Panorama of Sydney Airport Beach

[Shameel Kumar]

Thanks guys for the compliments. I appreciate all your comments.

I'm definately going to have to give that a go sometime. Thanks for sharing your methods!!

Definitely give it a go! I still call myself an amateur, and only got my first-ever DSLR about a year ago. Don't just stop your creative use of a camera at Panoramics. Google up other techniques such as HDR Photography.

Shameel can i ask how you put your signature into the photos.I also do a lot of pano work.

A friend of mine had one of those ... dunno what you call it... Drawing Tablets I think is what they're called. You can draw on it using a stylus pen, so I decided to try drawing my signature for my photos. That's the best way I can think of creating your signature. You could try it with a mouse, but that's real difficult (trust me, I tried that first). You could maybe scan your signature as an alternative..that might be a good idea if you can't get your hands on a Drawing Tablet.

You're right - I had the camera set to Av Priority with AWB and autofocus when I took the shots. It wasn't planned, I just took the shots and later thought to have a look at how they would stitch up.

Phew.. thankfully I was correct. Would have been a major embarresment had I misdiagnosed that.
Yeah, there are many times when I get 'lazy' and don't bother getting all the settings correct, and of course, I end up unhappy with the end result. That 'Little Planet' that I posted is a key example... but now that you've done some research, you'll be set to go!!

I actually created a checklist for doing a pano' properly (well, 'properly' as in up to my amateur standards). I'm the sort of person that has spurts of enthusiam for photography, and then a few months when I'm just not feeling it. So I wrote up some dot-points if I ever forgot how to do it right. Here it is:

* Using a tripod is a MUST!
* Use Manual mode otherwise the camera auto-adjusts the exposure and you end with uneven exposures between frames.
* Also use Manual Focus instead of AF so the in-focus areas are linear/even between frames.
* With the first shot, have a finger in the frame as a marker for the start of the panoramic series.
* It is better to shoot in Vertical orientation, but Horizontal is still good.
* Try to spot an even line on the horizon (or the horizon itself) as a point of reference to make sure the photos are level
* After taking the final shot, take another shot with your finger in the frame to mark the end of the panoramic series.


As for what software I use to stitch the photos. Well, I first tried to do it using the Photomerge feature in Photoshop/Photoshop Elements...but found that the program would freeze when I used more than 8 photos (probably coz I have a crap computer, not a program issue), so I went in search of a dedicated Panorama stitching program. I downloaded a few trial versions of programs, and in the end I was most happy with the following program:

Arcsoft Panorama Maker Pro

Since I don't take photography too seriously..and since DSLR accessories are expensive to say the least, I decided to continue using the trial version rather than buying the full program (the trial version for v4.0 has no expiration date, it just limits a few extra features, and also limits the size of the final panoramic, so the end photo won't be of an impressive size, but what need do I have for that? The size of the photos I've posted on here are good enough for me). So yeah, this program is very easy to use, gives you the option of vertical, horizontal or 360-degree pano, and actually does a very good job of aligning the photos (also has the option of manually adjusting the alignment of photos after it's tried its best with its auto-alignment). I'd recommend giving this program a go!!

[Benny Zheng]

A superb collection Shameel!

I like your wing shot in the air and the excellent contrast of colours in your photos.

[thierry stephan]

Very nice