Classic One Light Portraiture with Monohead and Ripstop Nylon Diffusion Panel

The image above, is one of my first jobs in St. Louis after relocating from Seattle. The Clayton School District needed to update the images of the ViBravo String Ensemble sectional coaches for their new website. For this shoot, I decided to use a dark background to compliment the formal concert wardrobe. Scheduling all four sectional coaches to be available the same day added to the pressure I had a little more than one hour to setup, shoot 4 people, and pack before the room would be used for another rehearsal. To top it off, the final images had to be ready the next day for the web designer as the ViBravo String Ensemble would begin touring in Chicago two days later.

Using the panels now for 20 years, I am still pleasantly surprised each time of how good the light quality looks. I did a quick lightmeter reading on the subject and background…shot an image…and I was ready to go. My initial concern was that I might have a large glaring white reflection on the viola from the diffusion panel, fortunately this did not occur, just a nice and clean highlight on the edges of the viola. The RAW file has plenty of room in the shadow and highlight details…just perfect dynamic range

One Light Portrait Setup and Diagram for Monolights and Speedlights

The monolight is about 4 feet from the Ripstop Nylon Panel, just filing the 5 foot width of the frame. The Ripstop Nylon Panel is about 8 feet from the subject for an even lighting pattern…head to waist on subject. This is one of the many reasons to use a light meter, the meter is accurate to 1/10th of a stop and will let you know exactly where the light fall-off is. The same thing applies to the background brightness. By metering the light falling on the black fabric I knew that I had a bit of separation between the subjects dark concert formal dress and the background. There is nothing worse than having a head and hands floating in black space!

Try the one light portrait setup for your next portrait shoot. The lighting gear cost is minimal and works very well for the Strobist Speedlight photographer. I would suggest using one of the more powerful Nikon SB800/900 or Canon’s equivalent. Or use two smaller speedlights in sync. For monolights, I recommend something in the 200 – 400 w/s range at minimum. My exposure data is F/8 @ 1/250 sec although F/5.6 would have been more than enough depth-of-field. I don’t want the background fabric texture in focus, just the subject!!

My camera gear consisted of a Nikon D7ooo with a fast FX (full-frame) 50mm prime lens which is a perfect 75mm portrait lens on Nikon’s DX format bodies.

One Light Portrait Lighting Diagram for Monolights and Speedlights w/Ripstop Nylon Panel

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Fall is my favorite season, especially along the numerous trout rivers we have in Missouri. Earlier this week I took two days off and to photograph and trout fish in the Headwaters of the Current River located in Montauk State Park.

Monday I fished and quickly caught my limit of 4 rainbow trout, about a pound each. The four fish became dinner Monday evening along with a delicious fresh watercress salad.

Tuesday morning, just after sunrise, I spotted the three images below. I setup the panorama rig and shot the 35MP – 55MP stitches with a Nikon D7000 and 35mm lens.

Montauk State Park - Headwaters of the Current River Fall, 2011

Montauk State Park - Lagoon behind Current River, Fall 2011

Montauk State Park - Small tributary steam, Fall 2011

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Pay close attention to how Emily uses diffused lighting ratios and depth-of-field and focuses the lens on the subject, while blurring out the foreground and background. Try this technique for your next senior portrait or outdoor editorial portrait session….it is not just for fashion anymore!

This time we see Emily using a Mola Softlight Dish instead of a beauty dish for overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash. And from what I can tell, Emily is still using an Alien Bee monolight and Vagabond battery pack. While a beauty dish can offer a similar diffused flash light quality, the wavy curves and distinctive shape of the Mola dish lends a softer light quality. For those photographers already using a beauty dish, I suggest diffusing your dish further with a sheet of ripstop nylon. Just drape it over your beauty dish and secure it with a few $.49 clamps from the local HomeDepot. You may find white ripstop nylon at your local fabric store for about $8 per sq/yd…it’s very inexpensive folks!

Overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash video example below.

I used one of my large 5′ x 8′ white ripstop nylon panels to further diffuse the 22′ beauty dish. The diffused flash to daylight lighting ratio is about 1:2, the Sunlight is about 1 stop brighter than the diffused flash exposure. No retouching for lighting at all!

I would like to point out that Emily’s success is not just about overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash and great lighting ratios. Obviously there is much more going on in her images such as styling and posing and location research. Emily has a concept and theme for each fashion story she shoots. She uses camera technique and composes her images to tell a story and photographs the wardrobe well. Fashion shoots include wardrobe and makeup/hair stylists and models. When I shoot fashion, the entire shoot theme is discussed beforehand so everyone is on the same page. In each case I email location scouting images and/or Google Maps links to the entire crew and models.

For Strobist portrait lighting using speedlights I have a different suggestion for overpowering Sunlight with diffused flash lighting ratios. The easiest and least expensive solution for creating a soft diffused flash light quality is by constructing a 3′ x 3′ PVC frame and attaching a white 3′ x 3′ ripstop nylon fabric to the PVC panel. I prefer the heavier 1 3/4 inch PVC over the 3/4 inch PVC as the heavier PVC does not flex in a mild breeze. PVC is about $3 for 10 feet and the corner joints run about $1.50 each.

I use 2″ elastic cloth bands in the corners to quickly secure the fabric to the panel. A sewing machine is required to sew the elastic fabric bands to the ripstop nylon. Don’t have a sewing machine?…….use Craigslist to find an affordable seamstress….simple as that.

ADDITIONAL TIP: The Strobist speedlight photographer may need to use 2 speedlights for diffused flash lighting ratios when overpowering Sunlight with the white ripstop nylon fabric. This applies to a fill flash lighting ratio….and may not completely overpower the Sunlight. It really depends on the brightness of the Sunlight, your flash power,  AND whether you are photographing full length or just 3/4. My experience from Brooks Institute photo school 20 years ago, the Vivitar 285 did have enough power for a 3/4 headshot using a 3′ x 3′ ripstop nylon panel with a panel distance of 4 feet to subject. As I recall, this worked quite well with my 4×5 film camera and ISO 100 sheet film with an F/stop probably around F/5.6 or F/8…..which is plenty for headshots and portraits on a digital camera with full-frame or DX sensors.

The diffusion panels can be attached side-by-side and used as massive softboxes. Below is a series of images I created with 3 panels and one 600w/s monolight. While I own 4 monolights, I primarily shoot with 1-2 lights 90% of the time.

One may certainly purchase pre-made diffusion frames/panels from Larson Lighting for several hundred dollars each…..or you can build your own for about $30 and a few hours of your time. There are many ways to construct the diffusion panels on the internet and there are just as many different suggestions for diffusion fabric. Walmart shower curtain material for $1.99 just looks like &#$% and may even cause you to have very ugly highlights in the eyes as several photographers have noticed. Spend $5 more and you get the real thing that lighting companies use.

Overpowering Sunlight with Diffused Flash is an easy technique to master with a bit of practice. I suggest that the photographer create a test of different lighting ratios. I might begin withe a 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 ratio of daylight to diffused flash. One of the lighting ratios will look just right to your eyes. Now you have a lighting formula that you can repeat over and over again.

20 years ago I made 5 panels that are 5′ x 8′ each, complete with fabric for about $200 and one Saturday afternoon. The first set of diffusion panels I later sold to a very well known portrait photographer, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, after assisting him one day. He just loved the diffused light quality and decided to use the fabric in his NYC studio.

I still have and use the diffusion panels for many of my commercial shoots today. Many…..many… professional fashion and portrait studios still use fabric panels because of the fantastic natural light quality they produce. Just because we don’t always see diffusion panels in YouTube lighting videos does not mean panels do not exist. I learned real lighting secrets by assisting great Los Angeles fashion photographers….and got paid to learn and see how they light and shoot ad campaigns.

Overpowering Sunlight with Diffused Flash is an excellent technique for giving your portfolio a fresh new look. The lighting tools are not very expensive and in most cases, we already own this lighting gear. Your only real homework is to test out the different lighting ratios and find one that works best for your shooting and visual style.

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I think we may have a solid Canon EOS 5D MK2 video rival on our hands with the newly released Panasonic GH2 PTool v3.62d patch by Vitaliy Kiselev and Chris Brandin. For still images the much larger Canon sensor is still clearly superior. Your donations helped make this incredible new version possible, so please keep the donation pool flowing. This update took only a couple of weeks to release…donations do help 

Reader Lars in Berlin, kindly informed me of the new patch release, and I quickly had to try it out today. Yes, everything works as promised and PTool v3.62d is completely stable on my NTSC GH2 using the 42Mbps patch for 1080/24p and 720/60p with the 14-140mm lens and Sandisk Extreme Pro 45MB/sec card. I shot for 30 minutes in 1080/24p and 720/60p, zooming in and out on the family cat and other moving targets, at all the GH2 native ISO’s of 160, 320, 640, 1250, and 2500. Shutter speeds were the standard 180 degree shutter or 1/50th and 1/125 as it is commonly referred to in cinema circles.

Lars just post this very delicious 42Mbps short film. Very well done

Here is a particular lovely video shot by mpgxsvcd using the GH2 42Mbps patch. Be sure to download the original 1080/24p file, it looks superb.

My custom gamma setting for maximum video dynamic range are the “smooth” setting with the additional -2, -2, -2, -2 in the drop down menu, GH2 folks know what I mean

OK, what is so fabulous and new with the latest PTool v3.62d patch? First off, the video quality in the shadow regions is now just stellar. My quick test demonstrated that ISO 1250 looks better than ISO 160 in the default Panasonic factory firmware. The little “blip” we saw in the first second of video in the previous 42Mbps PTool v3.61d patch is now fixed

But the big news, at least for me and other folks that make a living shooting with a GH2….the Auto Quantizer Setting. This is huge because the shadow detail is now greatly improved. I will quote mpgxsvcd because he said it best:

“It is also important to realize that the newest patch adds quantizer settings that will increase the minimum bit rate for less detailed scenes. This is critical because scenes without much movement and with lower ISOs rarely get above 10-12 mb/sec with the original firmware. Now all scenes record at the same bit rate regardless of whether the camera thinks it is necessary or not.”

Vitaliy Kiselev and Chris Brandin made numerous other improvements under the hood as outlined below:

• Improved bitrate patches
• Improved GOP patches
• Improved MJPEG size patches
• Added quantizer patches
• Added few other encoder related patches
• Few fixes, including 24L behavior

Below are the images and instructions for the updated Panasonic GH2 PTool v3.62d patch. Please refer to my original article for more detailed instructions and FAQ.

New Panasonic GH2 PTool v3.62d Auto Quantizer for 1080 and 720 video modes

Movie Related Restrictions: PAL Panasonic GH2 PTool v3.62d............ONLY

Panasonic GH2 - 42 Mbps AVCHD Compression Video Bitrate 24H

Panasonic GH2 - 32 Mbps AVCHD Compression Video Bitrate 24L

Panasonic GH2 - 42 Mbps AVCHD Compression Video Bitrate FSH/SH

Panasonic GH2 - 32 Mbps AVCHD Compression Video Bitrate FH/H

Panasonic GH2 - NEW Auto Quantizer for 1080 modes. This is where we select a bias towards shadow detail or motion detail. I always light my scenes and sets and have slow to medium motion. The 3 setting is perfect for the type of commercial work I shoot. For wedding and sports work I might change this to a 1 or 2 setting.

NEW Auto Quantizer for 720 shooting modes. Again, I use the 3 setting for the type of subject motion I normally shoot. I may shoot 720/60p and then slow it down in post to 30p or 24p….this is known as over cranking.

Panasonic GH2 PTool v3.62d patch save. By default, the PTool will not allow you to overwrite the original Panasonic Factory Firmware. Just give your patch a new number.

That is it folks!

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Related Post: Panasonic GH2 42Mbps Firmware Patch Instructions

Related Post: Panasonic GH2: 42Mbps AVCHD Hack and Panorama Stitching

Panasonic GH2 available in two lens flavors at Amazon. Only 1 left with the HD 14mm-140mm kit!

Also available here with the 14mm-42mm Panasonic GH2 at B&HPhoto.com

My recommended SDHC memory cards that work well with the 42Mbps GH2 Patch. I suggest the 16 Gig cards because we only get about 48 minutes of footage at 1080/24p. I also tested my cards with the 720/60p 42Mbps patch and all 3 cards work just great for in-camera playback and recording with the Panasonic 14mm-140mm lens.

My testing method was to shoot 10 minutes continuous footage at 1080/24p and then 10 minutes continuous footage at 720/60p with the 42Mbps patch installed.

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Simple instructions with visual aids for applying the Panasonic GH2 42Mbps firmware hack. This firmware hack changes the default Cinema 1080/24p bitrate from 24Mbps to a staggering 42Mbps. The firmware hack, developed by Vitaliy Kiselev, can be found on his personal website. Consider making a small donation to Vitaliy on his website, he spent the last 6 months creating this fabulous firmware update and is generously providing it for free. Damn near Canon 5DMK2 video quality for a fraction of the price.

This firmware hack is not for everyone, especially if you are not technically inclined….be warned. While I wrote these super simplified instructions, please do not ask me for tech support, all you will hear is chirping crickets from me, not trying to be rude….just sayin’ Tech support can be found on Vitaliy’s site, he wrote the software and knows it best.

FAQ regarding the 42Mbps firmware hack

• Best uses for indy film videographers and video enthusiasts
• This works for the Panasonic GH2 only…period!
• Is it stable…yes. I have shot over 4 hours of video with zero issues
• Will it “brick” my GH2, not if you follow the directions very carefully
• Can I return to the default firmware version…sure, just uncheck the boxes in the patch and your back to default settings
• Will my cheap ass class 2, 4 or 6 card work? Eh, why risk frustration and lost footage, I recommend a good Class 10 card, they start at $27
• How many gigs do I need? My 16gig card holds 48 minutes of 42Mbps footage. Before the hack, the same card held 1 hour and 30 minutes. So the 42Mbps uses about 50% more space for the same shooting time. This is a good thing folks….nice clean video like the Canon 5DMK2 which shoots at 39-45 Mbps!
• How does the video look? At 3200 ISO I see zero grain and noise in the shadows, looks like it was shot at 160 ISO.
• This works on NTSC & PAL versions of the GH2. However, the PAL version of the GH2 will remove the 30 minute recording time limit . The only drawback for our European friends is that they loose 25p. PAL cameras will shoot 1080/24p….not 1080/25p. Vitaliy will update this and other features in future releases…so make a donation
• I only post stable releases that I have personally tested and verified for commercial video shooting and paid shooting gigs.

OK,  all aboard, lets go!

Required Tools and Downloads

1. PTool Firmware Manipulation Tool v3.61d – download the software tool from this website
2. GH2 Firmware v1.0E Download – firmware download link
3. Wine App for Mac Users – allows Mac users to emulate the PTool without installing Windows. Works great on my iMac in Lion OSX….download link
4. A  SDHC card that is formatted in the GH2. This is how we load the new firmware on the GH2. Remember, formatting erases EVERYTHING on the card!

Loading the Software and applying the Patches in 10 Easy Steps

1) Begin with downloading all the tools and place them where you can easily find them. Mac users, be sure to have the Wine App installed to open the PTool Firmware Manipulation Tool. On my iMac, I simply “right click” and “open with Wine App”….simple as that. Another option is Parallels or Windows in Bootcamp. Windows users just open the “ptool3.exe” file.

Panasonic GH2 42Mbps Patch Required Tools and Downloads

2) Same procedure for Windows or Mac…..click load firmware and proceed.

Same for Windows or Mac

Loading Panasonic GH2 1.0E Firmware

3) This third step is REALLY IMPORTANT! Be sure to check the “Version Increment” box and type in 10 in the green type below. Some folks use “1″, but Vitaliy recommended “10″. The purpose of this step is to allow us to revert back to the default Panasonic firmware setting or make additional changes to the firmware patch as they become available. Future releases will allow changes to other features of the camera. Read the yellow toolbar on the top right… additional explanations.

GH2 Firmware Version Increment Setting...this is crucial folks!

4) The GH2 NTSC camera patch differs very slightly from the European GH2 PAL version. PAL cameras need the 30 minute time removal and the 25p – 24p boxes checked. Two images below, first is for NTSC and the second image is for PAL. Obviously one needs to know which camera one bought…yep!

42000000 is the bitrate number that is stable on my camera and many other users have also reported stable video. Yes, some folks use 52000000 or higher, but I shoot for a living with my GH2 and I like stable results and zero F#@&%&. The suggested value by Vitaliy works just perfect

NTSC (USA) GH2 42Mbps firmware patch instructions

PAL (European) GH2 42Mbps Firmware Patch Settings

5) Lets save the firmware patch with a new name. NOTE: The firmware patch has to have the same format as the original name or it will not save or load….see the image below. The important thing is to name it other than “GH2__V10″ which is the original name that the Panasonic Mothership used. As new patches become available, we will name them in higher increments such as “GH2__V12″ and so on.

GH2 42Mbps Firmware Patch Naming & Saving Instructions

6) Drag the saved and newly named firmware file to your GH2 formatted SDHC card. In my case I named it “GH2__V11.bin”. The firmware file should be about 15.6MB on a Mac, Windows size may be a bit smaller or the same.

Drag the newly named GH2 firmware patch file to SDHC card

GH2 Firmware Patch installed on SDHC card

7) Loading the firmware into the GH2 Camera. IMPORTANT NOTE: Only use a freshly charged battery that is charged to 100%. If the camera looses power, it could very well turn into a $1600 paperweight. Simple as that! Charge your battery before going any further.

Firmware update procedure is the same on PAL and NTSC camera versions. Place the SDHC card into the camera and press the green play button just right of the eye-piece view finder. You will be greeted with the “body firmware update message”, press yes and let the camera do its thing. The firmware update will take about 4 minutes. DO NOT TOUCH any buttons. Just put the camera down and let the firmware update proceed till it is completed…….4 minutes.

GH2 Firmware update

GH2 42Mbps Firmware Patch Installing...DO NOT TOUCH!

SUCCESS After about 4 minutes the camera will restart and you will be greeted by the standard display we see when we first turn the camera on. Have a beer, coffee or cocktail…only two simple steps left. All the nerve racking stuff is done and we just need to set the camera to “Cinema 1080/24p High” shooting mode.

GH2 42Mbps Firmware patch success!

9) Cleanup the SDHC card by formatting it in the GH2. This will wipe the firmware off the card and any system files that our computer may have written to the card. Formatting also segments the card again and prepares the blocks, it is just good practice and digital housekeeping.

Formatting and cleanup

10) Setting up the camera for 1080/24p and 42Mbps bitrate. Use a good brand Class 10 Card, we just increased the bitrate by 90%. Good and reliable cards begin with the Transcend 16gig Class 10 card, about $27. I use the new 16 gig Sandisk Extreme Pro III for about $70 each which are also recommended for the Nikon D7000.

GH2 Cinema 1080/24p setting

GH2 Cinema 1080/24p High Setting for 42Mbps

That is it folks, happy shooting!

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Panasonic GH2 Cinegraph 1080/24p

The Panasonic GH2 is the ultimate light-weight travel camera for pro quality images and hacked 42Mbps AVCHD video. I gave the GH2 a solid workout for 7 days shooting both video and stills. All video was shot at 1080/24p and the stills were shot in RAW, later to be stitched together for 34MP-46MP panoramas. Read on for details of the images and video created below. The video section has several great tips that apply not just to the Panasonic GH2, but to all HD video DSLR’s.

In the past, my landscape gear included a Nikon D2x or Canon 5DMK2 and several prime lenses, 24mm, 35mm, 60mm, and sometimes even the 85mm. All this gear, when packed into a Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Backpack, easily weighs in at about 25 pounds…..40 pounds with the tripod, ballhead, and panorama L-bracket. A heavy and steady tripod is important for those high scenic overlooks. The wind is always seems so calm in the parking lot Gosh, this backpack is almost as heavy as the 4″x5″ view camera I used to schlepp around on vacations between photoschool semesters.

Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park 42MP 9078x4676 Pixels Panasonic GH2

Traveling Light

For this photo/video trip, I decided to travel as light as possible and find out just how well the Panasonic GH2 and the G Vario 14mm-140mm HD zoom lens combination would perform. I still used my trusty 25 year old Bogen 3021 tripod and a newer Cullmann Magnesit 35 Nm ballhead along with a homemade steel L-bracket. The GH2 fit into a tiny Lowepro backpack, complete with memory cards, light meter, microphones, batteries, etc….and just under 6 pounds…and 1/4 the physical size of my DSLR camera backpack. I added a padded strap for the tripod and now I can hike for miles without loosing my breath or mind

Custom Homemade Welded Steel L-Bracket for Multi-Row Panorama Stitches

Panasonic GH2 w/Handgrip Front View

Panasonic GH2 w/Handgrip Bottom View

Pre-Trip Online Research

Several days before the trip, I read up on the reviews for the Panasonic LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. reviews. All the reviews concluded that the lens performs at its optical best at f8 and between the zoom settings of 20mm-100mm. For all the trip images, the lens was manually set to f8 for both video and still…set it and forget it philosophy. All still images I shot between 20mm and 50mm using the built-in 2 second timer as my “cable” shutter release. In summary, the lens offers the highest image resolution and least distortion at f/8 and between 20mm and 100mm…simple as that.

Pinnacles Overlook, Badlands National Park 34MP 7402x4639 Pixels Panasonic GH2

Still Images Processing

For still and video exposure I used the GH2′s built-in exposure meter and simply balanced the shutterspeed to fit nicely in the histogram. Leaving plenty of room in the “shadows” and “highlights” so nothing is blocked or blown out. The resulting RAW files were processed in PhaseOne CaptureOne Pro v6.2 for 16bit Prophoto Tif files. Finally, I imported the individual 91MB Tifs into AutoPano Giga to create the large 34MP-46MP panorama stitches. Final exposure adjustments were done using a simple “s-curve” in Photoshop and final image sharpening in NIK Sharpener v3.

In case you are wondering, between 4-6 images are used in each stitch. I overlap images by 25% – 30% when shooting panos. Better to shoot extras and play it safe, one can always delete extra images at home.

Yellow Mounds Overlook, Badlands National Park 46MP 9407x4876 Pixels Panasonic GH2

DSLR Video Technique

Cedar Pass, Badlands National Park 43MP 9122x4710 Pixels Panasonic GH2

For HD video on DSLR’s I use a simple technique. I shoot the GH2 at 1080/24p with a 180 degree shutter setting of 1/50th of a second. This just happens to be the “film” look I like. Other folks may like the “Saving Private Ryan film look” of using a 360 shutter….or 1/25 of a second. Either one works, but 180 shutter or 1/50 second looks more natural for my tastes.

How do we control exposure if the camera is locked in at f/8 and 1080/24p and 1/50th second. Here is a super simple and nifty little trick I learned…the variable neutral density filter. My favorite one is the Light Craft Workshop™ Fader ND adjustable ND filter (ND2~400). Just screw it to the front of your lens and now you have absolutely step-less and infinite exposure control. With a twist of the filter I can dial in perfect exposure instantly…and never have to fiddle with the camera menu or dials. This is easily the best and fastest method for critical exposure control if one can not change the f/stop and/or shutter speeds or cinema shutter when shooting video on a DSLR!

Grass Prairie, Badlands National Park 45MP 9808x4615 Pixels Panasonic GH2

Custom DSLR Settings for Video/Still

Experimenting with different Panasonic GH2 custom settings for video and stills, my best results are with a custom “My Film” setting. Panasonic has a “Smooth Gamma” curve, that I further refine by changing the saturation to -2, the contrast to -2, sharpening to -2, and noise reduction to completely off. Save this as your modified setting to one of the C1, C2, or C3 presets and your done! Shooting video at 1080/24p video with the 42Mbps AVCHD codec looks very similar in quality to that of the Canon 5DMK2. The Canon does produce slightly better video image quality, but the GH2 has ZERO rolling shutter (jello video), full auto-focus during video, a pretty decent audio preamp, 1/2 the price and a few other features that I just love…but escape me as I type.

I use the exact same custom video preset settings for RAW still files as well. Yes I know that RAW files do not actually use the custom settings, but the histogram does display this input. The histogram display influences how we set exposure. I have also found that the RAW files now look very similar when imported into the CaptureOne Pro histogram.

Video Codecs Workflow

My recipe for processing the AVCHD .MTS files is Apple or Mac specific. Simply convert the AVCHD to ProRes422HQ with VoltaicHD and import into Final Cut Pro 7. Apple’s new bastard video stepchild, as it is jokingly referred to, FCPX, will render AVCHD into ProRes 422 automatically. Whatever OS platform you are on, Mac or PC, do yourself a favor and convert to a high-quality low-compression codec for editing. Your computer will thank you and your final video will look all that much better.

Complete article with full instructions for the GH2 42Mbps Firmware Patch.

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This topic will be in two parts, one for single-row stitches and the second for multi-row stitches. Single-row stitches are not as complicated and have less equipment requirements. Multi-row stitches with its additional hardware requirements, are more complex and are more beneficial to the architectural and fine art landscape photographer.

Today we can create similar high resolution images with software, and not that goofy interpolation stuff, that is for the birds, lol. Interpolation creates additional pixels by sampling the nearest neighboring pixels and manufactures what should be there. Interpolation is fine for a 50% or 100% increase in print size. For truly stunning 200% and larger prints, I prefer the image stitching method. Stitching software takes two or more individual images and combines them as a single image by aligning and finding control points and nodes in the series. Think of each individual image as representing a black or white square on a checkerboard.

We will be discussing two types of stitches that I do, the single row and the multi-row. There is a third type which is a 360 or 180 degree multi-row stitch, but I do not use it due to the image distortion. You may have seen this third type used for real-estate websites and ads. I am more interested in creating very large 30×40 inch prints, that are distortion free, sharp as a tack, and extreme detail.

A little company in France makes a great program called AutoPano Pro. We call this stitching software or panoramic compositing software. The only requirement is that you have a fairly powerful computer and lots of memory. It will work on a 2.16 Core 2 Duo Mac Book Pro with 4 gigs RAM just fine. My new computer a 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 8 processors and 8 Gigs RAM obviously runs this program much faster. My suggestion is to have at minimum a Core 2 Duo processor and 2 Gigs RAM. A three image stitch may take 8 minutes to complete at this minimum computer requirement.

Myrtle Beach - 50MP Single-Row Panorama Image Stitch

Single-row is a series of images from left to right with no elevation changes. Multi-row is a series of images left to right as well, except we change the camera angle or elevation. For example, we take three images with the camera angled up, left to right, including the horizon line. Next we return to the first left camera position from before, and shoot a second series. This time the camera is angled down, still including the horizon line, and shoot a second series of images from left to right. Yes, as you may have guessed, a multi-row is the same thing as two single-row. We are overlapping each image by 25% both horizontally and vertically. So while a single-row stitch may have 3 images, a multi-row will have twice that…or 6 images.

Three very important first steps before you even begin to attempt this. Do not use a POLARIZING filter for stitches, individual image edges will have an uneven exposure. Put your camera in MANUAL FOCUS and MANUAL EXPOSURE. If the camera lens is AF focusing on different points during the series, your images will not line up properly. Same thing applies for auto exposure, different F/stops have different fields of view and that will change image size as well as exposure from image to image. Obviously exposure differences are minimal on distant and evenly lit scenes, by why tempt fate and spend hours fixing it up later. Been there, done that.

Single-row is the easiest way to learn and can be done with a simple tripod. First get your tripod and camera level using a bubble level. Don’t have a bubble level, buy one for $20 at any camera store. These levels slide into your cameras flash hotshoe. With my camera mounted vertically (portrait orientation) on the tripod, I shoot several images from left to right with a 25% image overlap. Most cameras have a set of horizontal and vertical lines viewable through the viewfinder, you may have to turn this grid feature on in your camera menu. Use the grid lines to approximate 25% overlap. Easy, huh.

Why shoot left to right, can I shoot right to left. Sure you can, but the software wants the images left to right so you will have to rename the images later in Adobe Bridge so they go left to right. The software also prefers that if you shoot multi-rows, that you shoot the top row first and then the bottom row. Don’t question it or argue with me, just do it and the stitching process will go much smoother and faster later.

My camera is 12MP or 4288px x 2848px. I shoot vertically (portrait orientation) because that gives me 4288 pixels along the left edge of a print. My left to right images are 2848px each, but then we have that 25% image overlap factor, so it will be less in reality. Do not assume that 3 images stitched will be 2848px x 3 = 8544px, it will actually be closer to 6200px. So if you need more width, shoot an extra frame or two and crop later. The 4288px height will not change dramatically, maybe down to 4100.

Now in RAW processing, I apply the same develop settings to each individual series that will compose a single final image stitch. Why you ask, well, I want the same color temp and exposure to match from left to right. Don’t worry about the initial blending of the sky, it may be darker on the left side and brighter on the right side. This is the beauty of why I love AutoPano Pro. It will automatically blend the sky using very computer intensive mathematical formulas to make this perfectly seamless. Autopano Pro was also good enough to provide built in HDR and 16 bit, what more could you want.

I use single-row stitches for stationary product shots and also for select people images when I need to capture the ambiance and environment. I shoot the people subjects till I have the shot I need, then I swing the camera left and right to get the extra pano images for the stitch, simple and inexpensive.

Continue to the multi-row stitch article

Zeroplusplus Photography Tutorials - Photography Techniques and Tutorials for the Photographer

Zeroplusplus Photography Tutorials - Photography Techniques and Tutorials for the Photographer

Zeroplusplus Photography Tutorials - Photography Techniques and Tutorials for the Photographer