I want to stitch together a panorama I took yesterday of the Hoover dam from the bridge to the west of, and above the dam (Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge).
I want to use 4 photo’s wide by 2 high in portrait orientation, total of 8 images. The images I want to work with are in raw. Camera is a Canon 1D mark II, lens is a Canon 50mm F1.4. Manuel settings.
Before I start I wish to ask someone knowledgeable in panoramas a few questions to save forehead dents on my walls.
Programs I will be using are..
Arcsoft panorama maker 6, (free trial), will purchase if I like how it works.
Photoshop CS3
Topaz Detail 3
Should I just convert from raw and rotate images ? And what format should I save them to? Or
Should I get the images “close” copying step by step for each, including Topaz before stitching before saving to ? format. I want to eventually format for prints, and also JPEG for sharing.
I may ask more questions as I go.
Thank You.
There's not necessarily one right answer here. What I normally do is to make all my global adjustments in Lr, and ensure that any dust removal is also done. I ensure that lens corrections are applied. I then export to a 16-bit format (TIFF), and stitch the pano using the 16-bit files as input. Once the pano is stitched, I save it to a .psd, keeping the individual images on separate layers. This is key if you need to tweak the stitch points.
After I am satisfied with the stitch, I will create a single-layer version of the image and do any spot editing on that. As to where something like Topaz fits in, you can do it either before exporting from Lr, or after bringing it into Ps. Remember that when you make strong tonal adjustments after a stitch, it may reveal subtle tonal differences that will make the stitck point stand out. Better to know about this as early as possible so that you can deal with it without stepping back too far.
I've mostly used the demo version of AutoStitch to make panos, and I've also recently tried the StitchAssist software which comes with Canon cameras -- it could handle a bigger file (on my old/slow computer) but with fewer options.
