i am new to panoramic and made some testing shots. its not as hard i thought but the problem i keep getting spherical look, and i think its due to panning. its nice effect when want it, but i want the natural look. so do you guys keep moving your tripod to be in front of each part?. or am i missing something here.
thanks

What foal length are you using? What software? I'm using photomerge within Photoshop CS3 and it accounts for istortion and perspective shift pretty well.

I too use the new CS3 version of Photomerge and there are like three main options to try, all giving a different effect. Every time I have used it, at least one of the options does it just right.

Mark

PTGui with smartblend is amazing and I swear by it.
Easy to correct for spherical distortion and it blends Panos seamlesly.

For shooting, keep the tripod in one spot, and just pan the camera, if you like panoramas with nearby foreground look into a panorama head (at least google it so you understand the concept).

I use PTGui, it's amazing. The best part is you can save the stitch parameters, and thus you can stitch bracketed shots and then blend after stitching, rather than having to blend each set of images.

you shouldn't move the camera, only pivot. The cylindrical option in PS should deal with the spherical issue.

well it was near me, in fact it was my home using my 17-40 @ 17mm. maybe like floris said, its because i am close to the subject.

I have the RRS (Really Right Stuff) pano head that I use to shoot panos. In post-process, I use CS3's "photomerge" feature and stitch my photo's using that. Like the other said, pan your camera, and most importantly, shooting manual mood so when you stitch the images together, they are seamlessly blended together.

-Nick

mohamed alfari wrote:
well it was near me, in fact it was my home using my 17-40 @ 17mm. maybe like floris said, its because i am close to the subject.

In that case you would most definitely need a panorama head, to remove parallax error. The RRS head is nice, but obscenely expensive for the full kit. For single row panoramas I just use a leveling base, ballhead, and rail to adjust the nodal point. There's also some other cheaper panorama head options around, or you can make your own.

all valid points those above have made. you must keep things as level as possible. if your shooting interiors then yes, you will need a pano head. i dont have one, and with the results i get without one i cant justify the expense.
if items are close and distant and you want these included then a head is a must.

www.spfoto.co.uk should give you an idea of what high quality panorams can be made with nothing except a tripod and pan and tilt head.

simon