Tom Hall
Posts: 9
Location: Santa Rosa, United States
Registered: 6 Apr 2008
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Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 20:36 GMT
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I was doing my first couple of panoramas last night and had some questions. First, I went to this house -
www.tmhdesign.com/house.html and took a total of 27 images, using bracketing. I took them in raw format with a large jpg image for each file as well. I am using ptgui and was not able to load the raw images but rather only the jpgs. I noticed that it does take some time for stitching. I am curious for an average panorama such as this one (or kitchen.html) how long should it take start to finish, including photographing and stitching? Also for a first attempt how did I do? I am using the 360 adjuste, a D80, 10.5 mm. The large wall with the windows challenged me a bit, I do not like the reflection from the front door. Thanks for your time.
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mediavets
Posts: 457
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 21:20 GMT
updated: 19 Apr 2008 at 21:30 GMT
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I'm trying to figure out how you ended up with 27 images using your camera/lens combo, was that for one pano?
I think it's very good effort for a first pano - but it ( and the kitchen pano) needs levelling.
The kitchen pano is less successful IMO - are you using autofocus with the 10.5mm FE? If so, I believe that it is generally considered better to use manual focus with that lens for panography - fixed for all shots in a pano.
If you care to provide some insight into your workflow I dare say some of the real experts on the forum can offer some good advice.
Andrew
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gus
Posts: 385
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 19 Jun 2007
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 19 Apr 2008 at 22:05 GMT
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I think your sensor needs cleaning, i can observe some dust spots.
Time: Taking the photos is the quickest! You can do this in under 2 minutes. The post processing can take from 20minutes to 2 hours. It depends on whether the nadir needs editing, or if post-processing is required to the final image (sharpening, levels, colours, white balance etc)
Did you take 9 sets of 3 shots to get 27 in total?
As pointed out, the pano needs levelling, search the forum, there's loads of info and tutrials.
gus
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Tom Hall
Posts: 9
Location: Santa Rosa, United States
Registered: 6 Apr 2008
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 3:43 GMT
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If I understand the process correctly the 27 images come from the following. I understand for HDR I need to take 3 frames for each picture. That is 6 60 Degree images, 3 of the zenith, and 6 of the nadir with the camera turned 180 for two sets of nadir shots. Am I missing something?
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michael medina
Posts: 284
Location: portland, oregon, United States
Registered: 27 Jan 2008
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 4:01 GMT
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if you are using ptgui and blending each layer, outputting blended planes and individual layers and blended hdr, at full resolution it can take 45 min or more for the software to run. post processing can take minutes to days depending on how things come out and your photoshop skills.
more photoshop skill don't always translate into less time in photoshop though, they usually translate into more photoshop time ironically 
if you blend the images first and only have to stitch 7, it goes much quicker in ptgui, slower to blend, but with pre blending, you can save by skipping ptgui pro.
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Terrywoodenpic
Posts: 84
Location: Saddleworth, United Kingdom
Registered: 5 Jul 2006
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 9:50 GMT
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My comment is a purely visual/practical one and has nothing to do with the fact that this is a 360-180.
To my eye there are numerous extraneous objects lying around that should have been tidied away. Certainly they are things things a client would not want to see as they are.
It is always worth having a careful look around before shooting, as you can move something in seconds...A retake or retouch can take hours.
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mediavets
Posts: 457
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 20 Apr 2008 at 11:35 GMT
updated: 20 Apr 2008 at 11:36 GMT
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Tom Hall said: If I understand the process correctly the 27 images come from the following. I understand for HDR I need to take 3 frames for each picture. That is 6 60 Degree images, 3 of the zenith, and 6 of the nadir with the camera turned 180 for two sets of nadir shots. Am I missing something?
I'll probably get 'happy slapped' by Matt Rogers for suggesting this but - experiment with shooting 6-around at about -10 degrees and one up at about +60 degrees (times as many as you wish for bracketing as required). A technique suggested by Hans Nyberg that works very well for me with a Nikon D40, Nikkor 10.5mm FE and NN5 pano head.
You will get good zenith coverage - and good linking between the 6-around row and the 'zenith' shot - and with my NN5 pano head I get just a small hole at the nadir over the rotator and none of the rest of the pano head bracketry showing in stitched pano using Autopano Pro and Smartblend.
Andrew
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Matt Rogers
[360 Precision]
Posts: 213
Location: Oxford UK, United Kingdom
Registered: 16 Jun 2005
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 at 20:19 GMT
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Not sure why I'd slap you ? Our fisheye Absolute pano-heads have had ±10º slots well before it was popular on the forums. I personally prefer to shoot the main row at the horizon as it makes it easier for me to visually organise my shots it Aperture. For some reason it does my head in if my main row isn't at zero. It's the same reason I can't watch TV lying down, I'm not sure why but I can't.
I disagree with Hans about shooting at 60º for the Zenith though. If you calibrate an accurate template, shooting at 60º has no benefits. Shooting at 90º in interiors though helps as quite often it's visually easier to identify the overlapping regions if the images are rotated 90º, 60º just confuses things.
Matt
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mediavets
Posts: 457
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: Start to Finish - How Long?
Posted: 21 Apr 2008 at 21:54 GMT
updated: 21 Apr 2008 at 21:59 GMT
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Matt Rogers said: Not sure why I'd slap you?
Because in the past you've expressed frustation with people advocating shooting the main row at anything other than zero; implying that they are making things more difficult for themselves (and for you when supporting customers who have adopted such a technique after reading about it in forum posts). But you seem rather more mellow today.
Matt Rogers said: I disagree with Hans about shooting at 60º for the Zenith though. If you calibrate an accurate template, shooting at 60º has no benefits. Shooting at 90º in interiors though helps as quite often it's visually easier to identify the overlapping regions if the images are rotated 90º, 60º just confuses things.
Matt
Well Hans' suggestion worked very well for me. Using a D40 and Nikkor 10.5mm FE I find shooting the 'zenith' at +60-65 (rather than +90) makes stitching much easier for scenes with big skies or featureless ceilings.
But as I mentioned I am not using a 360Precision head; the Nodal Ninja 5 I use doesn't claim similar repeatability nor to support 'fully templated' stitching.
Also I am using Autopano Pro, rather than PTGui, so - with my camera/lens/head combo and Hans' technique - I seldom need to set CPs manually. Hence the initial orientation of images to faciliate easy visual identification of overlapping regions is not an issue for me, but I can appreciate that this would otherwise be a consideration.
Andrew
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