While I am happy that I made the switch to HDR, I have still been working on getting the colors right and improving my photos.  In this post, I will discuss some things I have learned during the last few weeks.

Lesson 1 Windows do not always need to be the correct temperature

In this shot, I spent a painstaking amount of time replacing the windows in the original shot with ones of the correct temperature.  This arises because the light inside the house is tungsten, while the outside light is closest to cloudy.

In the original shot, the windows were blue.  You can still see this blue on the floors in this shot, which detracts considerably.  One person mentioned that they look like ‘pools in the floor’.  Despite the amount of work, it wasn’t worth it.  The color shift in the windows looks too extreme – especially given the reflections.  This is one case where keeping the original blue of the windows wouldn’t have hurt the original photo.

I went back to this house to retake a number of shots and this is the new one.

I made a number of changes in this shot other than simply keeping the color.  Actually, I shot this at a cloudy white balance compared to tungsten from above.  During the day time, I felt that the strong light from the windows was stronger than the weak tungsten lamps in the room.  This also accentuates the view – which is a big selling point of the house.

Another big change was the use of exposure blending compared to HDR.  In general, I have found that most of the time exposure blending provides better, more natural results.  There are some exceptions – such as very strong windows – where HDR works better.  However, in my last two shoots only one out of the fifteen pictures was HDR.

I also removed the flash that I used in the original shots.  The first time, I added a flash fired by Pocktewizards with a tungsten gel.  I still think the flash idea has promise, but I do think the tungsten gel may have made the shot look a bit too tungsten.  With a different house, I tried not using a gel on the flash but in some respects it was worse.  I then had colors of 2850, 5500, and 6000 in the same shot – which required some Photoshopping to return to an essence of normality.

Lesson 2 Do not shoot at night and if you do, do not use HDR

There are multiple things wrong with this shot, but the halos certainly do not help it.  The orange color is also too strong – as is the blue.  I spent some time working with this shot, and could not get it better than the one here.

The next time, I changed the angle a bit and photographed during the daytime.

I do think dusk shots can be useful for the outside of the house, but there must be something else in the photo besides the actual house that is interesting at dusk.  This may be a driveway with lights going down it or a beautiful entry way.  In this case though, I do not believe viewing the house at dusk helped at all.  The photo above may be more normal and less dramatic, but it also gives a better idea of what the house actually looks like.

Lesson 3 Be very careful with view shots

There are technical issues with this photo, but in truth there are two things far worse.  First, I took this photo of the view from the house with a wide angle lens.  This is the actual view and is not a distortion of the real view.

The first problem is that people still do not believe this.  Without a frame that indicates that the view truly is the one from the house, a number of viewers mentioned that they thought I took it with a telephoto and was not being honest.

Another problem is the power lines.  Power lines are evil and many people (including myself) run far way from any house that has power lines too close to it.  Although these power lines are not close to the house at all, the image makes it look so.

The fix was a significantly different shot, that also used exposure blending compared to the HDR above.

Here, I added a piece of the porch to show that this is truly the view you get.

Lesson 4 – Avoid the ‘Light of Death’

Again, there are multiple things wrong with this shot.  One of the primary things is the huge blinding light in the middle of it – with radial spokes like a small sun.  While this is a rather pretty light, it certainly takes away from the rest of the shot.

Another big issue is the orange cast in the shot.  The colors are simply off.  Finally, the viewpoint is not so great.  On the left, we have a set of flowers trying to creep in and on the right we have what looks to be a miniature kitchen.  I simply tried to get too much into this shot.  Interestingly, this shot did use exposure blending in the first place.

In this shot, I only focused on the dining room and took the kitchen in a separate shot.  The light is still bright, but since I was further away from it, it does not look like a blinding sun.  Also, the light from the windows – since I shot during the daytime – tones it down a bit.

This was also a good case showing that daytime shooting is almost always better than night time.  The nice green from the windows really helps here – compared with the black from the night shots.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

First of all, you have to be very realistic about the place you are going to?  What types of macro pictures will you really take there?  While macro photography can be done anywhere, some types of trips make certain types of macro photography difficult.  For instance, my wife and kids generally will not sit around and wait while I setup a tripod to take a picture of a flower.  While I occasionally use a tripod for my flower pictures in gardens around Seattle, I never use a tripod for macro photography on vacation (I do use one for sunrise/sunset and night shots though).  The following are my experiences on different types of vacations.

Jungle adventures – I spent some time in the rainforests of Peru before I had an SLR.  One of the members of my group brought an SLR together with a 50mm macro lens.  He expected to get close shots of army ants but came back without a single decent macro shot.  There were several problems with his approach.

1. He had no prior experience with macro photography.  When on vacation, I find that I need to move quickly for my macro shots.  The time to learn is back home – not on the road.
2. The 50mm macro is one of the worst lenses you can take with you on vacation.  It simply does not offer the distance you need to get the shot right.
3. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you don’t want to be that close to army ants.  Fortunately he was not bitten, but when starting out with army ants I suspect I would try a 180mm first.
4. He had no lighting equipment.  He did have a tripod, but this won’t help much with quickly moving army ants.
5. The group kept moving.  He never had time to properly attempt much because the tour guide kept us moving.

Jungle trips are one of the best places to take macro shots, but you will need ample time to perfect your technique before going there and you’re best shot at good macro pictures will be in the vicinity of your hotel.  Unless you are on a photography specific tour (and even then) the tour guide will keep you moving.  You will not have time to stop and get the ideal macro shot, except during down times when you can check around the camp.

Tropical trips – These are trips to tropical countries where you stay in hotels instead of camps that are usually in built up areas.  While tropical locations do have excellent opportunities for macro photography, you will still find that your best opportunities are in the vicinity of the hotel.  Therefore I highly recommend that you choose a hotel that is located closer to nature.  For instance, when traveling to Singapore, stay in Sentosa rather than in the city.  In Bangkok, I found a number of opportunities at the Marriott – which is located in the city but has ample gardens.  Many resorts not located in cities are already close to nature – but make sure to not choose one that uses pesticides or your subjects will be few (except for flowers of course).

European trips – For the most part, these aren’t the best trips for macro.  I’m sure there are some areas where you can find some interesting subjects, but unless you are staying out in the country you’re unlikely to find great subjects.  When I travel to Europe, I generally leave most of my macro equipment at home.

In general I find that I do not have much time to take my macro shots when on vacation.  I do sometimes take walking trips for an hour or so while my wife and kids relax in the hotel, but I certainly don’t have the time to setup a tripod and get things exactly right.  Therefore, I highly recommend that you take a form of macro lighting with you on vacation.  The best choice is the MT-24EX.  I won’t go into detail here about the advantages of this flash, but while on vacation I constantly have it on my camera if I am using any of my macro lenses.

Of course, this means that you have another thing to carry.  This has caused a number of problems for me as I do not have a large backpack and don’t want to carry an extra large backpack when I am on vacation.  Therefore, I often divide my equipment into two camps – macro equipment and non-macro equipment.  When I am out and about visiting sites, I generally have the non-macro equipment.  When I am walking around the hotel, I generally have my macro equipment.  As I have already stated, the vast majority of my macro photography is done near the hotel.  When I am out and about I simply don’t have the time and most of the subjects are not macros.

So now you have the lighting, but which lens do you take?  In my experience, most people who have a macro lens have the 100m 2.8.  This is an excellent macro lens and is always the lens I recommend to people getting started.  On vacation, I think this lens is the ideal choice with a cropped frame camera.  However, with a full frame camera I think it falls a bit short.

The main problem I have run across while on vacation is I never know what I will want to photograph.  For instance, on a recent trip to Mexico I was photographing a flower by a bridge.

Suddenly, I heard a pack of coatis.  I didn’t know how much time I would have with them, so I dared not change a lens.  Besides, the only other lens I had on me at the time was a wide angle lens – I had left my telephoto in the hotel to make room for the macro.  Luckily, I had the Canon 180L mounted on my camera at the time.  I turned on auto-focus and took several frames of the coatis.

If I had the 100mm 2.8 at the time, I would have had a much more difficult time getting this shot due to the shorter focal length.  On a cropped frame camera, where the 100mm macro is really a 160mm lens, I don’t think the difference is as important – though the 180L will still prove to be all the more versatile.  This lens served this purpose multiple times on vacation and is now my favorite macro lens for vacations.  Granted, it is a much heavier lens than the 100mm, but it is also more useful.  Also, a number of animals are a bit shy (such as the lizard above) and difficult to get too close to.  The 180L makes it much easier.

Keep in mind that I am not advocating you do most of your wildlife photography with the 180L.  On my last vacation to Mexico I used the Canon 70-200 4L IS to take most of my coati and bird shots.  The extremely quick AF in that lens allowed me to get more keepers.  However, my images from the 180L were a bit sharper.  Still, when I had the 70-200 that was the lens of choice as the 180L has very slow AF – even with the focus limiter.  This isn’t really a drawback of the lens – it’s not really intended for that purpose anyway.  What the 180L did offer though was the ability to switch quickly from larger wildlife to smaller critters.

What about the MP-E 65 that I currently use for a majority of my macro shots?  While I love this lens, for standard vacations it is not very practical.  This lens requires a lot of patience and time to get a good shot – even with a macro flash attached.  I simply don’t have that kind of time when on vacation.  I wound up not taking a single picture with it on vacation.  I did put it on the camera a few times, but most of the subjects I found were flowers that required the 180L.  It also didn’t help that the hotel used pesticides and as a result insects were hard to find.  Lizards, on the other hand, were in large supply – but the 180L was required because they were skittish – and too large to be photographed with the MP-E 65 anyway.

For future vacations, I will likely leave the MP-E 65 at home unless I am going on a tropical vacation where the hotel is in close proximity to the jungle – and the hotel does not use pesticides.

The last piece of equipment I take with me may be overkill for some, but I always take two Wimberley macro arms to hold the MT-24EX.  In general I find that putting the lights closer to the subject makes the lighting more pleasing.  Therefore I always use these together with my 180L.  The combined rig tends to scare some fellow tourists and I always receive a wise crack or two whenever I go out.  However, if you are using the 100mm 2.8 or shorter, I don’t think this is necessary.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Always account for camera shake either by using a tripod together with a remote release and mirror lock, or use a high enough shutterspeed.  The rule of thumb is to use the reverse of the camera lens – so a 400mm lens should have a shutter speed of 1/400, but with today’s lenses that contain IS and various optical tricks there are often exceptions to this rule.  Still, keep your shutterspeed high if you are not using a tripod.

I always try to stay at ISO 100, even on the Canon 5D.  With some of the newer cameras capable of better high ISO handling, you may be able to go higher without risking the possibility of requiring noise reduction.

Finally, always check for blowouts when taking shots.  These will almost always cause your image to be rejected.  Proper exposure will often fix this but sometimes you may need a diffuser or need to create an HDR.

Now on to the workflow

The workflow for microstock pictures is quite different from traditional workflow.  While there are a lot of pages and books about different tricks you can do with Photoshop, the reality is you don’t have time for many of them.  You are not getting paid a small fortune for each shot – so spend the appropriate amount of time.  The workflow you go through for a fine art print is completely different from that for a microstock photo.  When post processing photos for microstock, speed is of essence.  This is not a work of art and you have a lot to do.

The following are the top priorities when post processing pictures for microstock.

• Remove noise.  Microstock sites hate noise.
• Remove dust spots, which will always cause your photo to be rejected.  The healing brush and spot healing brush are your friends.
• Crop the shot if necessary, though I always try to get it right the first time.
• Remove logos and other things that I don’t want, such as tree branches leaning into the picture.
• High contrast and high saturation sells, so I always increase these

For those interested in my workflow, the following is the procedure I follow for all shots.

1. Every picture is taken with RAW+large JPG – even snapshots of the kids
2. I only post process the pictures I want to submit or display.  For other shots I have the original JPG.
3. I change the contrast, shadows, and saturation in the RAW converter.  Photoshop has the ability to suggest values for these and I often click ‘auto’, then go back and do it myself if I am not happy with the results.
4. I try not to change the exposure too much as it introduces noise
5. I remove all dust spots.  These are especially common in macro shots – particularly in the corners of the image.  Pictures with sky also show dust spots very well.
6. If I want to remove something on the side of the photo, I occasionally crop.  However I pay particular attention to this when taking the shot and thus crops are rare.
7. Sometimes I clone things out of the shot, though I rarely do this.  This is for the ‘killer’ shot that is being ruined by one thing.  Other times it is to remove logos.
8. If the shot was taken above ISO 100 and I can detect noise, I remove it with Noise Ninja.  I do this knowing it will kill the photo’s chances on IStockPhoto though.
9. The final step is to add keywords.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

While I have rarely taken professional fireworks photos myself, I grew up in the fireworks industry and have worked on numerous professional fireworks shows in the past.  Both of my parents work in the fireworks industry – my mother (who has sold fine art prints of fireworks for some time) full time and my father part time.  I am also a member of the Pyrotechnics Guild International, where my father has won several international competitions. 

1)     Use bulb – no one shutter speed will work for all shots

2)     Use a tripod – should be obvious

3)     Place the tripod on stable ground – bleachers do not work

4)     Photograph away from any lights – particularly street lights.  Often they turn them out just before the show but sometimes they do not.

5)     If you are photographing from a popular place, get there early because you don’t want people in front of you and the best spots will be taken quickly.

6)     Don’t try to get too much in one shot.  You want to be able to recognize the shells – this is especially relevant during the finale.

7)  You can get more fireworks in a shot by putting a piece of black paper in between shots while using bulb mode.  In my opinion the effect looks a bit fake and you can tell it was done by the smoke patterns, but a number of people do prefer the photos.

Here are some tips on composing good shots.  They are based on my opinions after seeing thousands of fireworks pictures.

1. Do try to get a well known monument, skyline, or building in the shot.  These are often the more interesting fireworks pictures.
2. Do try to get ground shots of fireworks (if the show has them - see below).  Very often these shots are much more interesting than aerial ones.
3. Do try to experiment with shots of standard shells going off.  Try such things as spinning the lens, zooming way in, zooming while focusing, etc.  There are millions of shots of peonies and chrysanthemums (see below) out there – please do not add to the collection.

Now for some info that may be new:

1)     Unless you are shooting a small local fireworks show, everything will be in the air (vs ground pieces) so that’s what I’ll focus on most.  Some shows may use ‘mines’ which are shells that are aimed upwards on the ground.  You can get some gorgeous shots if you get the mines in the right frame, but to do that you need to know where they’ll go off.  General rules on finding mines.

a.     If the show uses a barge, no mines

b.    If you see a mine, expect more to go off near it (of course you may be in the wrong spot)

c.     When you get to the site, try to see where the fireworks are being setup.  Mines are much closer to the ground than the pipes for aerial shots so if they are there with some sharp eyes you can see them.

2)     There are two types of aerial shells – ball shells and canister shells (OK – I have seen square shells but they are not used commercially in the US).  When the shell is fired, you can tell which type it is based on how the shell goes up (the canister will spin).  Why do you care?  Ball shells typically have one break except for some of the very largest ones.  Canister shells will have multiple breaks and are typically more interesting shots.

3)     There are two main types of ball shells.  It can be tough determining the difference at times with your eye, but your shots will notice the difference so you should try to pay attention.

a.     Peony – stars light after the shell bursts

b.    Chrysanthemum – stars light when the shell bursts.

4)     As mentioned before, canister shots are often (but not always) multi-break.  When you have seen a lot of shells, you will be able to predict with high accuracy how many breaks a shell will have and what types.  The following can be used as rough guidelines.

a.     If you look closely, the other break(s) will separate from the main shell before it bursts, though this doesn’t always happen.

b.    Canister shells burst in a different pattern than ball shells – more of a rectangle than a circle.  If this break is very plain (just colored stars), you can almost always expect another break.

c.     Generally shells with tails will not multibreak.

5)     There are obviously many types of breaks, but the following may provide info for shots

a.     Torbillions – swirl around and make a buzzing noise, very common, can be hard to expose correctly because they are often white

b.    Cyatines – equivalent of an M-80 in the air, sound like firecrackers, common and easy to get in the shot because they are not very bright

c.     Bottom shot – a loud boom and always the last break.  If you hear a “ba ba ba” then there will always be a “boom”.  Can be hard to expose correctly because they are very bright but can make gorgeous shots if everything breaks right.

d.    Go getter – each star has a tiny rocket attached to it and takes off in its own direction, can be confused with other affects but once you see one the effect is unmistakable, somewhat rare shell because it is extremely expensive and time consuming to make, almost impossible to get a good photo of one because the way the stars move makes the shot look cluttered.  Of course I am biased on this shell because my father used one to win an international tournament.

e.     Crosette – this is actually not really a multibreak shell because the technique is in how you build the stars vs multiple timed breaks, very common shell, effect is for shell to break in three, then each break to break in three, not very bright so best if you try to get all of the crosettes, sometimes have tails (where they area often called ‘palm trees’), the largest of these are among the most gorgeous shells around and if you can get the right shot it will be frameworthy.  Perhaps the most beautiful shell I ever saw was a 16” crosette that filled the entire sky – but it is highly unlikely a show can afford a shell like that here (probably costs over $2000).

f.     Flower bouquet – multiple colored breaks – the most I have seen is 11, relatively common shell but I don’t remember seeing one last year, sometimes can tease with a bottom shot but you can tell the difference because of the way the breaks fire (flower bouquet is much faster because it is trying to get as much color in the sky as possible), makes great shots because of the colors

g.    Lampari – a fireball in the sky, basically it’s a bottom shot with kerosene added, hard to expose right because it is bright but fiery, I’ve seen some decent shots focused on the lampari (they exist in larger single shells as well) but never combined as a break in a shell, these used to be rare but I have seen smaller versions of them in commercial shows recently

7)     Other types of shells

a.     Willow – unmistakable charcoal stars that seem to hang in the sky forever, easy to expose because it’s not very bright, make gorgeous shots if the framing is correct but its best to try to get as much of the willow as you can

b.    Pattern shells – rings, stars, butterflies – seems like new ones come out each year.  The trick is to expose just right so the ring looks like a ring.  You are really at the mercy of the shell here – because a lot of them don’t break right.  I’ve seen a number of nice shots with pattern shells combined with other shells.

c.     Salute – a single big bang, photograph as you would a bottom shot, often used in finales (in my opinion a finale is not reputable without them)

d.    Comet – has a tail but no burst, the trick to getting a good shot here is the framing

e.     Strobe – not really a shell but the way a shell rises, resulting in usually a peony or chrysanthemum burst, the tail basically strobes, hard to get a good shot of this type of tail so I would focus more on the burst

f.     Rockets – very rarely used in commercial shows because the sticks come back down, extremely tricky getting a good shot of these unless there is a large flight – even then it is tricky

Other bits:

-       Some of the most interesting shots I have seen are of the people shooting the fireworks.  You’ll need a small show for this because larger shows are shot electrically.  If you contact one of the fireworks companies beforehand you may be able to arrange access but you’ll need to be exceptionally nice because they are naturally a paranoid industry.  If you are seriously interested in fireworks photography the best way to get access is to work a few shows with a fireworks company.  This way they will get to know you and trust you and then you can obtain access to photograph shows you are not part of – the downside is you have to work on the 4^th J

-       Try to be original with your shots.  Everyone tries to photograph fireworks and honestly 99.9% of these shots are very boring when you have seen a lot of them.  Try to be artistic and you’ll have a much better chance of getting a good shot.

-       Get to know the fireworks.  It is said the best wildlife photographers learn about the animals they are photographing.  The same can be said for fireworks.  Learn to recognize the different types of shells before they are fired and the trend during a fireworks show (more impressive shells are fired later).  Once you understand what you are shooting, you will be able to use this knowledge to create interesting frames.

For those of you who live near Seattle, I am still trying to find a good show here.  In general fireworks here in the Pacific Northwest are far inferior to the shows on the East coast (or even in the Midwest).  I’m not exactly sure why – though perhaps because the fireworks industry has been heavily affected by the Italian immigrant fireworks companies that settled there long ago and influenced the style there.  Those shows tend to have much more innovative shells and a lot more noise (“Spanish finale”).  They also tend to shoot bigger shells.

So far I have been to the downtown Seattle and Bellevue shows and found neither of them worth the wait in terms of getting there early to get a good spot.  Last year we saw a show from our house – seemed to be Sammamish but it could have been Issaquah – that looked interesting.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tip #1 – Keep in mind the orientation of the subject

The following are two pictures I took recently.  Note that the first isn’t very interesting.  You can easily make out that it’s a hoverfly but other than that the shot brings no emotion.  The second picture is quite a bit better – not only due to the reflection of the bug but also because the bug is facing forward.  In general always try to find a pose that is interesting – don’t just take the bug unless you are trying for an identification shot.

Tip #2 – Look for things out of the ordinary

The most interesting macro shots are often things most others would never have thought of – or at least taking a picture of.  Therefore it always helps to look at things with a different perspective – you may find something interesting that you would normally not have shot.

Tip #3 – Backgrounds can be changed

Very often the natural environment of an insect isn’t so interesting.  Therefore, sometimes it pays off to move the insect (or spider) from one location to another that provides a more interesting backdrop.

Tip #4 – Know your subjects

If you know the behavior of your subjects, you can often use that knowledge to get a more interesting shot.  Here is a simple example.  As most people know, pill bugs roll up into a ball when disturbed (hence the name).  Using this behavior, the second shot is much more interesting than the first.

Tip #5 – Stick around for awhile

Rather than broadly scan an area for interesting shots, stay put in the same area.  You will be surprised what you find when you stay still for a bit and become more keen about your surroundings.  In this case, a small worm started floating down on a thin strand as I was waiting.

Tip #6 – Rethink the mundane

Often an everyday object photographed the right way makes it much more interesting.  This is a shot of the texture of a leaf.

Tip #7 – Search rather than scan

Macro photography is not about walking around a lot.  Instead, search deeply in one spot.  Start digging a bit and really looking around a small area.  Not long ago when searching in the bark of a rotting log, I found this snail embedded in it.

Tip #8 – Start experimenting

Some of the most fantastic macro shots are created through experimentation.  These shots require a lot of patience, but when you get something technically right the rewards are great.  The shot below is a drop falling from ice that took me quite a few attempts to get right.  I still need to work on the lighting, but I was very pleased with the results so far.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Panoramas like these require changes to the standard technique with landscapes.  In this post, I will discuss how I go about both.

There are a few essentials for taking panorama pictures.  The most important thing is you will need a tripod.  The tripod must have the ability to swivel the camera while keeping it level.  Any ball head will let you do this, but some tripods lack this feature.  In terms of the camera, it must have the ability to let you use manual settings for each shot.  Any SLR will let you do this, but many point and shoot cameras lack this feature.

The following are the steps I use to take any panorama, whether it is an interior or a panorama.

1. Set up the tripod and make sure it is level.  Most tripods have a leveling bubble somewhere on it.  If you have a ball head, make sure that is level too.  Finally, mount the camera on the tripod and make sure the camera itself is level.  The easiest way to do this is with a hot shoe leveler – a small leveler that fits where you normally place your flash.  Make sure your tripod is on a strong surface – such as concrete – and is not somewhere that will shake.  A bridge with heavy traffic is generally not a sturdy place – nor are sports bleachers.
2. You will need a remote trigger for your camera.  Most SLR manufacturers sell these – a cord that plugs into the side of your SLR and lets you trigger the shutter without touching the camera.  At this time you should also enable mirror lock on the camera.  Your goal is to get as sharp a picture as possible and when the shutter is raised to take a picture, a slight amount of vibration occurs.  To reduce this vibration significantly, mirror lock allows you to press once to open the shutter, then after a few seconds delay you press again to take the actual picture.
3. The lens you use really depends on the type of picture you want.  As a general rule, zoomed telephotos are easier for panorama shots than wide angle lenses.  However for interior shots you may be forced to use a wide angle lens – which was the case in the shot below.
4. Ideally, you should have either a panorama rail or a macro rail.  Both allow you to move the camera back and forth using a dial.  Macro rails are used for taking macro shots with tripods – where you need to make small adjustments in order to focus the shot (because macro shots are rarely taken with autofocus).  Some panorama heads are very similar to macro rails – though they typically have measurements on the rail.  Other panoramic rails let you take multi-row panoramas.  Really Right Stuff makes very good (and very expensive) panorama rails.  For macro rails, both Really Right Stuff and Kirk make very good ones.  I currently use the Kirk rail.  What you will use the rail for is adjusting for the nodal point of the lens.  This is less important with fully extended telephoto lenses, but is extremely important for wide angle lenses.  To find the nodal point of the lens, find (or make) an object in the foreground, then identify a similar sized object in the background.  As you turn the camera from side to side on the tripod, the two objects should stay relatively the same distance from each other.  If this is not the case, make adjustments using the rail until they are.  Once you have gone through this exercise, remember the point on the rail for that lens and focal length.
5. You will need to shoot in all manual settings.  Set the camera to manual mode and meter several portions of the entire panorama to obtain a shutter speed and aperture.  If your camera supports auto-ISO, turn it off and use a relatively low ISO (since you’re on a tripod anyway).  Also make sure to turn off auto-white balance.  Choose a white balance depending on the scene or use a light meter if you have one.  Make sure to shoot in RAW so you can change this if you need to.
6. Start on the left side of the scene and take the shots across it.  Overlap each shot by about a quarter.
7. Use a panorama stitcher to combine the shots.  I currently use the stitcher in Windows Live Photo Gallery – which is free.  It does a decent job, though there are better programs for a fee out there.  Photoshop also has a stitcher, though I find the Windows Live one to be better.

These are the steps I take for almost any panorama shot.  The real difference between interior and landscape shots is how much attention I pay to getting the nodal point of the lens right and whether I use a wide angle (interiors) or telephoto (landscapes) lens.  I am still learning a lot about panoramas, but I hope this info is helpful for those still trying to figure it out.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.