and in large form prints as a 7800 x 7100 image, with detail down to the individual pixels. I had that one printed at 305 dpi, and it is now hanging on walls in multiple locations.
It is a pleasure welcoming you to the macro forums. I look forward to many interesting discussions and seeing more of your beautiful images!
--Rik
