Great photos. I surmise that shifting the back of the camera is the best technique. Architecture and near and far objects make it difficult if you do not use best technique and good equipment.
I am not a pro, but as a lark and favor to a friend tried to do an interior panorama. What a pain! Poor lighting and almost 180 degrees challenged me. The first attempt would not photomerge. Since there is no bill or mad client, I will try again on this weekend. (give me landscapes and farmland).
Steve - Yes, shifting the back, which is really an old view camera technique made much more difficult in the DSLR world of today, will completely eliminate any parallax problems, as the lens never moves. This is a bigger problem the wider the lens and the closer to the subject you are. There are times when you can get away with shifting the lens only, but it usually means some manual fixin' later.
For those that don't know, sjordan93436 grows the best damned artichokes I've ever eaten and if you're ever driving through the central coast of California in April, it's worth a visit to see them.
Jamie - There's really no secret to it. I bracket the exposures enough to cover everything I could possibly want or need and then some. I process a range of the images, and it's not necessarily every single bracket that is needed for the final, I just find it easier to think about it when I shooting by covering more than I need. I open the range of images in Ps and stack them into one single image, typically the base layer being the one the looks closest to how I want it. Then a lighter layer above that and then, progressively darker layers on top. I make a layer mask for each layer starting with the top layer, filling it with black to Hide All. I then Option-Drag the Layer Mask from that layer to each successive layer, copying that black filled layer mask. From there, it's just a matter of painting in all those layers where needed - using a paintbrush and percentages of white painting on those masks to reveal what's on that layer. In some area, I just paint freehand and in other areas, I draw Paths to define the selection area to confine it.
Thanks Peter - so no HDR software involved. A fairly intensive process but I gather you want very specific results that perhaps HDR cant deliver? Thanks for your response!
Most of the time the automatic programs do not give the look I'm after, but in some situations, they work fine. I do not like the typical HDR look. In these cases, I'm interested in amplifying the effect the room has on you in person while showing off the product - the mixing board. The look compliments the type of directors that actually use these rooms - Spielberg, Ang Lee, etc. and, hopefully, makes people in the industry who see the images say "I want to work there."
Doug - Thanks. It's nice to know us old farts can still make a decent photo once in a while. But I seriously doubt that anyone fresh out of Art Center or Brooks could pull these off. They're much more difficult than they look, even though for me, they're just time consuming.
And thanks for all the technical info too. I was wondering about that lens bracket for shifting the body -- now, I'll forget about it and try other means.
Gunzorro - Hey, if you're coming to L.A. for something, I'm about a half mile south of the 10 just off LaBrea. Stop by and check it out. Like a lot of things we end up buying, I see ways to design it better than it was.
Sleeping Bear - Pretty simple setup really. A Manfrotto 405 on a Gitzo 3541 with a RRS lever clamp and a RRS L-Bracket. Camera vertical. Slide the camera left 12mm shift lens right 12mm, shoot. Back to center for lens and clamp, shoot, then slide the camera right and lens left 12mm and shoot again. As mentioned previously, I have purchased the Hartblei T/S adapter, and while it does work, it's kind of a pain in the ass to use and their Arca Swiss dovetail is loose in the RRS lever.
