Customer Reviews

Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found it interesting to read some of the other reviews prior to writing my own evaluation of this book. The information and approach taken by Woeste seems to be a definitely hit or miss with the audience that has chimed in. Here's why I think this is the case.

If you are looking for a simple step-by-step approach to getting a great stitched panoramic photo, this may not be the book for you. Though there is plenty of how-to type instruction with well documented screen shots, it is not presented in the recipe to success approach taken by some books.

Conversely, if you are the type that likes to get the entire picture (pun kinda intended in this case), including all the background, history, technique and philosophy to the panoramic technique, then this is the book for you. Woeste provides superb examples, front annotated behind-the-scenes setup views to beautiful examples of his own work, to compliment a thorough walk through panoramic photography. The history of the craft is included, giving some interesting background.

The detailed view of tripod heads & gear definitely puts this book beyond the avid amateur who is looking for just the basic simple software solution for stitching some photos together. Perhaps that is this books biggest difficulty, finding the right audience. Even so, for the photographer that enjoys knowing the deep details and options available in this area, I'd say this book is a good offering.

Aside from the obvious benefits of digital over other photography media, like greater control over exposures and post-processing adjustments, digital photography has enabled us to improve older techniques so that photographers are better able to convey their vision. Images that covered more than the normal angle of view, called panoramas, were first created in 1787, using large scale circular paintings in which the viewer was centered in the painting. Today, with very little additional equipment, a digital photographer can create very wide angle images, with great detail, by stitching together several separate images. He or she can even create virtual realities (also known as spherical projections), where a viewer can have the effect of being completely surrounded by an image. Particularly amazing is not just the angle of view, which can exceed any wide angle lens, but the resolution of the final image.

Harold Woeste provides an introduction to panoramic photography. After reviewing the history of panoramas, Woeste introduces the special equipment necessary to capture the images to be used in the panorama. While a panorama can be captured using a hand held camera, better results will ensue using a tripod with a specially designed head when shooting the series of images required for a panorama. The author then discusses the computer software necessary to stitch together the images. He also shows methods of outputting the images, which includes both wide flat prints of great detail and images which must be viewed on a computer and which allow the viewer to select any direction to look, including even up and down.

An important part of the book is the description of four different panorama projects that the author worked on, moving from the initial idea for the project, through the special considerations in capturing the images, to the use of multiple software packages to maximize the quality of the image, to the final output as a print or computer file.

On the other hand, Woeste's level of detail is at the familiarization level, not the practical level of actually taking the images or using the software. Thus, as I followed along I occasionally encountered references that I did not understand, such as control points, which were not related to the Photoshop CS4 software that I normally use, but are contained in PTGui, a more advanced piece of software that can be used for difficult situations and for spherical images. To fully comprehend what the author was saying, I had to download PTGui (there's a free trial available) and spend several hours reading the instructions (which were not very well organized) and even process a few trial images. On the other hand, snap shooters who aren't willing to spend the time and effort, are also not likely try their hand at panoramas, and understanding the uses of PTGui will certainly help if one encounters a problem where PTGui can provide a useful solution. I suppose I would have liked just a little more detail. For example, Woeste suggests that while PTGui is great for stitching, one can have better results if one saves the image and then blends it in Photoshop. Unfortunately neither Woeste nor the PTGui instructions mention that the stitched image must be saved as a PSD file rather than a TIFF to do this. Perhaps what I really wanted was a better PTGui instruction manual.

In any case, if you are a photographer who wants to move beyond the simple flat image capture and processing, wants to know what's available to help you create better panoramas, and wants to see some of the possibilities available in panoramic photography, this book will provide a good introduction.

NOTE: Since I wrote this review I've found that there is a way to save PTGUI files as TIFFs.

I found this book very valuable in providing a great deal of technical expertise on this subject. I enjoyed the historical section, although I was already very familiar with the old techniques presented here (I have been involved in photography for 47 years), but I think those who are newer will find it fascinating. The very explicit explanations of parallax problems and how to remedy them with special tripod heads and 'L' brackets was very informative. I also liked the information on vertical panorama techniques and how to correct the distortions introduced by shooting with the camera pointed up. Although I already know how to do much of what is in the book (from long years of experience), I really appreciated the thorough coverage of the subject and how it is related to digital photography and techniques. After all, digital cameras are so good at panoramic photography that essentially all camera manuifacturers have ceased production of their film panoramic cameras (Fuji, Hasselblad, etc.). Anyone interested in panoramic photography would do well to study the methods and techniques in this book. the reason that I gave it only four stars instead of 5 is that those who mainly capture landscapes, with no close foreground objects, will need only a small amount of the information presented in the book, which spends a lot of pages on avoiding parallax problems and their remedies in situations that most of us avoid. That said, you should still be aware of those problems, and their solution. And the author does offer more simple solutions than buying expensive, specialized equipment - making the book worthwile for that alone!

Woesta explains with geometric graphics, screen shots, and resulting images why simple methods to make panoramas by combining 2 or more shots usually fails. By simple methods, I mean hand-held shots and standard tripod shots in which the camera is rotated. The author explains the concept of "Virtual Reality" (VR) vertical axis. If your lens does not rotate on this lens dependent VR axis, the stitched seam in the panorama will mismatch. The standard tripod is not a solution, as I have demonstrated to myself many times -- unless the seam occurs were there are no critical details. The author shows tripod heads that put the lens on the VR axis. You can make a cheap tripod head that is an aluminum plate bent into a "L" shape or you can buy a manufactured tripod head. These include heads that are manufactured to work with a specific lens and a variety of heads that are not specific lens-dependent that allow for complex adjustments to attain the VR axis position for the lens.

Other problems solved include parallax, focus, white balance and exposure. When the photographer has solved those problems, it is time to face the challenge of stitching the individual shots. You can't really manually overlap and color match the seams and get a high quality result. The are cheap stitching software programs that do do low quality work; the author ignores these, but they are a starting point for beginners. If you want to do high-quality stitched panoramas, Woesta does you a big favor by discussings the pros/cons of these four commercial software programs that do high quality work: PTGui Pro, Autodesk Stitcher, Adobe Photoshop, and Kolor Autopano Pro.

Finally, the author discusses post-processing of the stitched panorama.

Prior to reading the book, I had given up making panoramas. I'm encouraged by this book to get the proper tools and try again.

I really love 360 degree, panoramic SWFs as a great way to share locations in an immersive, interactive way.

Just stick the SWFs on a web-site and interested observers around the world can partake.

But, there is a ton on info to assimilate and understand to make a really great panorama. This book gets you pointed in the right direction very quickly.

While there is considerable written discussion / explanation, it is well written and very interesting to read. The author also uses many diagrams and pictures to clearly reveal what's going on. It's a real 1 - 2 punch approach to getting across the needed information.

A great book, worth every penny.

This is one great educational book. Maybe it does not include much mathematics (and it should not!), but it opened my eyes to lot of concepts and possibilities that extend far beyound Photoshop. I always thought that Photoshop is the tool for most types of panoramic scenes, but now I discovered there are even better programs (and they consume less memory as well). I learnt as well new concepts that I never knew of before and why sometimes I get it all wrong when I stitch my panoramas.

The projects at the end of the book and their discussions are great and makes the reader "in" the situation and imagine the problems and solutions to some practical problems. There might had been some technical terms that would make the reader go on some sentences or paragraphs twice or thrice to understand, but on the other hand, the flow of the processing and the explanations of the practical means is simple, but not any simpler!

I think this book can be used as a reference or as a school's book for quick acknowledgements about systems or properties of some aspects of the panoramic photography.

This is quite a technical exploration of panorama construction, focusing more on angles and planes perhaps rather than composition. Woeste shares the history and philosophy of the technique which provides a good background to the field, if not a practical one.
There is detailed information about the availability and use of panoramic equipment for professional/commercial photographers, which I think would be very useful for those moving into this field, but less so for an amateur. He looks at the theory for both two and three dimensional (spherical) projections.
His approach to stitching panoramas is similarily technical, rather than a recipe to follow. There is some critical information presented but again I think more suited for a well experienced photographer.
The projects and their progression shown are based on commercial rather than artistic tenents but the ability to follow his process behind the scenes is interesting.
Mastering Digital Panoramic Photography is a detailed look at the aspects of creating a technical image. Though I think an amateur would benefit from the information presented, it is more suited to a professional photographer who is interested in experimenting in the field.

the book is full of very well explained examples. It was really useful to me beacause It really fullfilled the gaps I had in my selfmade panoramic photographer formation. I reccommend it for beginners and even for pro photographers who want to enter the panoramic photography world.

+3 Stars go to the satisfactory overview of history, equipment, techniques, & software available.

-1 Star because of *slightly, but still apparent* outdated equipment & software described.

-1 Star due to lack of in-depth techniques (keep in mind it's an introduction)

Book delves into each area briefly, listing benefits and pitfalls in non-bias fashion, and then continues on to a solid walk through of a few different pano setups. The latter is great to understand the workflow and decisions necessary before and after snapping the pictures. There is plenty of information for the beginner- though not as much as I had hoped. The former is truly an introduction and yields greatly to persuading the reader to try out techniques for themselves using the knowledge learned to ensure success. Paid ~$15 for this book, and would do so again.

... This book could be the best of all on the subject or not!

If you are interested only by tutorials about the stitcher you are using or interested only in a particular panorama category, you could find that there is too much theory or that the stitcher you are using is not covered (for example basic stitchers found on camera CD-ROM are not covered and there is no gigapixel-panorama in the 4 projects which are detailed.)

A full coverage of panoramic photography would require 1,500 pages rather than 150 and would be obsolete long before being printed. Harold Woeste opted for a much more sensible solution: the first part of the book describes the available tools and methods, the last part details 4 projects from shooting to printing or QTVR. Difficult subjects like stitching error correction and HDR are covered.

Choosing the right panorama head, choosing the right lens, choosing the right stitcher (or even the right tool from the stitcher your are using) take a long time and errors can be expensive: this book is both worth reading and kept as a reference.