fellipe de paula
Posts: 126
Location: Brazil
Registered: 7 May 2010
|
Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 0:45 GMT
|
|
I know this thread will sound really "vague" but as a totally newbie panographer I'd like any kind of tips and advices of things I should do and thing I should try to avoid while shooting my frames.
or if you have any links it's also much appreciated.
Mind that as a newbie even the most obvious advices will be helpful.
Thanks a lot sirs.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
mediavets
Posts: 1980
Location: Isleham, Cambs., United Kingdom
Registered: 8 Feb 2008
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 8:21 GMT
|
|
1. Don't use a flash.
2. All manual settings on the camera, including white balance - a check list can be useful.
3. Use a remote release, wired or IR.
4. Make sure you have all the stuff you need when leaving home - check lists can be useful.
Andrew
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Sid
Posts: 97
Location: Athens, Greece
Registered: 4 Nov 2009
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 9:15 GMT
|
|
an issue that i have dealt with a number of times is leaving a lens cap or similar (backpack)somewhere visible in the photo. you think nothing of it when you are clicking away taking your shots only to discover it later when you are processing.
sure photoshop will help removing such things from an image.(sometimes not) but its always easier when they are not there 
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 9:41 GMT
updated: 2 Sep 2010 at 20:27 GMT
|
|
And learn to count!
Not just to three, four or five, but up as far as 9, if you are bracketing, or 6 if using six shots round.
If you are doing gigapix images, then that is another thing altogether, so good luck.
Seriously,
I cannot count above six, so I have no idea how many times I have taken the perfect shot, only to find out that the final round shot was missing.
Jon
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Sid
Posts: 97
Location: Athens, Greece
Registered: 4 Nov 2009
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 9:59 GMT
|
|
yes make sure you have all the bracketed shots too.(if you shoot bracketed)
i have shot a couple where i miss one bracketed shot and it puts the rest out of sync..
again a missing shot can be faked with software but.. its easier to save the aggravation
I think the dumbest i have ever done was forgetting a Zenith shot entirely for a pano.. I had shot at +5 on my NN3 and had a minimal hole and was able to patch a fake zenith... but that was several hours of extra work..
the wood workers rule "measure twice cut once"
also applies in a way to our photos think twice shoot once
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 14:18 GMT
|
|
felipe
A lot of the guys manually set the White Balance, but a couple of us have been getting good results leaving it on Auto.
I used to set the White Balance with a gray card and an ExpoDisc, but quit after one of the participants mentioned he used the Auto.
I occasionally have to do a little fine tuning with the Color Balance, but PTGui does an amazing job of blending
You might want to experiment and see which you like by shooting a church or ballroom before the people get there.
Also, it is possible to use a flash with an off camera flash cord and bouncing the light off the wall opposite the direction of the camera. PhotoWebUSA taught me that technique which helped a lot shooting hotel rooms that have one dominant light source.
The most important rule...don't kick the tripod just before the last shooting position 
A checklist is a good idea until you get the process memorized. iPIX included one for each camera & len combo they sold which I still have in the those camera bags and made one for my Canon XTi/Sigma 8mm setup that I used
Practice at home, both shooting and stitching, before you have to shoot a real location.
Good luck
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Clay
Posts: 251
Location: Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada
Registered: 23 Aug 2004
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 14:50 GMT
|
|
All good advice, Doug, except for using Auto white balance. I see subtle variations particularly on the ceiling of interior scenes taken with my FC-E8. Of course its less noticeable with my Samyang 8 which requires a zenith shot, but why take the chance?
Imagine pointing the camera at a tungsten lit wall, then rotating it toward a large exterior window... not going to work!
I will try the bounced flash, though.
Regards,
Clay
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Tactus 360
Posts: 1245
Location: Tynset, Norway
Registered: 2 Sep 2010
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 14:50 GMT
updated: 2 Sep 2010 at 20:27 GMT
|
|
In which case, I think you have been very lucky, Doug.
White balance is a pain-in-the-arse problem that I have come across time and time again in my own panos, especially those taken during the winter here in the Land of the Rotten Fish. It has usually ended with me having to do layer masks and alter the colour balance accordingly, blending or brushing out the offending layers. With a machine of only 4 MB RAM, that becomes a long-winded process.
I also ruined a set of photos taken in the dome and on the roof of Katarina Church in Stockholm by forgetting to set the white balance to fixed; so much so that they could not be used at all - Not a big problem, only a return trip of 420 miles (65 miles Noreg) each way.
I use a WhiBal card now, thanks to Smooth. It does the job nicely and was relatively cheap. Better still, the suppliers (www.WhiBal.com) managed to get the card to me across the pond in less than 7 days!
I would recommend an investment of the 30 dollars or so to get this and would suggest that it has saved a hell of a lot of post-processing time.
Jon
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Sid
Posts: 97
Location: Athens, Greece
Registered: 4 Nov 2009
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 20:33 GMT
|
|
|
how does one use these white balance cards?
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
iam360Texas
Posts: 298
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Registered: 12 Jul 2006
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 20:47 GMT
|
|
I am so glad you asked that question. How do you use the Whibal card ?
First we bought one. Thats it. We do not have any business association with this company. It simply works great when you add it to your work flow.
www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials/WhiBal/02/index.html
Please look beyond the advertising part of this movie.. to understand HOW it works.
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Sid
Posts: 97
Location: Athens, Greece
Registered: 4 Nov 2009
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 21:18 GMT
|
|
Great vid...
explains it thoroughly
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Doug Aurand
Posts: 3282
Location: Albuquerque, NM, United States
Registered: 2 Jan 2008
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 14 May 2010 at 21:26 GMT
updated: 14 May 2010 at 21:30 GMT
|
|
Clay
"Imagine pointing the camera at a tungsten lit wall, then rotating it toward a large exterior window... not going to work!"
What PhotWebUSA showed me was to change all the light bulbs in hotel room to sun light equivalent bulbs
The other solution I found with my Coastal Optics 4.88mm was to take more photos. The CO4.88mm produces circular fisheyes like the FC-E8 with a 185º FOV (its actually 190°).
When I can't change the light bulbs, I just take 4 shots around, giving me 200% coverage, that way each image trasitions between the different light types.
The only place I set the White Balance on my Canon is in very low light, it seems to default towards a "sun light" setting in Auto when there's very little light. So indoor shots are sometimes very yellow.
I just watch the first shot on the display and if I need to, use one of the Preset White Balance choices.
P.S. Just had to do this at a house with lots of recessed tunsten lights in the kitchen ceiling. First shot on Auto was too Yellow, so I changed the White Balance to Tunsten/Incandescant, deleted the first shot, tried again and the white balance was fine.
Doug Aurand
Albuquerque, NM
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
Seba
Posts: 77
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Registered: 19 Aug 2005
|
Re: Do's and Don'ts while shooting? Newbie advice.
Posted: 17 May 2010 at 0:31 GMT
|
|
Beside the settings listed by other forum participants, there few small things to keep in mind, which will help you with challenges of post processing your photographs.
1) if possible, position yourself within a shadow spot rather than highly illuminated area, to prevent creating too many shadows with your gears.
2) if 1) is not easily manageable, try to rotate the tripod to reduce the number of shadows created by the tripod's legs. You can rotate it to a point where there are two instead of three.
3) mind the ground/floor for join places of tiles, mosaic, marbles. Try to stay within or away - if possible. Look for spots will less consistent patterns rather than complex one. For example, is much easier to retouch a tripod from grass, sand, asphalt than tiled walk-side. I apply that in case of interior shots as well. Try to find place which can be easily retouched, opposite to funny and complex design carpets etc...
4) if you have no choice to escape mirrors, make a photo of the location where your tripod going to be, with the mirror behind you (stand close to the mirror), than you can flip it horizontally in photoshop and replace the reflection of you and the tripod from the mirror shot. Of course it takes a bit of scaling and playing, but it's much easier than trying to recreate subject blocked by the tripod and remove the tripod entirely.
5) "post-it" and marker might become your best friend.
In places where you face lots of plain and consistent color surfaces, like very large ceiling and walls painted white, the stitching programs might confuse what images it supposed to use to generate control points. To give you an example, I was doing 360 in BMW showroom while the new Z4 launch. The whole place is pure white (like photo studio) with just the car in a center. Of course if you comfortable with PTGui, you will solve that easily, but personally I'm not so I stick on a walls and floor the post-it and number them with Marker pen from 1 to 6. While in PTGui, I did the control points manually and it took less than 2 minutes to get perfect, error free stitching.
Also useful with very complex but consistent mosaics or other designs on floors and ceilings.
I was doing pano in a hotel with very complex patterned ceiling while the walls were identical (plain) and PTGui was forcing wrong shots to generate the control points. It was insisting on using opposite walls and because they look identical, I couldn't notice the difference while having totally messed up image as a result, going out of my mind, (almost) selling soul to the devil to get it done.
Post-it rules !!!
|
|
alert moderator
|
|
back to threads list |
this thread is closed