#5 Composite Photographs - Beyond The Edge Of The Frame

 

In one of my first posts, #2 Stiched Panoramas, you'll find the first version of this image created using Photoshop CS3's "Photomerge" automation.  Above is the new version which I'm much, much happier with.  In order to allow my students, none of whom have Photoshop, to explore the incredible possibilities created by composting images, I decided to have a look at any free software that might be available.

Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) was a complete surprise.  While I realize that CS3 is rather outdated at this point, I didn't expect a free program to blow it away at anything.  That's just what Microsoft ICE did.  The image above required zero retouching to hide the signs of stitching that I worked so hard to remove in the first version.

You can download the full (not a trial) version for free [here].  The program was developed by Microsoft but never beyond this free version to a commercial product.  Since the free version works great, that's a good thing.

The program is very simple to use.  You can drag and drop your files onto the programs window and it goes to work.  Be patient.  I ran almost 100 JPG files through it at once on one occasion and it took well over an hour to process.  If you are dealing with 20 or so images, it should only take a few minutes.  If it seems "stuck" when the progress bar is complete on the "solving" screen, just left click the bar at the top of the screen and it will go on to "compositing" (at least this has always worked for me). 

Here is what the main screen of Microsoft ICE looks like:

After you've dragged and dropped your files into the gray area (or added via the "File" drop down menu) and the program presents you with the result, click on the Perspective icon (last of the icons on the top left, the one next to the Crop icon).  This will allow you to adjust the perspective of the composite image.  You can move it up and down or left and right.  Moving the image up will have the effect of making the top of the image tilt towards you.  Play around with moving the image and trying the different perspective options until you find the most pleasing adjustment.

 

I hope you'll try out this exciting photographic technique.  As a late adopter of digital, I never dreamed that digital photography would set us free from the limits of a single frame and allow us to create images with perspectives we couldn't even dream of in the past.  Imagine the unexplored possibilities offered by digital imaging that still await us in the future.

Happy Shooting,

Al Williams

#2 Stiched Panoramas

I've been busy with computer chores lately, but I did get out long enough on Tuesday the 19th to make this panorama of the reservoir just a few miles from my home.

 This image is "stitched" from 54 individual captures using the "Photomerge" automation in Photoshop CS2.  I set the exposure using the manual mode on my Pentax K10D and left it alone to prevent the camera's metering system from providing me with an impossible collection of various exposures.  All captures were made with the kit lens at 35mm focal length (approximately the "normal" angle of view) @ f/8 and 1/60" shutter speed.  The ISO was set to 500 to allow that combination of aperture and shutter speed since I used my B+W S03 circular polarizing filter.  Usually that ISO would be a bit too noisy for my taste, but the huge amount of data from 54 captures seems to have solved that to an acceptable degree.  I spent quite awhile removing as meaning artifacts as I could and even creating a bit of the far bottom right hand corner.  I know this magnification doesn't offer much to really see any problems, but I'd love hear about how much you detect the manipulation whether you're a novice or expert. 

My five o'clock class is rapidly approaching.  Special thanks to Jeremy and his blog,  Jezza's Photography Blog for helping inspire this exploration.

He is doing an even more advanced version of this using long primes to achieve narrow depth of field in the final image.  If you get bored with what you're shooting and want to break out of the edges of your viewfinders frame, check out what Jeremy's been doing and feel free to contact me if you need some help getting started.  I'll write more here about photo stitching once I feel I has learned enough to contribute a decent basic overview.

Out of time for now.  Please let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll try to address them either here or in person.

Al