How to Create a Panoramic Image

In another article I discussed merging two photographs together using a depth merge of blend. In this article we will talk about stitching two or more images together to create a panorama. Many digital cameras come with software which stitches two photographs together side by side, top to bottom or in a variety of other matrices. In this article we will demonstrate the process using Canon PhotoStitch 3.1 which comes with many Canon Digital Cameras. If your camera doesn’t have this sort of software, you can find demo versions of a variety of products online.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Photo Stitching Software
• At least two images to be merged

1. 
   Identify Images

   The first step is to identify images that work together and decide what type of output you desire. You can save your images in an image format as we will do in this article or save your images in a movie or flash format. These VR movies are used to create a variety of web applications like home tours or product tours. The Canon software saves panoramas as MOV files that can be viewed with Quicktime.You can also find software that outputs VR movies in other video formats. In this example we will merge four poses of our dog, Deuce into one image. Simply click on OPEN to select files, use control and click to open multiple files.

2. 
   Select Format

   Select the format you want. With this program, simply click on the ARRANGE button to select the matrix you want. Drag the photos into the correct order that you want in the merged image or virtual panorama. If you intend to make a VR image, after it is compiled you will be able to use your mouse to move the image in the directions of the arrangement you selected.

3. 
   Merge

   After selecting the proper matrix and order, click on the MERGE tab to begin the process. Before merging, use the zoom to create the size you want and click on MERGE SETTINGS before you begin the process. For this type of merge or to create a VR movie, you want to select PANNING. Click OK and then the MERGE button to begin the process.

4. 
   Crop

   When the process concludes, you will see the images compiled together. Next, click on the SAVE button and you will see the image with green crop bars around the image. Photo Stitching software merges the images together so they will align to center and blends the edge pixels together. This causes a warping effect. Move the green rectangle to crop the image properly to eliminate the overlap space. When you are done, save as a Photoshop file, TIFF, JPEG or MOV (VR) format.

5. 
   Final Image

   The final image is quite large, so you must consider viewing or printing options prior to creating the merged image. I can now take this image into GIMP or Photoshop and remove the dog tie to make it a better image.

Tips & Warnings

• Image selection is the key; you must make selections that are equal in size and color to make the merged image work.
• When taking original images for a VR movie, use the camera on a tripod and take an image for about every fifteen degrees of the view. Pan the camera in a single direction.
• Make sure you can print or display the image. The size of this image is now 4782px x 968px and can be printed horizontally on a standard page, but will only be two inches wide.
• When creating a VR movie, make sure you have a media player installed that is capable of playing the movie.

[Codebreak]

on 12/21/2008 Great tips!

[MidniteWriter]

on 2/17/2008 Good to know, helpful ideas.