Photography is mainly used with the traditional single frame in mind. Many photographers choose not to step away from single frame photographs as they usually have a specific purpose to their expressions. However, sometimes what we perceive in real life cannot be re-created in photographic form unless these boundaries are broken. For example, someone can turn around in a 360 degree circle and take in everything around them. The same thing can be achieved with photography along with some thinking outside the box, or frame for that matter.
Taking 360 degree panoramas is an enjoyable and rewarding method of photography. You will find it takes you to a whole new experience and will fully immerse your viewers in your choice of subject.
Finding The Nodal Point
In order to shoot a proper panorama you need to find the “nodal point” or center of the lens so that the tripod rotates on a proper axis. An easy way to do this is to find two objects approximately the same size and line them up so that they are in the center of your lens view. One should be close to the lens, and the other should be a few feet back. Set up your tripod in front of the objects and attach your camera to your panorama tripod head.
To get an idea of how your camera sees the objects, close one eye and put your finger in front of you. You will notice that if you open that eye and close the other that your viewpoint shifts. The camera lens must be aligned so that the viewpoint does not shift.
Try your best to align the camera lens to the center axis of the tripod and take a few test shots of the item you have lined up. Take one center shot, and pan the camera one stop to the left then take a second shot. Review your images and check to see if there is a shift in the object or if they are still in alignment. If there is a shift, you have some adjusting to do. If they do not shift, you are ready to take your first panoramic shot.
Depending on what lens you are using, the amount of rotations needed for a 360 degree panorama will vary. I take 18 images with a 18mm lens.
Most professional DSLR’s do not have a feature to take movie clips. If DSLR’s were meant to take movie clips, they would have been designed to do so. Who has ever heard of a SLR film camera taking movie clips? So what can you do when you spend thousands of dollars on a fancy DSLR and you want to take a short movie clip to enhance your memory.
Most DSLR’s have a multiple exposure setting or “Burst” mode that can be toggled on and off to your liking. Some high end cameras will take up to 8 exposures per second. Can you picture a sequence of digital exposures placed in a row in front of you? The answer to your problem is right in front of you and all it takes is some steady hands, and a creative mind.
Old style movies made with Super 8 film are taken at 18 frames per second. A DSLR set in “Burst” mode is not far off and can replicate something similar to a Super 8 film.
Start by choosing your subject or “Scene” and find a nice angle to take your exposures from. Be sure that there is something within the scene that is moving, or an object you can move yourself after every shot. Sturdy your tripod, or steady your hands if you are going at it solo. You should also be aware of the lens you are using. I would recommend a fixed lens for this type of photography or adjust your zoom to stay in one place while you photograph your scene. It is also a good idea to switch off your auto focus and use manual for the duration of the sequence. Zooming in and out can ruin the effect of the final product unless what you want to achieve is a zoom sequence.
Start taking your exposures in “Burst” mode or continuously press your shutter release for the desired amount of exposures. The more exposures you can get, the longer and more clear your final product will be. I recommend taking at least 12-24 exposures for a 3-5 second sequence.
Next upload your photos onto your computer and open them with iphoto. Find your image sequence on iPhoto, select the photos and choose Export from the File menu.
Be sure to use the default settings in the Export window and ensure that the image filenames will remain the same. This will export the images in order of appearance. Click on Export and create a new folder to save your image sequence to.
Close iPhoto and open up QuickTime Player. Choose Open Image Sequence from the File menu and locate the images you exported into the folder you created. Select the first image in the sequence and then choose your frame rate for the movie clip. I found that 15 frames per second works just fine.
Once your image sequence is finished loading into QuickTime save a copy of the final product to your hard drive. You can then export your movie clip from QuickTime to an editing platform of your choice. To keep it simple, iMovie works just fine. Upload your final cut to YouTube or any other social networking space so you can share it with all your friends.
Here is my final product taken while on vacation in Mexico. I added 5 seperate scenes together into one full sequence. All exposures were taken with a Nikon D80 DSLR with no tripod.
On Saturday July 12th I am headed for Ixtapa, Mexico for a 1 week vacation that is all inclusive at Las Brisas Resort. Oh boy am I looking forward to a well deserved rest and spending some time with my girlfriend!
Last year we went to Mexico on a Gap Adventures tour. It was really amazing! Gap Adventures really know how to show travelers a fun and adventurous time. The trip last year was 10 days starting in Downtown Cancun and ending on Isla Mujeres. Over the 10 days we did a whirlwind tour through Merida, Palenque, Tulum, and Isla Mujeres. We had a fantastic travel group and made friends really quick.
During our longer bus rides we were searched by the Military twice. Once in the middle of the day and once in the middle of the night. This is apparently a normal occurance and we all took it lightly. Although its hard to take a group of guys with machine guns lightly.
I can only imagine that my next trip to Ixtapa on the pacific coast will be a little less rushed and more relaxing. I just want to hang out on the beach and enjoy some fun Mexican culture.
Here are some images from my trip through the Yucatan Peninsula last year.
The new Prestige Guitars website has been up and running for two weeks now. So far the feedback is excellent! The website is now open to a lot more visitors who are still running IE 6. A fresh look and some cross browser testing was done to give Prestige’s popularity a boost.
Not only is the website accessible by a larger audience, it is also a lot more useful to new guitar buyers who are coming to the site to register their warranties. New and current guitar owners have the ability to submit a review of their guitar as well.
To top it off, a new favicon was created to help the website appear more visible when it is bookmarked.
Patterns are used everywhere, on fabrics, most products, home decor, and much more. It is also easy to find natural patterns such as tree bark, wood grain, plants, and also in natural objects that have been placed by humans such as gravel, bark mulch, etc. Photographing patterns such as these is always an enjoyable thing to do, however, some may want to adventure into the unknown and create their own beautiful patterns. The truth is that it is really a simple task. With a little bit of creativity and some basic knowledge of an SLR camera, the opportunities are endless.
Step one is to get out and have a look around. All of your surroundings are very useful to create new patterns. Choose an area to start shooting and start thinking creatively. Start with a slow shutter speed and a high aperture setting. On a bright sunny day I set my camera on 100 ISO with a shutter speed between 1/3 of a second and an aperture of f22.
Move your camera in whichever direction you like and hit the shutter release. At first the images might just appear blurry, but with several attempts using different directions of movement you are sure to come home with some nice shots.
If you are not using a tripod you might notice there is still some camera shake. Although it may seem like the images have some camera shake already, using a tripod will give the image more of a sense of motion. If you are shooting with a digital camera it is easy to preview the images right after you shoot them and try new camera movements and adjust your shutter speed and aperture. Over exposing or under exposing the image will also give different results. The key is to be creative and take lots of images.
