September 2005 HelpLine

 
Better Panoramas

    * Panorama Problems
    * Family Photo Issues
    * What's A Body To Do?
    * Batteries Revolting 

Panorama Problems

Q)  I’ve started doing panoramas by shooting multiple images and using software to put them together. Every time I’ve tried it, I can see where the images come together. I’ve been good about overlapping the images, but the area where two of the images come together has some shadowing or darkening. This is really noticeable in the sky.

Sally E.
Via e-mail

A)  Here are some tips for good results when stitching together panos.

• Use support, such as a tripod.
• Overlap the previous image by one-half.
• Set your exposure to manual so it’s consistent for all of the images.
• Set your white balance to manual (also for consistency).

It’s likely a combination of not setting your exposure to manual and leaving white balance set to auto. With each image, the camera reevaluates the scene and sets exposure and white balance parameters to optimize image capture. If the exposure or white balance varies between images, the problems you describe are more likely to occur.