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"Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook": Inspiration and Instruction for Creating Spectacular Panoramas

May 9, 2005

Sebastopol, CA--"A beautiful photograph--whether panoramic or not--is born of one-third technique and two-thirds creativity," says Sacha Popovic, one of the eight visionary photographers showcased in the new Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook (O'Reilly, US $19.95). A one-of-a-kind collection of panoramic photos by renowned French artists, this book serves as both creative inspiration and serious technique training for amateur and professional photographers, graphic designers, and digital artists.

This is the fourth book in the highly acclaimed Designers Notebook series from O'Reilly. While it's beautiful, colorful, and intriguing enough for the coffee table, Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook will end up on the photographer's desktop with its uncompromising, in-depth coverage of specific digital montage techniques experts use to assemble panoramic photographs.

Successful panoramas deliver a true-to-life perspective and a magical appeal that simply isn't achievable with a rotating panoramic camera. In this notebook, step-by-step demonstrations take readers into the minds and studios of eight diverse photographers as they reveal their tips and secrets for using Adobe Photoshop and dedicated applications (Stitcher, Quicktime VR, and ImageAssembler) to assemble landscape, interior, and other stunning panoramic photos. In addition, the book includes detailed instruction for producing spherical panoramas and 3-D interactive panoramas for viewing on CDs and web pages.

Individual artists take readers through the entire creative process--from conception and original vision through to the finishing touches that polish an exquisite panoramic image. They list the exact hardware and software that make it happen and include seasoned advice, personal reflection, and creative insight as they guide readers through all aspects of assembling panoramic photos:

  • Envisioning and planning a project
  • Executing a photo shoot with foresight and efficiency
  • Digitizing photos
  • Artfully assembling images, including superimposing and manipulating them
  • Editing photos: cropping and correcting, optimizing and color adjusting, retouching, adding special effects, and more
  • Polishing panoramas
  • Newly translated into English, Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook is for anyone who enjoys pushing the limits of imagination with photography and digital imagery, and everyone ready to prove what one of the featured artist/photographers, Christophe Noel, promises: with digital imaging, "everything is possible." There's no better inspiration or education for exploring new and inventive techniques to create beautifully rendered panoramic photos.

    Additional Resources:

    Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook
    William Rodarmor
    ISBN: 0-596-00975-5, 96 pages, $19.95 US, $27.95 CA
    order@oreilly.com
    1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000

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