Red Dog Rambling on Posterous

Requiem for a Tree -- Pano Apps Tested

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 08:39:00 -0700

Bloom

[note: all images in the post are hosted on flickr. Clicking on an image will open a new tab/window with a larger version of the image.]

This was one of my roommate's and my favorite trees. It stood in the side of our front lawn, and bloomed like this every spring. It gave our bit of space some character as one would drive or walk by the front of the house.

On Friday (June 10th, 2011) the tree was struck by lightening, and most of it fell to the ground. Luckily there was no damage to the house, no lines were downed, and the tree fell away from the neighbor's house.

The image above was taken this spring as the tree neared full bloom. I was on my way out the door, headed to work, and I tried to capture the peaceful hope that this bloom always represents to me. The light was far from perfect, and I was in a hurry, so the image is certainly not one of my best, but I still like it.

The image below was taken from a similar perspective (standing in the yard, instead of the doorway) the day after the tree was struck by lightening.

Tree Down 1Overwhelmed by the immensity of the tree in that image, I stepped back to fit a bit more in the frame.

Tree Down 2Here, you can see that only part of the tree fell. A tall, lonely branch still stands in the corner of the yard, awkwardly observing the wreckage.

Then I walked around to the front of the tree. The next image provides a much clearer depiction of just what happened, what got taken down, and what -- for now -- remains.

Tree Down 3All three of theses images were made on June 11th, the day after the storm. Tree Down 1 and Tree Down 2 were captured late that morning. Tree Down 3 was captured late afternoon/early evening. On my way in from work. On the 12th, I decided to make another round of photographs.

The following images were meant to be a quick (and not terribly thorough) test of the many panorama apps I have on my phone. In fairness, none of these apps are really meant to be used on a subject that is so close. I take these results with a grain of salt. I often use these apps in such situations, though, simply as a means to get more in the frame when I'm so close to a subject and don't have a way to effectively step back far enough to fit what I want into the frame.

The first image was made with Pano ($1.99), an app that lets you capture images in succession (in app), showing you a small overlay to help you keep things lined up. When you're done capturing images, you tap a check mark, and the app begins stitching the images together.

Tree Down 4 (Pano)If you click on the image to view it larger, you'll quickly be able to spot a couple of poorly stictched seams. The app does, however, do a nice job of exposing the entire panoramic image consistantly -- an advantage of capturing images in app.

(Pano can make some very nice images. Here is a favorite from Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA.)

Next up we'll look at an app called 360 ($0.99). The app truly lets the photographer capture a 360 degree image. It takes a little practice to center the frame the way you want, but it's a lot of fun to play with. As one begins to capture a panoramic image with 360, the app lays out a grid. The photographer fills that grid to desire, while still able to see the portions of the image already captured.

Tree Down 7.0 (360)Tree Down 7.1 (360 Cropped)Here you don't even need to click to the larger versions to see that 360 had major issues capturing and stitching this image. There are full on breaks in the stitching where elements simply don't line up at all. Also troubling is the fact that the image is plainly overexposed. I have had less luck with 360 than with any of my pano apps, no matter the situation, but it seems to have a particularly difficuties with close up subjects.

(Want to see more? Try this experiment I tried with 360 one day at work.)

Now for some creative fun. I love the app, You Gotta See This ($1.99). It let's the photographer simply pan around a scene to capture images. Then it presents seven different treatments of the result as panoramic collages. I've had great luck and great fun with this in several situations. I particularly like firing up this app at baseball stadiums. the challenge is in what the photographer can control -- the speed of panning, and the overall order/direction of movement/capture. I try to make sure the last bit captured is significant (often centerd) so it will appear "on top" in the resulting collage. I can't say that this was the perfect situation for the awkardly named app, but I was still interested to see how the collages would turn out.

Tree Down 5.0 (You Gotta See This: Light Table Collage)Tree Down 5.2 (You Gotta See This: Dark Table Collage)Tree Down 5.4 (You Gotta See This: Shining Through)These first three images seem to use the same basic formula for creating the collage, just with different backgrounds (white, black, and none). The "bad" stitching is the point here. Images are overlayed to blend together in an interesting way. Nothing frames the individual images, so the edges blend together lending the image all sorts of geometric shifts. What fun!

(For a better example of this collage engine at work check out this image from Columbus's Huntington Park. Here's one from Allentown, PA's Coca-Cola Park.)

The next image is my least favorite from the app.

Tree Down 5.5 (You Gotta See This: Magic Light)The collage technique (?) is similar to the three above, but it adds light frames to each individual image, leaves out a lot of visual information, and adds a gaudy background that drives me batty. I can't recall ever choosing the "Magic Light" presentation for output, exept for the sake of documenting experiments like this one.

Tree Down 5.1 (You Gotta See This: Polaroid Stone)The image above is perhaps the blend between the first three and the "Magic Light" collages. Subtle white frames separate the images, providing a kind of definition that can be pleasant in a collage. The background is far less psychedelic than the troubling "Magic Light" version. I'd love to be able to generate a collage like this without a background though. (Yes, I realize this would be fairly easy to do in any number of image editing applications, but I want simplicity!)

(Want a better example of this filter at work? Check out an image I created at the 2010 DCI Eastern Classic in Allentown, PA.)

Two more "You Gotta See This" treatments remain. In this case (capturing the fallen tree), I don't think they provide the sort of resultant image I really want, but I've had some luck with them in other situations.

Tree Down 5.3 (You Gotta See This: Vintage Fabric)

Tree Down 5.6 (You Gotta See This: Wall of Tiles)

I often like output from the "Vintage Fabric" collages, but I can't stand the background. The slightly off-kilter layout of the individual images is a great touch. The "Wall of Tiles" version takes care of the unsightly background, and lays the images out in a straightforward grid. I sometimes wish that there was a medium ground with the off-kilter look of the "Vintage Fabric" filter and the simple background of the "Wall of Tiles." Again, this subject doesn't allow either of these filters to really shine, but I think you can get the idea of what they try to present.

(Here is a favorite example of this filer from Columbus's Huntington Park.)

Next up is my old favorite pano app, AutoStitch ($1.99). It presents the ultimate freedom to the photographer, who can capture images in any camera app he or she wishes (or import them to the phone, having captured them on any camera). When AutoStich begins, it simply promts the user to select images (in any order!) to be stitched together. Then, when prompted, it goes to work generating one giant image. It will even do the cropping for you in app -- I usually save both cropped and uncropped versions).

Tree Down 8.0 (AutoStitch)Tree Down 8.1 (AutoStitch Cropped)I used 27 (!) individual images for this panorama, and stitching problems abound in these results. AutoStitch is not at its best with close up subjects (as I've learned over and over). It does much better with landscapes, cityscapes, and buildings from a bit of a distance. I still love it for its ease of use. Sometimes, I don't want to take the time to process a panorama "on the spot." I want to keep capturing images. This app allows me the freedom to get a series of images that I can process later so that I can keep clicking the shutter in the moment. Please forgive the app this poor example.

(There are some better examples of AutoStitch's work in a post full of photos from my June, 2009 trip to Pittsburgh. Here is an image I created at work with AutoStitch. I gave Crew Stadium the AutoStitch treatment. Twice. More drum corps Autostitching here, here, here, and here. I even got funky with some HDR and AutoStitch -- the Ohio Capital building was my subject. Here's a less than stellar pano made at Browns Stadium. Here's a better one from Michigan Stadium.)

Finally, let's look at a new favorite, Microsoft's Photosynth (free). Beyond the fact that this app comes in at the low, low price of free, there is much to love about Microsoft's entry to the pano app genre. It is very easy to use. Photosynth presents a grid similar to the 360 app, and lets the photographer fill in the grid with the scene. It also allows a full 360 degree capture, but also expands the imagable (?) vertical space beyond what the 360 app does. Finally it is, by far, the best app I know for creating panoramic images of close up subjects.

Tree Down 6.0 (Photosynth)Tree Down 6.1 (Photosynth Cropped)Of all of these experiments, Photosynth exposed the image the best and stitched the image the best. There are a few unfortunate seems in this image, but the subject is generally in tact -- so far Photosynth has, in my experience, smartly prioritized subjects in every situation. There is no in app cropping, but it's easy enough to crop images on a desktop computer or with several other image editing apps on the iPhone. (It may be worth noting that here I chose to crop the bottom a little further up than necessary to eliminate my own shadow.) As a free app, I can't help but recommend Photosynth to ANYONE interested in creating panoramic images on an iPhone. It is easy to use and versatile.

(I haven't had much time to play with this app yet, but here's a panoramic image I created with Photosynth at work.)

All of these apps have their pros and cons. Perhaps 360 is at the bottom of the list, but I still want to try it out in a few more situations. The early returns on Photosynth would seem to put it at the top, but more testing is required. AutoStitch is quick and extremely easy to use, while allowing processing after the images are captured. You Gotta See This lends itself to creative output that can be fun and aesthetically pleasant. Pano is somewhere right in the middle. It was the first pano app I tried, and though I've drifted away from it to a degree, I still like to try it from time to time and compare it to the others.

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