Mary Lou Hackett, Claire Mather, Sharon Cotter and Jan Cregan awaiting Sharon’s presentation on Panoramas. Photograph take by Bill Brennan.
Bill Brennan
The SaddleBrooke Photography Club (aka DIGS) November meeting was opened by John Triebe, President, with a tribute to honor Gene Skaggs, who passed recently. A collection of images that Gene had exhibited during his years with DIGS was made into a slide show accompanied by music. Portraits and collages of portraits were Gene’s favorite subjects.
Panorama photographs were the principal subjects for discussion to encourage more photographers to make panoramas for display on the four television screens above the fireplace in the Bistro Lounge. Seventeen foot wide panorama photographs are displayed on the screens during periods when there is low patron demand for sports and news.
Sharon and Byron Cotter split the program into two parts. Byron presented an introduction and an overview of panorama photography; and Sharon discussed the specific details for making panoramas for viewing on the television screens in the Bistro Lounge at the MountainView Clubhouse.
Byron pointed out that while panorama photography is an excellent method for capturing a wide angle landscape such as the Catalinas from Pusch Ridge to Oracle, it can also be used effectively for tall subjects such as buildings, churches and saguaros.
Byron’s process includes taking five to ten (or more) overlapping images. Then with the magic of Photoshop he stitches the images together to make one final image.
The final image not only covers a wider or taller area than would be possible with one image; usually, it is much sharper and contains more detail.
Byron prefers a tripod; while Sharon chooses to handhold her camera for panoramas.
The Photoshop stitching process works best when there is an overlap from one image to the next. Sharon prefers a 50% overlap; while Byron finds that a 25-33% overlap works well. Summary: experiment with an overlap of between 25% and 50% until you find the amount of overlap that works best.
Sharon emphasized the critical importance of consistent lighting and sharp detail when preparing panorama images for display on the seventeen feet of TV screens in the Lounge. Frequently, to achieve the sharpness of detail required, upwards of 20 images need to be stitched together.
She also discussed the various tools and techniques in Photoshop that she uses to merge, crop and finish an image for display on the Bistro screens.
For more information about DIGS, visit the website www.digssouth.net or attend a meeting in the Coyote Room at the HOA1 clubhouse at 8:30 a.m. on the second Saturday each month from September to June.