CodedColor PhotoStudio Manual - digital photo software, picture viewer, image editor, page layouter and flash / pdf album exporter (similar ACDSee, IrfanView)

Parallax

When you shoot panorama frames, there are two effects that can cause major problems for the stitching software: Parallax and Lens Distortion.

1. The Parallax effect

Parallax results from the same physical law that allows us to see 3-dimensional. If you close one eye and rotate your head, you will notice that objects change their relative position to each other. Since we actually have two eyes, we can see 3-dimensional without the need for head movement. For a camera, which is turned in order to shoot panorama frames, the same effect applies. If two objects on bordering frames lie in the stitch area, and if these two objects are shifted due to the camera movement, then the stitching software may have problems finding the corresponding characteristic points in the two frames. In the best case, this can cause object ghosting, frame distortion or blurring.

"Ghost mountain" resulting from Parallax

How to avoid Parallax

Parallax comes from the movement of objects in 3D. If everything in the scene is approximately the same distance from the lens, or very far away, parallax will not occur, or at least be minimized. This is why handheld panoramas from a mountain top tend to work quite well - everything is far away from the camera, and the distances are very large compared to the tiny distance between the nodal point and the point of rotation.

Another way to reduce parallax, is to use a special tripod, which allows you to rotate the camera around the nodal point of the lens.

2. Lens Distortion

Wide angle and fisheye lenses have a tendency to warp the edges of the picture. The distorted view causes the stitching software to become confused when trying to glue the frames together. The end result again is overlapping ghost images, similar to the parallax syndrome.

Tips for shooting panoramas

CodedColor PhotoStudio tries to correct the parallax effects by warping bordering frames, until the characteristic points overlap best. The downside is, that linear objects like trees, buildings or horizons may appear distorted in the stitched panorama. So, it's best to try and avoid parallax in the first place:

Try to use a tripod.

Make sure the axis of rotation is perfectly vertical (You can also later correct the frame horizon in the image editor)

Try to move the nodal point of the lens over the axis of rotation. You may need to construct a special mounting plate for this.

Try to exclude near objects, if you are making a long distance panorama.

Try to use a focal length of around 50 mm, in order to reduce lens distortion. Stay away from wide angle lenses.

Make sure you have overlapping regions of at least 20-30% (stitch area).

Avoid shooting frames against the sun (backlight situations).

CodedColor PhotoStudio by 1STEIN is a Windows photo viewer and editor to organize, edit, resize, reformat, correct, compare, sort, watermark, annotate and print digital images, and to edit EXIF and IPTC data in digital photos. You can rename multiple images, remove scratches, create panorama pictures (stitch), convert RAW photos (from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc. cameras), send images via Skype, send photo SMS, burn digital watermarks, correct colors, run a screenshow, convert and correct JPEG images in a batch process, rename fields, open pictures and image folders from the Explorer, generate a webalbum in HTML and compress JPG images. The CodedColor full version is not free, but during registration you can choose the Freeware edition, in which some functions are deactivated. After the download you can try the PhotoStudio shareware for 30 days without any restrictions. The CodedColor software interface looks very similar to ACDSee, is easier to use than Photoshop and more versatile than Picasa and Irfanview, but still contains editing and correction features as effective as Paintshop. Have a look at our Before / After tutorials, in order to get an idea of the powerful editor capabilities. The software comes with a detailed handbook and a fast database to store EXIF / IPTC data and color informationen. CodedColor PhotoStudio is a powerful and versatile photo organizer and image editing software for digital camera users. The user friendly interface includes features like photo editing & printing, web & flash album galleries, slide shows, photo management & cataloging, custom sorting, IPTC & EXIF editor and display, GPS tagging, perspective correction, barrel distortion, effects, thumbnail generation, resize & resample images, jp2000, batch conversion, database keyword searching, red eye removal, color / sharpness / brightness & contrast correction, artefacts removal, clone brush, scanner & TWAIN import, screen capture, lossless JPEG rotation, transparency (alpha channel), gamma correction, print ordering and screenshows with many transition effects, watermark text, image annotations, panorama stitch & animation, video capture, PDF album export, photo layouts, collages, frames, shadows, histograms, automatic white balance, skype photo sharing, etc. Opens and converts all common image formats: BMP, WMF, GIF, JPEG, JPEG2000, TIFF, PCX, PNG, PSP, PSD, PCD, and all current RAW formats. Visit the CodedColor FotoStudio homepage to learn more and download a free copy! Includes BYNGO MMS messenger and CodedColor Publisher, a versatile photo layout and DTP tool, from which you can order individual photobooks through KODAK.