But the interactivity of it injected such excitement everywhere I showed it! The WOW factor was huge! I didn’t sell much VR back then, but just having it in my portfolio somehow leant credibility to my image as an emerging digital photographer. It helped me separate myself from the other commercial photographers in the area - which turned out to be a good thing!

My second discovery with VR was the uniqueness of the 360º stitched image, and I started experimenting with compositions that would yield exciting prints. At this point in time, the print was still a secondary product and a secondary sale. I was satisfying my own curiosity while stretching my horizons.

Then I started shooting the occasional pan in the highest resolution I could stitch for the print as the primary end-product. I shot an image for HP a few years ago that illustrates this. I arrived in San Francisco a day early for MacWorld a few years back so I could create a local panoramic image for HP to use to showcase their widebody inkjet printers at the tradeshow. This image was created specifically for hi-resolution print output. It’s about a 270º view of Lombard Street taken about half way down the hill. HP printed nine-foot versions of it at the tradeshow.

And today, in my current phase of this evolution, I shoot hand-held partial panoramas on virtually every shoot I do whether a VR shoot or not. In fact, the point of this article is more to show the ease, the beauty and the functionality of partial panoramic still shots. I firmly believe that every serious panographer has a leg-up on traditional still photographers because of this element in our vision and training. Hey, it’s a panoramic world out there!

THE EASE OF PRODUCTION has evolved dramatically along the way as well, both in tools available and in relaxing of the regimentation of the process. In those earliest days, not only did we have one rather difficult software to work with, but the process itself was fiercely regimented. The first crop of interactive shooters believed very much in the importance of the process . . . adhering to the process was almost as important as the success of the final image. Every step of the process was rigid. For example, it was widely accepted that “real” pano shooters used only a 15mm rectilinear lens. Debates raged on the Apple List-Serve over the “right” way to meter and expose a pan, over the “right” equipment to use, over the “right” way to layout a scene. The belief that deviating from the prescribed procedure would result in terrible stitching errors or other postproduction woes was common.

So . . . against that background, I’m here to tell you that partial panoramas are a wonderful addition to a still photographers’ tool set. I almost think of panoramic as a format or an extra lens in my camera bag. As I evaluate a scene and mentally go thru my choices in capturing it, I have actively included panoramic to the mix. My list of tools in interpreting a scene might include a wide angle approach, or a medium focal length, or telephoto or . . . panoramic. And, within panoramic, maybe it’s no more than two images stitched, maybe three, maybe five.

My first experience where it occurred to me to try a hand-held stitched partial-pan was probably much like yours . . . standing on a mountaintop, frustrated at my inability to capture what I saw. My widest angle lens was inadequate, and . . . the 3:2 aspect ratio included far too much sky and foreground. I pulled out a 210mm lens using a digital camera with a 1.8 magnification factor . . . (that’s the equivalent of almost a 400mm lens) and shot a series of hand-held, overlapping digital images of the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide as seen from a mountaintop near Boulder, Colorado, USA. Hand-held and 400mm lens . . . NOT an obvious formula for success in the world of VR as it was at the time. Stitching that first hand-held image was somewhat problematic . . . the “how-to’s” for post production of this kind weren’t clear, but I worked it out. The resulting image is quite nice . . . it represents about 120º view and makes a beautiful one-foot by eight-foot print (mounted on 1/2” gator board and hung on a conference room wall).

Since those days, I have explored the partial panorama capability of every stitcher I’ve come in contact with, and just this year I found the ultimate one (in terms of ease of use and quality output). More about that software recommendation in a moment, but it’s a stitcher the majority of readers have probably not used.

MY EARLY USE FOR PARTIAL PANS was mainly scenics, they make superb photo decor in homes, offices and boardrooms. That’s where I had pigeonholed their worth, as photo decor. Shooting full res with my 14 megapixel camera, I can create mural sized prints, and I take great delight in doing so.

COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS OF PARTIAL PANS have evolved for me, and this is the fine point of my story . . . they are highly practical as well as pretty. Following are three commercial applications of partial panoramas in a still photographers’ world . . . hmmm, this is for all still photographers, not just VR shooters:

1_ just another lens in my camera bag.
When I’m shooting a commercial job, I always consider panoramic to be a viable format and include a few if they are appropriate to the subject matter. I recently shot a series of projects for a commercial builder . . . here is one of the partial pans I included in the series. Many shooters will do this using cropped full-frames, but I prefer to create it as a stitched panoramic . . . that way I can provide a really large print if called for. This partial pan was stitched from three handheld horizontal images.

2_ a way of bumping up resolution, of getting the most clarity into a shot destined for really large output.
I recently shot eleven cars destined to be reproduced full size on the sides of city buses. The art director fought my efforts to move up to a medium format digital camera in order to capture larger files . . . he was convinced moving to medium format files and workflow would bust the budget . . . he insisted my 14 megapixel KODAK ProSLR would be fine. He also insisted he only needed 25dpi resolution (at full size) to make the process work. I was uncomfortable with his decision.

Never having tried this technique before, I took a risk and shot each car in halves and stitched the two pieces. After cropping out the waste top & bottom, I doubled my resolution and ended up with approximately 60 meg files . . . turned out to be almost exactly 25 dpi at full size reproduction. HOWEVER, the art director was mistaken . . . the printer said (after the shots were in the can) that he needed 175dpi. I used Fred Miranda’s SI-Pro2 Photoshop Plug-in to intelligently res the shots up to 75dpi and delivered them at that resolution. (The printer could res them up more if he chose to, but I delivered 75dpi).
The stitched files provided twice the resolution I would have gotten if I had followed the art director’s recommendation, and it saved the day. The buses look great, and the end client is very happy! Shooting and stitching a partial pan made the difference and it had nothing to do with VR . . . simply a tool for more choices in imaging. These partial pans were shot from a tripod, but no VR rig was used.

NOTE: because I was closer to the cars than I probably should have been, there was a little distortion . . . center bulged out toward me just a bit. I adjusted this with the PhotoShop CS2 lens distortion tool in post production.

3_ Photo Illustration.
To keep the purists happy, I define any image that has been manipulated as a “photo illustration”, i.e., it’s a photographic image, but never happened in reality. I maintain that photo illustration is off limits in forensic photography and photojournalism, but fair game anywhere else.

I showed up to do a company portrait for a small construction company. There was to be construction equipment to group employees on and around, and a bucket truck to give me a high angle for the shot. Neither was there at shoot time and it was suggested I line the employees up against the building. Instead, I shot the group against the only patch of greenery around; I went to a nearby park and shot a fresh partial panorama (three horizontal handheld shots), then merged the two taking out an interfering tree in the process. Here are the before and after shots as well as the finished partial pan from the park.

I couldn’t take the group to the park, so I brought the park to the group. The company owner is an outdoorsman, and he really liked this interpretation for the group shot.

NOTE: I don’t manipulate images for the sake of manipulating images . . . I previsualize the scene, then make that happen. I still prefer one click of the shutter when I can accomplish my visual goal with one click of the shutter.
In the world of professional still photography, everything I’ve shown thus far was straightforward in terms of shooting and stitching. Sometimes it takes a little more effort and planning to make the scene happen though . . . here are a few examples:

1_ Pikes Peak Cog Train.
For the scene I wanted, I was too close to get the shot. I would have done this scene with a single shot if I could have accessed the right vantage point. But physical constraints put me much closer to the scene than I wanted to be. So I shot five overlapping 20mm vertical shots and stitched them. There was no cog train in the scene at this time. The cog train itself was taken from a horizontal frame done moments later using the same vantage point and the same lens. All shots were handheld. I “placed” the cog train on the tracks in postproduction.
Although a photo illustration, this composite shot is true to the scene. Again, the tools and techniques helped me make my pre-visualized shot become “real”. My current mantra is, “if I can previsualize it, I can make it happen”.

2_ Aerial Partial Pans.
On the surface, shooting overlapping shots from the air, then stitching shouldn‘t be possible, and technically, it isn’t. But I find if you work really, really fast, you can get acceptable results. Included are two partial pans I shot from the passenger’s seat of a Cessna 150 at an airspeed of about 65 knots. Both consist of three overlapping horizontal shots done at almost motor drive speed. They actually stitched pretty easily with a little touch up necessary on the city skyline. Again, these could have been from cropped single frames, but I want maximum resolution for large prints, so I shot them as partial pans.

SIMPLIFIED WORKFLOW FOR HANDHELD PARTIAL PANS.

When I shoot a VR pan using a tripod and VR rig, I go with about 30% overlap. When I shoot handheld frames I use a 50% overlap simply because that’s so easy to approximate. Here’s how to shoot a 50% overlap - we’ll use the background shot taken in the park as an example:

1_ find a detail in what will be the center of your center frame (assuming three shots).

2_ line up that detail on the far right edge of your viewfinder while maintaining center in the north-south axis and while maintaining a level orientation (ie, don’t let the camera go askew). This shot will be the left image if you’re shooting a 3-step partial pan.

NOTE: This system is reasonably forgiving, but it’s helpful to have an architectural grid in your viewfinder to help maintain level and to help stay centered in the N/S axis.

3_ line up that same detail dead center of your viewfinder while maintaining center in the north-south axis and while maintaining a level orientation. This second shot will be the center image if you’re shooting a 3-step partial pan.

4_ line up that same detail on the far left edge of your viewfinder while maintaining center in the north-south axis and while maintaining a level orientation. This shot will be the right image if you’re shooting a 3-step partial pan.

That’s it! I carry this technique over from 12 years of optical photography in the mult-image era (21 projector slide shows). This is the alignment technique an optical camera operator would use for splitting a film transparency into three slides to be used as a “3-screen widescreen” image in a multi-image slide show. I’d have trouble handheld if I went for a different percentage overlap, but for a 50% overlap, this is pretty straightforward.

STITCHING HANDHELD PARTIAL PANS . . .
When I decided to stitch the car shots, I experimented with every stitching software I knew, and I found them all lacking to some extent for partial pan use. Among the choices I tested was a software I had received in a software bundle but had never taken the time to explore
. . . ArcSoft Panorama Maker 3. I recommend it with all my heart and soul . . . it is nothing short of miraculous when it comes to stitching handheld pans! It’s very easy to use, it accepts very high res files, it’s inexpensive, it’s cross platform, it blends skies and even tones beautifully, it works great with zoom lenses where you don’t know the focal length you’re working with . . . it’s, it’s . . . it’s great! I can’t recommend it enough!

That’s it! I hope this enables you to add a new technique to your toolbox. Feel free to email me with comments and questions. For those who want to experiment further, I’ve done successful 360º panoramas handheld while accommodating nodal point issues . . . be glad to explain it to those who feel like giving it a try.

Let me part by saying today’s gear and software is designed to make VR a pleasant and straightforward experience . . . I use the right gear whenever I can . . . but, I never hesitate to shoot handheld when I don’t have the rig and tripod with me . . . hey, digits are free! Experiment and stretch your horizons!

About the author:
Pat St. Clair has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Miami University (O), 1971, and a bachelor’s degree in professional photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology, 1979; he has been photographing commercially since 1978. St. Clair serves a corporate clientele that includes agencies of all sizes as well as direct corporate clients such as Eastman Kodak Company, Palm, Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, 3Com, DaimlerChrysler, ExxonMobil, Microwave Data Systems and more. He was an early adopter of digital technology and has worked with Eastman Kodak Company on digital capture projects and digital image quality issues for the last eleven years. He has worked with QuickTime VR since 1994, is a charter member of the IQTVRA (now the IVRPA), and was a speaker at the first four VR Summits in Boulder, CO, Washington, DC, Sedona, AZ and Savannah, GA. He is onboard to speak again at the 2006 VR Summit.

He owns and operates St. Clair Photo-Imaging in Rochester, NY. More about Pat St. Clair and his work can be found at St. Clair Photoimaging
Comments? Email Pat St. Clair: pat[at]stclairphoto-imaging[dot]com