Spin Panorama

[AeroJ]

Finally getting the workflow nailed for this sort of thing. Here is a massively unimpressive panoramic I took during yesterday's flights, shamefully near the ground (I wanted to see what the camera was up to before I sent it anywhere impressive) but we have at least got it working, and without expensive plugins, so that was nice

Test Panorama - Penns Place, Petersfield, Hampshire, UK

For anyone interested, the (slightly exhausting) workflow is as follows:

1.Typhoon H - Panorama Mode, double layer (18 photos), JPG(+DNG if you want total editing control)
2. Get Microsoft Image Compositor and combine images into a Spherical Wrap, crop, save composite image
3. We need a 2:1 aspect ratio, and the Panorama doesn't give us that, so into Photoshop etc, make canvas 2:1, then fill in sky (gradients, transforming existing sky, importing someone else's etc)
4. Sticking with Image editor, grade and enhance the composite if needed.
5. Go online, and upload that image using the tool at Marzipano - a 360° viewer for the modern web. Choose your options, and download the zip it will create.
6. Unzip that, and upload to your website...

 

[Steve Carr]

Good explanation of the process. @thoneter has done some of these quite well.

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Thanks, AeroJ!

I need to sharpen (aka revisit/relearn) these techniques. Thank you for your step by step.

As Steve mentioned, others have contributed as well. Everyone’s efforts and willingness to share is greatly appreciated!

Jeff

 

[AeroJ]

Glad to help. Here's a slightly more ambitious and visually rewarding one I took today, which is better than the first in almost every way, but alas, it is brought crashing back down to earth by the over -exposure, which idiot me set whilst pointing away from the sun - doh

02 Petersfield Heath Sussex Rd



There are lessons to be learnt here. Because the exposure was right for the ground, I think we need to do 2 panoramas next time, 1 as before and another exposed for the sky. That way I can panorama them both, and composite between them in Photoshop to hopefully give something of an HDR type effect and perfect exposure everywhere... I might try 3 or more pans in a row and do some virtual bracketing !

I am having fun with these. I'd rather ignored the photo aspects of the TH so far, but making these is really very enjoyable...

 

[Steve Carr]

I think we need to do 2 panoramas next time, 1 as before and another exposed for the sky

Now that is a great idea.

 

[thoneter]

Glad to help. Here's a slightly more ambitious and visually rewarding one I took today, which is better than the first in almost every way, but alas, it is brought crashing back down to earth by the over -exposure, which idiot me set whilst pointing away from the sun - doh

02 Petersfield Heath Sussex Rd

View attachment 11716

There are lessons to be learnt here. Because the exposure was right for the ground, I think we need to do 2 panoramas next time, 1 as before and another exposed for the sky. That way I can panorama them both, and composite between them in Photoshop to hopefully give something of an HDR type effect and perfect exposure everywhere... I might try 3 or more pans in a row and do some virtual bracketing !

I am having fun with these. I'd rather ignored the photo aspects of the TH so far, but making these is really very enjoyable...

I think you'd have to bracket each of the 36 photos or you'll get a blurry 360 by just bracketing the 2 together.

Don't mind being wrong so let me know if it works out

 

[AeroJ]

I think you'd have to bracket each of the 36 photos or you'll get a blurry 360 by just bracketing the 2 together.
Don't mind being wrong so let me know if it works out

No I suspect the inverse is true ! You'd only have to bracket individually if exposure changed as you went round the pan, which it won't because I'm doing them at fixed manual shutter speeds. My plan is simply to produce 2 or more panoramas at different exposures and then literally just mask between them ! In theory you won't see both at once in the majority of the image so it shouldn't matter massively if the composites aren't identical...

I'll be testing this theory tomorrow, so we'll see !

 

[thoneter]

No I suspect the inverse is true ! You'd only have to bracket individually if exposure changed as you went round the pan, which it won't because I'm doing them at fixed manual shutter speeds. My plan is simply to produce 2 or more panoramas at different exposures and then literally just mask between them ! In theory you won't see both at once in the majority of the image so it shouldn't matter massively if the composites aren't identical...

I'll be testing this theory tomorrow, so we'll see !

The proof is in the pudding. I'll be interested in seeing how it turns out for you.

 

[thoneter]

On doing 360's I've added a few extra steps for making a more interesting sky.

How to Create a 360 using the H and MS ICE

MS ICE
Setup the Typhoon H to dual layer on the camera and it will take 18 pictures automatically. Set the camera on the H to either gorgeous or natural.
I use Adobe Lightroom to color adjust. I adjust the colors to my liking and make sure the sky is consistent from 1 image to the other. For those like me that can't afford PTgui here you can take jpg's and import into MS ICE.

During the import into ICE I use the time option instead of file. This way if you rename the images it does not effect the 360. I use spherical and the "auto complete" in the crop tab. I export as a TIFF with the alpha channel checked.

I bring that file into PS and adjust the vibrancy. You can use a simple paint program like paint.net also which is free (no first born to trade in). The image needs to be in 2:1 ratio. I increase the canvas size with the image anchored at the bottom. The fill option doesn’t matter, as we’ll transform over the top of it. I use the square marquee tool and go from the top of the sky to below the horizon. My selection is approximately the size of the blank space at the top.

This creates a small earth image at the top. I then copy the sky selection, paste on a new layer and transform the image by grabbing the bottom/center drag square and drag it to the top of the canvas (invert). Drag the bottom up until it becomes the top and fills the whole expanded area.

Optional: I combine the layers with cntl+E and fix anything that looks funky. Don’t worry about the stuff at the top as it will become a small world 360 on its own.

Save as a jpg and then right click on the file in explorer and go to properties. Go to the details tab and click on the right side 1 time to get to the camera manufacturer "Ricoh" and model "Ricoh Theta S" without the quotes and click OK.

Upload the image on FB and post. Once you see the image in the box you can hover over image and it will show a paint brush which allows one to set the starting image for the 360.

For much better quality use the Marzipano tool. Marzipano Tool and post to your server.

Project Title

 

[thoneter]

Glad to help. Here's a slightly more ambitious and visually rewarding one I took today, which is better than the first in almost every way, but alas, it is brought crashing back down to earth by the over -exposure, which idiot me set whilst pointing away from the sun - doh

02 Petersfield Heath Sussex Rd

View attachment 11716

There are lessons to be learnt here. Because the exposure was right for the ground, I think we need to do 2 panoramas next time, 1 as before and another exposed for the sky. That way I can panorama them both, and composite between them in Photoshop to hopefully give something of an HDR type effect and perfect exposure everywhere... I might try 3 or more pans in a row and do some virtual bracketing !

I am having fun with these. I'd rather ignored the photo aspects of the TH so far, but making these is really very enjoyable...

I'd love to be doing these panos with the 520-/H+ but I haven't found anyone that wants to donate one to me!

 

[AeroJ]

Yep, Marzipano FTW Top tip there - one thing that is annoying is that it always wants to return to 50% land and sky, which is sometimes what you want...
But if you don't, just pop into the index.js file, and alter the Target_pitch to 0.62, which changes that so it points more downwards. You can also change the pan speed there.

 

[thoneter]

Yep, Marzipano FTW Top tip there - one thing that is annoying is that it always wants to return to 50% land and sky, which is sometimes what you want...
But if you don't, just pop into the index.js file, and alter the Target_pitch to 0.62, which changes that so it points more downwards. You can also change the pan speed there.

Never dug into the code. Good tip!