Tom Hall
Posts: 9
Location: Santa Rosa, United States
Registered: 6 Apr 2008
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First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 30 Apr 2008 at 13:45 GMT
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Please look at this panorama -
www.tmhdesign.com/room.html
I am a bit challenged at this effort. I am using a D80 with a 360P Adjuste. A 10.5 lens.
Given this example, I need to do about 5 other rooms just like it in this hotel. What challenges me is what mode to use in the camera, ie p, a, s, m, what to set the initial aperature/speed to, and if I bracket to what extent over/under? I really would apprecite your assistance.
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gus
Posts: 306
Location: United Kingdom
Registered: 19 Jun 2007
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Re: First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 30 Apr 2008 at 14:36 GMT
updated: 30 Apr 2008 at 14:38 GMT
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Hi Tom,
Overall I'd be happy if that was my first attempt. The white balance appears spot on, and it's stitched well.
However:
1)windows are overexposed
2)there's dust on your sensor
3) holes in the nadir and zenith
My advice, which works for me:
1)shoot in raw, easier to tweak WB afterwards, and to recover blown highlights
2) I would avoid putting the tripod onthe bed, although in your situation it doesnt seem you had a choice!
3) Limit the tilt of your pano to prevent visitors seeing the black holes
4) Shoot in manual mode - always. Turn autofocus off, and set your lens to focus on its hyperfocal distance (or infinity). F8 to F11 gives sharp results.
5) point the camera to a "medium-lit" area in the scene, and turn the shutter speed dial until the built in exposure meter shows perfect exposure. Use this as the "normal" shot in your bracketing.
6) The bracketing range depends on the scene. Shooting in RAW gives more flexibility. The greater the dynamic range the further apart you will need your F-stops.
This forum is full of posts and information on the topics I mention, a quick search will reveal a wealth of info 
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.
gus
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 252
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 30 Apr 2008 at 14:49 GMT
updated: 30 Apr 2008 at 14:50 GMT
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Tom
It looks pretty good to me.
With a little more HDR/Tone Mapping practice you may be able to pull in a little more of the view out the wintows.
Camera settings should be Manual
Aperature f/5.6 to f/8 so you have a good depth of field without exposures being too long
I get the best results by starting out with the camera aimed 90° from the brightest light source and using the meter/scale on the camera to find the optimum (-0-) shutter speed for the shot. With the wide Field of View the fisheye lens has, you'll get a shutter speed that can handle bright and darker part of the scene. If you don't "bracket", this would be the setting to use for all the shots.
As far as "bracketing" for HDR/Tone Mapping, more range is best when shooting. You don't have to use all the photos you take when compositing, but its better to have more than you need. I usually shoot +2, +1, -0-, -1, -2 and so on until I can see the detail out the windows clearly and go one shot more after that. Its digital, it doesn't cost anything to take photos.
Then you have to shoot the exactly the same set of exposures for each rotation position.
Also, for that room, you should probably set the White Balance to Sunlight. You don't want to use the Auto White Balance because the camera may shift the setting if it picks up an Incandescent light source as the camera aims away from a bright window. This makes it harder for the stitching program to blend the images. By choosing one of the preset White Balance settings or setting a custom White Balance for all the shots, you'll get better stitching
Oh, and I like the camera to be lower than you have it, between 4 and 5 ft high
Again, the scene looks pretty good.
But you'll be the best judge, does it look like the hotel room?
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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John Houghton
Posts: 2021
Location: Hitchin, United Kingdom
Registered: 17 Jan 2005
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Re: First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 30 Apr 2008 at 16:10 GMT
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It looks very good to me too. Considering the less than solid footing for the tripod, it has stitched remarkably well. You ought to have taken a zenith shot though. It's easy enough and should stitch in without any problems. I think possibly the room lighting would be better switched off. It's clearly redundant with all that sunlght entering the room and just looks a bit unlikely, as well as being very yellow. But a good effort.
John
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mediavets
Posts: 152
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
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Re: First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 30 Apr 2008 at 16:13 GMT
updated: 30 Apr 2008 at 16:15 GMT
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Tom Hall said: Please look at this panorama -
www.tmhdesign.com/room.html
I am a bit challenged at this effort. I am using a D80 with a 360P Adjuste. A 10.5 lens.
If you wish to have full coverage at the zenith (and why not?) then I would try shooting as follows with your camera/lens/head.
6-around at -10 degrees and one or two up at +65 degress (if two up then vary yaw by ,say, 120 degrees)
I use this shooting technique successfully with my D40/Nikkor 10.5mm FE/NN5 head.
Having the main row at -10 degrees leaves just a small 'hole' at nadir about the size of the NN5 rotator. The +65 degrees 'zenith' shot(s) give good coverage at zenith and facilitate linking the main row with the 'zenith' - particularly in scenes where a +90 zenith shot might be almost featureless.
I would choose to cover the camera mount (tripod etc) at the nadir using a client branded 'logo button' rather than fiddling around to patch the nadir Or to limit viewing so that nadir is excluded. As I feel that there's seldom much of interest to see at nadir, and patching the nadir takes time (hence reducing your margin!). Many would disagree.
Andrew
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Doug Aurand
Posts: 252
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
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Re: First Attempt - Critique & Help Please
Posted: 1 May 2008 at 0:19 GMT
updated: 1 May 2008 at 0:19 GMT
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John H
I shoot a lot of homes and I like the contrasting Incandescent light from lamps like that.
A trick a VR photographer who shoots a number of hotels told be about is to carry a number of the compact fluorescent bulbs with 5000K "sunlght" light to replace the the standard bulbs with. He carries an assortment but usually replaces the 40-60 watt bulbs you find in a hotel room with at least 100 watt equivalent bulbs to give him more light to work with in the usually darker side of the room away from the window or sliding glass door
Later
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
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