How to Create a Panoramic Photo Using Hugin
Consider setting your camera to a smaller quality setting., Set your white balance manually., Stop your lens down a little., Take a test shot to get the exposure right, if you're on a digital camera., Hit your auto-exposure lock, if you have such a...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Consider setting your camera to a smaller quality setting.
Remember that your final image may be many times as large, in each dimension, as a normal image from your camera.
Unless you're doing enormous prints (and/or you have near-unlimited processing power, disk space and memory) you don't need to set it to the largest picture it can take (although you may want to not use much JPEG compression, if you possibly can). , Many cameras (including the ancient Canon D30, used to take the photographs for this article) do not lock their automatic white balance between shots, and have no provision for doing so, even when using auto-exposure lock (see below).
Your camera may well decide on a different white balance for different parts of your panorama; consequently, you can easily end up with several photos, with very different white balances, which are a pain to correct in software later on.
So don't use "Auto" white balance.
Read your camera's manual to figure out how to set it yourself; on some compacts, this may be buried under "scene mode"-type settings.
Don't worry about this if you're shooting film, of course. (You could, of course, shoot in raw and set the white balance when you convert to some more sane format.) , Most—possibly all—camera lenses exhibit some kind of light fall-off towards the corners, or "vignetting"
when shot wide-open (there will be some at nearly any aperture, but it is worse when the lens is wide-open).
This is especially visible if you're shooting 35mm film or a full-frame digital SLR.
Hugin can accommodate for this, to an extent, but it's best to eliminate it entirely.
If conditions permit, try using an aperture one or two stops smaller than wide-open.
This has the added advantage that lenses are usually somewhat sharper stopped down, too; it'll help Hugin find the common points between them much easier. (If you don't understand any of this, don't worry about it too much; just fix the vignetting in software later on if you're good with Photoshop and friends.) , Check your LCD for a correct exposure.
As ever with digital cameras: if in doubt, underexpose.
You can pull shadow detail out later if you need to, but you can never recover a blown highlight., On Canon cameras, this is the button marked with an asterisk on the back.
This will prevent your photos being very differently exposed between shots.
Hugin will blend them in such a way that it won't be quite as noticeable, but it's still a good idea nonetheless. (If you're weird, you might like the effect that comes from not using your AE lock; have fun if this is your sort of thing.) , Remember that Hugin can deal with as many shots as you care to give it, in both directions (up and down).
The most important thing is to leave a substantial degree of overlap between shots, perhaps as much as a third.
Also be wary of large, blank areas of sky; Hugin may fail to automatically discern common points ("control points") between the two shots.
If you want to be quite pedantic, use a panoramic tripod head; otherwise, ensure that when you rotate your camera, that you do so around the front nodal point.
To quote Paul van Walree, To preserve the perspective during rotation, which prevents a displacement of nearby objects relative to the background (parallax), the axis of rotation should pass through the entrance pupil the position of the entrance pupil can be approximately found by visual inspection.
When you look into a lens from the front, the entrance pupil is the image of the diaphragm opening. -
Step 2: Set your white balance manually.
-
Step 3: Stop your lens down a little.
-
Step 4: Take a test shot to get the exposure right
-
Step 5: if you're on a digital camera.
-
Step 6: Hit your auto-exposure lock
-
Step 7: if you have such a thing.
-
Step 8: Take your photos.
Detailed Guide
Remember that your final image may be many times as large, in each dimension, as a normal image from your camera.
Unless you're doing enormous prints (and/or you have near-unlimited processing power, disk space and memory) you don't need to set it to the largest picture it can take (although you may want to not use much JPEG compression, if you possibly can). , Many cameras (including the ancient Canon D30, used to take the photographs for this article) do not lock their automatic white balance between shots, and have no provision for doing so, even when using auto-exposure lock (see below).
Your camera may well decide on a different white balance for different parts of your panorama; consequently, you can easily end up with several photos, with very different white balances, which are a pain to correct in software later on.
So don't use "Auto" white balance.
Read your camera's manual to figure out how to set it yourself; on some compacts, this may be buried under "scene mode"-type settings.
Don't worry about this if you're shooting film, of course. (You could, of course, shoot in raw and set the white balance when you convert to some more sane format.) , Most—possibly all—camera lenses exhibit some kind of light fall-off towards the corners, or "vignetting"
when shot wide-open (there will be some at nearly any aperture, but it is worse when the lens is wide-open).
This is especially visible if you're shooting 35mm film or a full-frame digital SLR.
Hugin can accommodate for this, to an extent, but it's best to eliminate it entirely.
If conditions permit, try using an aperture one or two stops smaller than wide-open.
This has the added advantage that lenses are usually somewhat sharper stopped down, too; it'll help Hugin find the common points between them much easier. (If you don't understand any of this, don't worry about it too much; just fix the vignetting in software later on if you're good with Photoshop and friends.) , Check your LCD for a correct exposure.
As ever with digital cameras: if in doubt, underexpose.
You can pull shadow detail out later if you need to, but you can never recover a blown highlight., On Canon cameras, this is the button marked with an asterisk on the back.
This will prevent your photos being very differently exposed between shots.
Hugin will blend them in such a way that it won't be quite as noticeable, but it's still a good idea nonetheless. (If you're weird, you might like the effect that comes from not using your AE lock; have fun if this is your sort of thing.) , Remember that Hugin can deal with as many shots as you care to give it, in both directions (up and down).
The most important thing is to leave a substantial degree of overlap between shots, perhaps as much as a third.
Also be wary of large, blank areas of sky; Hugin may fail to automatically discern common points ("control points") between the two shots.
If you want to be quite pedantic, use a panoramic tripod head; otherwise, ensure that when you rotate your camera, that you do so around the front nodal point.
To quote Paul van Walree, To preserve the perspective during rotation, which prevents a displacement of nearby objects relative to the background (parallax), the axis of rotation should pass through the entrance pupil the position of the entrance pupil can be approximately found by visual inspection.
When you look into a lens from the front, the entrance pupil is the image of the diaphragm opening.
About the Author
Martha West
Committed to making home improvement accessible and understandable for everyone.
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