# Pano, any tutorials on how to best shoot for Lr?



## tspear (Aug 15, 2016)

Just wondering if anyone has seen any tutorials on the best techniques when taking the photos for the pano feature in Lr to be able to create a descent image.
I find about 3/4 my panos I do not like the result in Lr or it says it cannot process the images (usuallt the perspective image).
While I am at it, any descent explanations on the pano modes?


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## clee01l (Aug 15, 2016)

I've had generally good results, although I've had some culls too.   The biggest issue to overcome is the extreme width versus height.   I solved this by shooting in Portrait mode to get a taller frame. I've also followed a L-R pan with a R-L pan covering even more vertical area. If you overlap each frame by 1/3, generally LR is capable of generating a panorama from the source. 
While you can do 360˚ panoramas, shooting something less than 180˚ usually produces more pleasing results.


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## tspear (Aug 15, 2016)

I have not done the second pass for vertical; read about it but never tried it. 
The problem I mostly run into is the view seems to twist/bend; and I can never predict which view, circular/spherical/perspective would work best. Or how to adjust how I take the shots.
I would attache some DNG files to give an example, but the forum does not allow DNG.


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## happycranker (Aug 15, 2016)

You could look at this one from Nikon, but of course suitable for any camera! 
Panorama Photography | How to Take Panoramic Photos | Nikon from Nikon


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## Johan Elzenga (Aug 15, 2016)

tspear said:


> Just wondering if anyone has seen any tutorials on the best techniques when taking the photos for the pano feature in Lr to be able to create a descent image.
> I find about 3/4 my panos I do not like the result in Lr or it says it cannot process the images (usuallt the perspective image).



An important part is understanding what these projections do. *Perspective projection* takes the middle image as base, and then distorts the other images with perspective distortion to make them fit. This projection is ideal for slightly extending the angle of view of a wide angle lens. The great advantage is that straight lines remain straight, and do not get curved. You can use this if your widest wide angle is still just a little short to get that entire building into the picture. You can only do this within certain limits however. Beyond say 120 degrees, it becomes technically impossible to make a panorama with perspective projection, because what you are shooting is not really on a flat surface. It is curved (because you rotate your camera, you shoot a curved scene).

With *cylindrical projection* it is like you are standing inside a vertical cylinder and project the image on the inner wall. That means that the image is not flat like with perspective projection, but curved. And because you rotated the camera while taking the images, this projection follows what you did. In practice it means that you can make a full 360 degrees panorama with this projection. The disadvantage is that you will still be looking at the panorama on a flat surface (your computer screen, or a print), and consequently straight lines become curved. The correct way to look at such a panorama would be to put it on the inner wall of a cylinder or a round building with you inside.

Cylindrical projection still projects the image on a flat surface in vertical direction, so in a way it is a perspective projection in vertical sense. That creates the same problems when the vertical angle of view becomes very wide too. That's when *spherical projection* becomes necessary. In case of spherical projection you are projecting the panorama inside a sphere. The advantage is that you can now make full 360 degrees / 180 degrees panoramas. The disadvantage is that lines get curved in two directions when you look at such a projection on a flat surface.


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## tspear (Aug 15, 2016)

Johan,

Thanks. That actually helps a lot. Now to watch the Nikon presentation and see what I can learn so I take better photos to start with when making the panos. 
I did try something on my last trip which seems to have helped. When doing a horizon shot, walk perpendicular to how you do the shots. This seems to reduce the "bending" some. Now I just need to find a way to get more vacation time so I can do another trip....


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## Johan Elzenga (Aug 15, 2016)

tspear said:


> Johan,
> 
> Thanks. That actually helps a lot. Now to watch the Nikon presentation and see what I can learn so I take better photos to start with when making the panos.
> I did try something on my last trip which seems to have helped. When doing a horizon shot, walk perpendicular to how you do the shots. This seems to reduce the "bending" some. Now I just need to find a way to get more vacation time so I can do another trip....



Walking perpendicular may work with longer lenses and little or nothing in the foreground, but it's the wrong method. When you move the camera, you change the perspective. Things in the foreground and in the background change relative positions, making it impossible to stitch the images. For example, if you have a tree on the left side of a mountain in the background, walking to the left will eventually move the tree to the right side of the mountain. No way you can stitch that... If you want less 'bending', then keep your angle of view moderate and use perspective projection.


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## tspear (Aug 15, 2016)

Johan,

Yes, I did find that you cannot have anything in the foreground when doing this. Works well on the edge of a building, off a cliff, far side of a valley. Oh, I am not talking about walking a mile, just a few hundred feet and I can make the pano have less of a bend, and go slightly beyond the 120 or so you mentioned for perspective (I never knew why it was limited before and it makes sense).


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## Bernard (Aug 16, 2016)

If you move the camera between shots, you change the perspective and you need a dedicated panoramic software to achive good results.
For example Autopano pro/Giga  (Kolor | Image-stitching, virtual tour, 360-degree video experts) is able to handle different viewpoints.


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## Conrad Chavez (Aug 17, 2016)

tspear said:


> I have not done the second pass for vertical; read about it but never tried it.
> The problem I mostly run into is the view seems to twist/bend; and I can never predict which view, circular/spherical/perspective would work best.


The panoramas I shoot can be kind of tricky and non-ideal because they're often handheld, but I've found that it pays to experiment with multiple projections and then beyond that, either run them through the Lens Correction adjustments in Lightroom and/or through the Adaptive Wide Angle filter in Photoshop. Usually there is some combination of those features that can make a highly distorted panorama look much more normal, or fit it into a reasonable aspect ratio.


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## tspear (Aug 17, 2016)

Conrad,

Ps is still on the TODO list. I unfortunately have a lot of Lr that I still need to learn before I even start on Ps.


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