On this video tutorial Aaron Nace from Phlearn gives some tips for shooting panorama images and goes over the editing process in Adobe Photoshop.
Here are some of the useful tips for shooting panoramas from this video (plus some of our additions):
- Use a stable tripod (watch Joel Grimes: Why I Use a Tripod), if you are a more advanced panorama shooter consider getting a specialized panoramaic head.
- Shoot more than you think you need (it is always better to have more shots than you need than less than you need. Also shoot wider than you think you need – this will allow you to crop better in post.
- Contrary to what you might think, Nace suggest that you do not use a wide (or ultra-wide) lens, instead use a 50mm or even longer for minimum distortion.
- Shoot at f/8 or f/11 for maximum image quality (in the lowest sensitivity possible). Use manual focus.
- Use long exposures to blur unwanted movement from subjects (use ND filter if needed and a remote).
The next stage is to process the image in Photoshop which includes stitching, correcting lens distortion, cropping (Nace suggest 3:1 ratio although you can choose 4:1 or even higher), filling up missing parts with content aware or the clone stamp and finally color enhancements as necessary.
This is not the first time that we are looking at shooting panoramas here on LensVid – you can also check out “How to Create Panoramas Using Photoshop” by Photoshop’s senior product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes and “Shooting and Stitching Together Panoramas in Photoshop” with photographer Gavin Hoey.
You can find many more Photoshop video tutorials on LensVid’s Photoshop section (and you can find a lot more Phlearn videos on our special Phlearn subsection).