Originally posted by phonoline I honestly have no idea how to stitch. I have never done it. Can you explain?
First, take a series of images from left to right (doesn't have to be, but that's how most photo software 'likes it'). You can do 2 or more images, but the more you shoot the more processing it will take up on your computer.
It helps if you don't use a polarizer as this may cause the skies to not blend well. Also, if you use a GND filter, make sure it's level and doesn't move from exposure to exposure. Each image should be shot with the same shutter speed and aperture.
Using a nodal slide will allow you to stitch parallax free panos. Read in detail about how to calculate the Non Parallax Point of your lenses here:
Finding The Nodal Point of Your Lens - Photography Reviews, How-To, and Galleries of Digital Grin
You will need to calculate what exposure will 'work' for the whole scene, if it's contrasty you may need to bracket each shot.
Here's my process for doing photostitching:
After shooting, I open ALL the RAW files that I want to stitch, then adjust them all exactly the same by 'syncronizing' their settings. This will assure they line up correctly and look like one image. I open them in PS.
Then I go to PS->File->automate->photomerge. there are several options from there depending on what you're working with. Then once the program does it's 'magic' you will need to crop a little bit of the edges most likely and can begin making local adjustments in PS, though you may want to flatten the image first.