[interested_observer]

I am working with a set of images taken in a difficult lighting condition - sunset, as a 2x15 (2 rows at 15 images each). Essentially, I would like to give preference to the top row of images over the bottom row of images. There is approximately 20% overlap of the rows.

The reason for this is that to top row is primary sky (sunset), with the bottom row being a silhouetted landscape in the evening with valley lights. The problem I am having is that when stitched, there are a number of images in the bottom row that are essentially overlaid over the upper row, that creates a block effect. The images in the top row effectively are much clearer for the sunset sky view.

I just added an example image that shows the problem. If you look at the sky immediately above the hill tops, as compared to the sky further up in the stitched image, you will see that the area just above the hill tops is a bit more "muddy", and not as clearly defined as the area above. This is produced in the rendering stage. Actually, using the reduced size, you can actually watch the batch renderer overlay the desired section of the image. An example of this is right in the center at to top of the hill, the top row segment took priority, and as a result, you have a good sky at the horizon.

So the question is that I am using a trial version of AutoPano Pro 2. Does anyone know if another stitcher does multiple rows and provides some user input in terms of what may appear on top?

I am in the process of going through and down loading trials after reading the websites, however there is not a lot of information on this particular aspect.

As long as I am on the topic here, I also find that during rendering, the bottom row pushes the renderer to darken the entire stitched image. The sky is much brighter than what is indicated by the result.

Thanks!

Attached Images

 

[bimjo]

Can't help with the order-of-stitch issue, but have you tried doing the two rows separately and then stitching those together?

Might not work in auto mode. Once you get the two individual rows stitched you may have to stitch the rows together manually.

Let us know how it works out in the end. It looks like it's going to be a killer shot.

[Itai]

Well, what you see is normal for what you are trying to do:
- Stitching software have to render the boundaries of the seem as smooth as possible. In order to do that, they blend the overlapped region to produce one that matches the areas around it.
- This causes more problems where you have movement in the boundaries. In the case you show, I suspect th clouds are moving and/or that your exposure is long enough that they blur a bit withing each frame. The probability of the blur matching across frames is nearly zero.

What you can do to help:
- Stitch a single row of more vertical images rather than two rows of horizontals (if that is not what you've already done)
- Crop the overlap region before feeding the images to the panorama software. The smaller the overlap, the less it has to render. Obviously, it has to still have enough overlap that the software can recognize features and match them across frames.

- Itai
Digital Camera Buying Guide, Photography Articles and Reviews | NeoCamera.com

[interested_observer]

I have tried stitching the rows individually, however when the rows are combined no associations are found. It looks like I am going to need to stitch them manually, and might need to "erase" the sky in the bottom row so that they will blend....

Will be traveling next week, so this may be next weekend's background task..

Thanks for the suggestions...