Canon Camera Hackers Manual

Contents

6.1 Panoramas 1976 Advanced TechniquesIn the following sections, we will discuss some advanced techniques suchas panoramas and applying High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography topanoramas and videos. These techniques require a large number of shotsto create just one end result. PC-based tools are required to create theseartifacts, along with lots of patience and dedication.6.1 PanoramasPanorama photography is quite popular and has developed its own follow-ing within photography. The Web, in particular, has given panorama pho-tography a new push by allowing the presentation of easily navigable 360°panoramas. There are commercial applications, too: think of real estate ortourism.Panoramas can be created by using different techniques. They can becut and pasted from photographic prints, like the collages popularized bythe artist David Hockney. In analog photography, specialized panoramiccameras were used like the famous Russian Horizon, which has become acollector’s item. In digital photography, panoramic cameras such as the160-megapixel Seitz sell for the prize of a mid-sized sedan.But special equipment is not really necessary to produce good panora-mas. The stitching programs that exist today are so powerful that you caneasily create your own panoramas with your Canon. All you need is a freshlyloaded battery, sufficient free space on your memory card, patience, disci-pline, and a few tips like these:f A tripod and a remote control (section 4.9) are recommended, but I haveshot acceptable panoramas hand-held. If you use a tripod, you shouldalso use a spirit level to align it perfectly with the horizon.f Zoom out as much as you can. A wide-angle lens position allows you todo a panorama with only a few exposures. You may want to put yourcamera intro portrait orientation, especially if you are doing hand-heldpanoramas—you have to consider the later trimming.f To avoid later registration problems, you should pivot the cameraaround the nodal point, which basically is the center of the lens. But ifthere are no subjects at close range, this does not matter as much.