Narrow Field of View

jinman · Oct 31, 2004

Digital cameras are great, but they have a much narrower field of view than most 35mm cameras. If you get to the high pro-sumer level, you can get replaceable lens, but not many folks want to spend around $1000 or more for one of these cameras. I've found with knowledge of photo retouching software such as Photoshop (big bucks) and CorelPaint (little bucks) you can stitch/blend together several photos to have a composite wide angle view.

Sunsets are one of the most frustrating types of photos because sometimes the whole horizon is spectacular and you are lucky if you can get 1/3 of it, much less the whole thing. This last week as I turned onto my property from the county road, I was presented with a postcard view of a sunset. I'm attaching a photo to this post that shows a single view. It's pretty spectacular, but nothing like the view I'll post next.

See if you don't agree that it's worth the effort to learn how to do this technique. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

jinman · Oct 31, 2004

Here's the wide shot...

What do you think?

ronjhall · Oct 31, 2004

Great shots. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Being a person that enjoys sunsets, I would have accepted the first one and wished I had taken the second one. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

daedong · Oct 31, 2004

Jim,

Great sunset........i take that that can't be done with programs like Kodak easyshare?

txdon · Oct 31, 2004

"...you can stitch/blend together several photos..." 

Jim, Wow, good stitch job where are the seams? How many photos is that picture.

jinman · Oct 31, 2004

Don, it's only two photos. I took three, but the first and last overlapped, so no need for the middle one. Anymore and the photo becomes very wide and very thin. In general, I think two photos is enough at least for normal every day stuff.

The software actually makes the photo on top transparent so you can see both like looking through overlapped negatives. When you get the position pixel perfect, the software performs a blend and stitch automatically. You can't see any seam because there is none.

Ain't technology slick? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jinman · Oct 31, 2004

( i take that that can't be done with programs like Kodak easyshare? )

Vin, I'm not sure about Kodak Easyshare. Sometimes these low end programs will surprise you. I'll check on a couple of shareware programs tomorrow at work and see if they can do it. Another program that I use sometimes is Paintshop Pro. I'll check it too since it's normally below $100 in cost.

GerardC · Oct 31, 2004

( Here's the wide shot...

What do you think? )

SWEEEEEET! Gerard

Hysyde · Nov 1, 2004

Nice shots.

There are actually quite a few of the new cameras that come bundled with stitching software.

I have Photoshop but have never tried stitching with it before. I've been trying to find some shareware for just stitching but never really founf any, but I know they're out there.

A cool thing to do with stitch is to get 360 degree views. Makes for a really long pic, but it's pretty cool.

jinman · Nov 1, 2004

Here are a few helpful links to interesting software and techniques for making panoramic shots.

Panorama Factory - Shareware

Paintshop Pro Technique Explained

EZ Sticher add-on to ACDSee

Photoshop technique tutorial

If you use CorelDraw Graphics Suite and have Corel Photopaint you don't need anything, it's built into the software and works very well. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif