Modified 4-Sep-09
Created 4-Sep-09
9 photos
The first group of shots in this set of night scenes, which have filenames that begin with "Night_82nd", began as a series of test shots. The photos in this first series were shot with a Nikon D700, a AF Fisheye-NIKKOR 16mm f/2.8D lens (has an Angle of View of 180°). The camera was mounted on a Manfrotto 441 (out of production, other models have replaced it) carbon fiber tripod with an Acratech 1117 Leveling Base and a Manfrotto 460MG 3D Magnesium Head which has a Quick Release camera mount. Before this night shoot I shot some two-photo tests around my neighborhood to make sure that this was going to work. These ultra-wide test shots were then manually assembled in Photoshop CS4 into a single panoramic composite. Photoshop's File>Automate>Photomerge function would not combine two of these ultra-wide images into a panoramic. Autodesk's panoramic compositor, Stitcher Unlimited 2009 ($350), should combine two of these fisheye shots into a panoramic... I don't have this app and have only read about it on their site.
The shooting concept was to aim the camera to the left getting a full view of the street in that direction, and then panning the camera approximately 90° to the right capturing a second wide-angle view in that other direction. If you look carefully at this first group of photo composites you'll notice that the angle of coverage is over 180°, probably something in the neighborhood of 220°. Some of these composites are made up of multiple exposures in both the right and left directions. I also varied the exposure in some shots to capture detail in brightly lit storefronts and signs. The camera's shooting modes were set to Manual for exposure and focus, and the color balance was set to daylight. The lens focus point was set to infinity with its F-stop set to about 5.6 or 8.
In all digital panoramic photography the images you are assembling must overlap each other to some degree so that you can combine parts of each photo to create the final panoramic image. In this panoramic project I've sort of thrown out the rule book, which usually dictates that anywhere from 3 or 4, or up to a dozen images need to be combined to make the final panoramic composite. Shooting night shot panoramic's requires a different technique if you want to capture individual sets of light streaking head/taillights. If you shot a series of 4 or 6 time exposures and combined them into a panoramic composite you would most likely get a series of uneven choppy light streaks.
If you look carefully at this first series of Night_82nd shots you'll notice that many of the light streaks begin or end near the center of the panoramic composite. This happened because this is the overlapping area between the two shots, and the light streaking curtailment could only be overcome by employing the following Photoshop layer technique. In the shots where you see light streaks progressing from one side of the center line to the other side, this is the result of copying light streaks from one side and using this image fragment to extend the light streaks into the other half of the image. This was accomplished with PS Layer Masks, choosing a Layer Mode that would yield dark areas as transparent, and using the Edit>Transform>Warp tool to make the light streaking parts fit the composition.
The shooting concept was to aim the camera to the left getting a full view of the street in that direction, and then panning the camera approximately 90° to the right capturing a second wide-angle view in that other direction. If you look carefully at this first group of photo composites you'll notice that the angle of coverage is over 180°, probably something in the neighborhood of 220°. Some of these composites are made up of multiple exposures in both the right and left directions. I also varied the exposure in some shots to capture detail in brightly lit storefronts and signs. The camera's shooting modes were set to Manual for exposure and focus, and the color balance was set to daylight. The lens focus point was set to infinity with its F-stop set to about 5.6 or 8.
In all digital panoramic photography the images you are assembling must overlap each other to some degree so that you can combine parts of each photo to create the final panoramic image. In this panoramic project I've sort of thrown out the rule book, which usually dictates that anywhere from 3 or 4, or up to a dozen images need to be combined to make the final panoramic composite. Shooting night shot panoramic's requires a different technique if you want to capture individual sets of light streaking head/taillights. If you shot a series of 4 or 6 time exposures and combined them into a panoramic composite you would most likely get a series of uneven choppy light streaks.
If you look carefully at this first series of Night_82nd shots you'll notice that many of the light streaks begin or end near the center of the panoramic composite. This happened because this is the overlapping area between the two shots, and the light streaking curtailment could only be overcome by employing the following Photoshop layer technique. In the shots where you see light streaks progressing from one side of the center line to the other side, this is the result of copying light streaks from one side and using this image fragment to extend the light streaks into the other half of the image. This was accomplished with PS Layer Masks, choosing a Layer Mode that would yield dark areas as transparent, and using the Edit>Transform>Warp tool to make the light streaking parts fit the composition.
© John Mantzefield Photography