Assembling Panoramic Photos: A Designer's Notebook

5.3. Stage 3

5.3.1. Assembling the pictures

Once you've shot all the pictures, the assembly work can begin. After trying various software programs, I decided that RealViz's Stitcher was by far the simplest and most professional, and it produced the most beautiful results.

Loading the photographs

After loading the pictures in Stitcher, drag one of the photographs from the horizon row into the Stitching Window. You can then set the program's parameters for the focal length used when you took the pictures. Depending on your camera, it may take several tries to get optimal results. For example, even though my digital camera indicates a focal length equivalent to 35mm, I get better results if I enter 38.1mm in Stitcher's Properties window.

Now drag picture number 2 onto number 1, and overlap the parts they have in common. If you have to rotate a picture so it matches the adjacent one correctly, pivot it around a specific point, such as the corner of a window.

Once the second photograph is properly in place, stitch it to the first photo by pressing the Enter key. The Stitching Window will center on the second photograph, which is now placed in the middle of the workspace. Follow the same steps with the other pictures until the horizon row is complete and has looped back on itself. If you can align the last photograph of the series with the first one on your first try, congratulations—you're a master! Otherwise, select the final photograph and press the Close Panorama button. When the ...