Creating a 360 panorama
A Panorama is basically a wide view of physical space according to wikipedia. But in reality it has many connotations. It can be from a single image in a 16:9 format, it can be a stitch of 2-3 images, or it can be a full 360 degree stitched set of images. But in this article we are going to cover the creation of 360 degree panorama.
In many scenes they can be of the insides or outsides of building, or rooms, where a single shot does not do justice to the photograph. We have a few options to capture the world around us, but in my opinion one of the best options is through a 360 degree panorama shot, to really convey to the audience what you are trying to show them. This has been a personal project of mine over the last 9 months to get correct. It is much more involved than simply grabbing a point and shoot camera, and taking a snap shot. It is an art of its own.
I have tried various ways to get all the parts to work seamlessly, but really it has been mostly frustration, and failure. If you look around the web usually people use a series of shots with a fisheye lens, and then have to do some serious post processing at the end to get it all to work correctly. I however, do not have that amount of patience to make it happen. But with the right tools I have found that I can put a scene together in under an hour from start to finish. My computer work, will be done on a OS X system, but I am sure that Windows equivalent tools exist.
Hardware -
I have bought a lot of tools, to do these types of shots, and basically I have not been all that happy with many of them. Either they are too expensive, or cheaply made. What we need is basically the camera to spin around on a level tripod at the nodal point. Then merge photos together in post processing. So it all seems so simpleβ¦. But the reality is where to start. My setup is ideal. It's relatively inexpensive, lightweight, but strong enough to support the E-3 and the 7-14mm lens and very flexible (by that I mean, easy to use in various situations, not in that the camera weight bends the bracket, as is the case in most of the cheaper options).
On top of the tripod I have been using the new Acratech GP ballhead. In my opinion the GV2 was the ideal ballhead which functioned as a ballhead and a Gimbal head. But the new GP takes the functionality a whole step further with making it function as a traditional ballhead, a gimbal head, and now as a panoramic head, which easily rotates around in a level plain with 1 quick adjustment. A panoramic head functions differently than a traditional ballhead in that with 1 step you level your ballhead in all 360 degrees. Whereas with a traditional ballhead, you would have to first level the tripod, and then level the ballhead to get a level shooting platform. It was doable, but the best method was when the ballhead was used in combination with a leveling base of some type. The GP ballhead on the other hand acts both as a leveling head, and ballhead and for my shooting I have found it the best option. In fact, I am so impressed by this ballhead I cannot recommend it more highly. I have not found anything to gripe about on this head yet.
The nodal point, easy to find with the nodal rail, of a lens (basically the optical center) is desired when you are shooting images that you want to stitch together. When shooting large landscapes, I have had few issues and no real need for the nodal point, but when shooting architecture, or insides of rooms, or other close quarters, you need to have the lens at its nodal point to help images line up properly when they are stitched together.
Finally, the third piece of hardware is an L Bracket. Many companies make these. Really Right Stuff is the most popular manufacturer, and they do an excellent job with these products. However, I shoot with a lot of different cameras (often before anyone else has seen the camera), and second I am tired of spending $150+ dollars on custom brackets for each camera I buy. So I think that a universal L bracket is better, at least for my needs. When shooting these types of extreme 360 degree panoramas I have only been successful when shooting the camera in a vertical position, as they are intended to be made. You need to take a single row of images then 1 image straight up, and 1 straight down.
