Experiment: high-speed version of Brenizer method

bartjeej

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This is my first proper attempt at doing something I've had in my head for quite a while now. I love panoramas, and I really love panoramas with some DOF control for an extra-immersive effect. However, using the traditional, controlled method of stitching panoramas is not suited to a dynamic environment with lots of moving objects or subjects. So, I figured it should be possible to set the camera to burst mode and get all the shots you need for your panorama in <1 second, minimizing the amount of subject movement in the frame.

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Experiment: high-speed version of Brenizer method by bartjeej, on Flickr

As I said, this is only my first real attempt, and there's lots of room for improvement. The highlights were severely blown on the jpegs (and Microsoft ICE seemed to like the contrast provided by super-harsh highlight transitions), so I converted raws. I still have to work on getting the exposures and colour balance more even throughout the series, but honestly I can't be bothered right now, I've already made about 11 versions of this file. Also, there're some bushes in front of the subject (the highland cow) and fairly close behind it, and beyond that there're some more minor bushes, so you're not getting the kind of 3d effect that you would if there were distinct "planes" of focus. Finally, I focused on the cow's head which is quite small in the photo, so it's not even immediately obvious that it's the focal point, further decreasing the 3d effect.

Aaaaanyway, I'm still quite pleased to see that the basic principle can work :) now I gotta practice some more at finding suitable compositions and optimizing the files! Once I get better at that, I can move on to more dynamic subjects than grazing cows - after all, dynamic subjects are what this whole thing is about!:tongue:

PS I was already much closer to the subject than advised (they're very friendly beasts but you don't want to have them feel threatened), so moving closer for shallower DOF was not really an option :tongue:

PPS: those auto-stitch panoramas are nice, but often trip up when presented with lots of moving subjects; having a distinct set of photos allows you to select which part of which photo gets used, preventing double images or cut-off limbs etcetera. Also, as far as I'm aware none of them are full-resolution either. Panoramas should be viewed as large as possible for maximum effect, and a file of a few hundred pixels high just won't do in that regard...

PPPS: I just noticed there's a stitching error in there, this file was made using 4 photos instead of the available 8, that might be the reason... one more thing to pay attention to :)
 
here're 2 more experiments, both vertical panoramas of more-or-less straight buildings in Trier, Germany - gives a pretty fisheye-like result! I'm very pleased with how Microsoft ICE handled the exposures though; now that there're no blown out highlights, the nasty transitions and banding seem to have gone, and it looks like the stitching went pretty well too; no obvious misalignments and no moving people cut in half.

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Experiment #2 by bartjeej, on Flickr

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experiment #3 by bartjeej, on Flickr

[edit] just noticed that the watermark came out obscenely large, yuck!
 
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