Stitching panoramas

psybear · 4 May 2015

I posted something similar over in a panoramic thread in Landscapes, but zero response to date, so thought I'd try here.

I've been trying some astral photography panos recently and the downside of taking pictures in the pitch dark is often a tripod that isn't level. So usually my middle frame is level but the others are off to varying degrees. When I try stitching I often end up with a distinctly curved horizon. I've ordered a cheap nodal slide with a big spirit level built-in to see if that helps and will be paying more attention in future to getting the tripod as level as I can when setting up. Happy to hear of any other tips though. But does anyone level the individual images before stitching? Haven't tried that myself, but it might help my horizons...

BennyBoo · 4 May 2015

I had a problem with my pictures being too similar to stitch and someone on here recommended Microsoft ICE..

Works pretty well, might help you a little..?

FlyingShrapnel · 5 May 2015

psybear said:
But does anyone level the individual images before stitching? Haven't tried that myself, but it might help my horizons...

exactly that, if you use Lightroom it is pretty easy to level them before stitching with whatever software you use. A short while ago I had a series of pano shots that just wouldnt work when i tried stitching them in Photoshop, no matter what "mode" i used. So I made sure all the horizons lined up by holding a ruler against the screen so they are all parallel and voila

Jayst84 · 5 May 2015

It gets tricky when you're shooting the sky / stars, because there's a good chance you're going to be tilting the camera up a fair few degrees.

You can try applying some perspective corrections to the individual frames before stitching, which may help if you don't take them too far.

StewartR · 5 May 2015

psybear said:
When I try stitching I often end up with a distinctly curved horizon.

What software are you using for stitching? Proper panorama software like Hugin or PanoTools shouldn't be bothered by this sort of thing.

psybear · 6 May 2015

Thanks for the replies folks.

I'm a Mac user, so can't use Microsoft ICE. I have tried Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, PTGui and Hugin.....

Terrywoodenpic · 7 May 2015

StewartR said:
What software are you using for stitching? Proper panorama software like Hugin or PanoTools shouldn't be bothered by this sort of thing.

Absolutely....all thanks to the amazing math of Helmut Dursch.
things can be at any which angle and they still make fine panoras.
However you need to learn the controlls for best results, rather than rely on auto every thing.
It is best if you get the entry pupil (nodal point) but the rest hardly matters at all.

Terrywoodenpic · 7 May 2015

psybear said:
Thanks for the replies folks.

I'm a Mac user, so can't use Microsoft ICE. I have tried Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, PTGui and Hugin.....

You might have tried Ptgui but you now need to learn how to use it, if the shots overlap it can stich them.
Unlike the Adobe and microsoft offerings it give you almost infinate control.