How to Stitch Digital Panorama Photos

Turn moderate resolution photos into a high res work of art. Stitching software works with any digital camera output to make gigabite images. Some cameras come with a version, but aftermarket versions are better. Easily available -- freeware, shareware or packaged, from free to about $39 to over $1K. It's best to stitch four to ten images at a time -- they’ll process quickly.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Digital camera
• Some images
• Computer
• Stitching software
• Printer or print shop
• Photo editor
• paper and ink

1. Set your digital camera’s zoom to a moderate telephoto. Do not alter that setting and take several series of pictures using your highest jpg resolution. Overlap images (vertically, horizontally or both) 20%. Use a tripod or image stabilization.
2. Find stitcher software to buy or download a trial. We use PT Assembler. It has a full-featured 30-day free demo – license is $39. Easypano is $1000. Search freeware/shareware sites, too. Download it and install by manufacturer directions. There’s usually no configuration required. Download your jpg images from camera to hard drive.
3. Start your stitching software. It’ll step you through loading your images into the program. Push automatic, autoprocess or start button. Sit back and watch, checking for possible challenges: Sometimes the images just wont line up. The program doesn’t know how to match them, so it hangs. Don’t argue with it – use another set of images. Undetailed areas like featureless skies may have this issue.
4. You’ll see the program crunch pictures, show various screens, then present the final high-res image, ready to print. Port this image to an editor like Photoshop or Picassa and do anything you’d like. Crop. Resize. Recolor. Enhance.
5. Now, use any printer, at its largest size, or go to a job shop that prints large images. You can provide them with a file that will print at 300 dpi, the highest resolution a pro print shop uses.

Tips & Warnings

• We routinely print 13” x 28” panoramas -- incredible. Detail and color are excellent. You’ll find yourself trying to stitch a dozen shots just to see what happens (works fine, but takes overnight to process).
• Experiment, shoot a large group of people and have one subject, or several, switch places between shots. The possibilities boggle the mind.
• Try using odd things like a series of moving objects - you can get awesome results.
• Work slowly - if the program begins to hang stop it and change to another set of images.