[John]

I have a question for you outdoor photo experts... I recently hiked to the top of Mt. St. Helens and took a series of shots along the crater rim to stitch into a panoramic with Canon's PhotoStitch. Here's the shot below (click for a larger version): I didn't lug a tripod up there, so I was trying to be extra careful to keep the horizon in the same spot as I twirled around. Apparently I wasn't careful enough. My question is, do you know of any software that would allow me to straighten this shot out? Something to vertically compress the center to match the ends? I tried PhotoShop's Distort filters (spherical, punch, etc.), but they didn't give me enough control over the distortion field. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, John More pictures from Mt. St. Helens.

[mike]

John, I kinda like it the way it is :>) But if you can't fix the combined image you might try adjusting the horizon in each individual image first and then try the stitch. By the way, a curved horizon is usually the result of not holding the camera level. Especially noticiable with wider wide angles and magnified in a panorama. Without a tripod and a level this is difficult. For a panorama you must put the horizon in the middle of each picture and not try to 'compose'. If you can't get what you want in the picture you must change the focal length and not tip the camera. This effect is most noticiable with wides and decreases as you go to longer glass.

[Sore Feet]

There are programs that will adjust perspective issues like that (Pano Tools seems to be one of the better ones), but I'm not sure if it will work with an image of that size. Photoshop 7 apparently has a perspective crop tool as well, I've never tried it though.

[El Puma]

This was done on PS Elements 2. It has a perspective correction in it. You have to experiment a bit with the order of images you're adding. I find it best to start with the picture next to the one most off-kilter, otherwise the perspective corrections add up and your last one (in this case I had five) gets very distorted. Takes some engineering (and time) but usually yields pretty good results.

[John]

Thanks for the tips, guys. Mike, your explanation for wide lense curvature makes sense, as does your suggestion for correcting each individual picture before stitching. Sore Feet, I'll play around with the perspective correction tool in Photoshop and take a look at Pano Tools. El Puma - Nice panoramic! The crater picture is composed of about 11 pictures - I actually went 360 with it, but stitching it all together created a crazy s-shaped horizon. I'll post an update if I'm able to successfully get a straighter horizon. John

[Spotly]

John, If you get that fixed, can you repost it and let us know how how you did it? Thanks

[Trevor]

I enjoy the Helen's panoramic in its current state, but the aesthetics probably would be improved with proper alignment. John, I have made a habit of checking your website often to see your recent hikes. Your photos rejuvenate my enthusiasm for certain areas, really enjoy the Three Finger's pano. . I also like some of your commentary, and the way that everything on the website is laid out in such an orderly fashion, well done. I kind of chuckle at the fact that your hiking attire never changes, that hat has probably been through a lot over the years.

[Newt]

I want to know how come he doesn't get any sweat on the hat. Hmmm? Newt

[John]

Thanks Trevor. I enjoy your photos as well. And yes, pretty much the same thing is worn on every hike. Same boots, socks, grey shorts, blue shirt and green hat. It is funny to notice now as I look through the pictures! My hat usually gets soaked all the way through, Newt. Though it dries amazingly quick if I take it off for a bit, leaving a ring of salt by the end of the day - perhaps enough to shake out and season my dinner! Spotly, I'll post the panorama again if I have any luck with straightening it. John

[Allison]

It looks really cool the way it is.

[Dayhike Mike]

Ditto...Looks perfect as is...thanks for sharing!

[orin]

I've fixed several panoramas with similar problems using Panormama Tools. PT is used with a GUI front end. I use PTMac, but there are multiple options for Windoze machines (PTAssembler is one). You set a reference point that indicates the level horizon from your camera position. By raising or lowering the reference point, you can bow or unbow the panorama. You can also mark points that should be on a level horizontal line and the program will warp the images. Unfortunately, PT has a steep learning curve.

[ski_photomatt]

You can get it mostly corrected in Photoshop. First increase the canvas size so you have more space to work with. Then select a piece of the photo, Edit -> Free Transform, click and drag an upper corner while holding down one of the command buttons (apple/command on my Mac, I dunno what it is on a Windows machine.. try ALT, CTRL or something similar). This will correct the perspective on that corner. Cutting the photo in two at Rainier and correcting the upper left with the left half and the upper right with the right half does a decent job. I modified the attached photo with two iterations on the left half and one on the right. Correcting each individual photo before stitching will probably give the best results. I've had good luck stitching scans taken with my 24mm lens. Given enough overlap, there is usually a sweet spot where the distortion in neighboring photos lines up well and makes for easy hand stitching.

[Dayhike Mike]

Impressive work, ski_photomatt!

[John]