Update: Panorama of the Week on LAT.com? Well, not really...

Just heard from Bryan Chan of LATimes. He confirms Paul Fretheim's followup (see below) on the weekly feature. Brian says, "I'm not sure where a reader got the "pano of the week" idea. We just do them as needed."

Paul replied to me Sunday as follows (I should have posted this then):

"Most pages at the LA Times site have tabs for "Local," "National," "World," etc. Under the local tab if you scroll down there is a header that is over a list of links that says "Weekly Features" and that is where the link was to the panorama. I may have overstated it when I wrote "Panorama of the Week." When I went back and looked at it again, it was unclear if it really means that they will have a panorama on a weekly basis."

Bummer. I was hoping one of the big dogs would take the lead and do a weekly feature.

If anyone knows of someone doing a weekly panorama feature, I'll bow at their feet.

===============

According to a post from Paul Fretheim on the PanoToolsNG Yahoo group (text of the is message below), The Los Angeles Times is starting a "Panorama of The Week" feature.

The link is to a pano from Bryan Chan of the Los Angeles Times,who produced a group panorama of the LA Philharmonic, with hotspots giving us more info on the players.

I looked about the LAT site, and didn't see anything specifically touting "Panorama of The Week". However, there is a panoramas section on the Multimedia page.

Good use of hot spots, and if LAT is doing a pano of the week, that's a big boost (and a motivator) for the rest of us.

======================
Via PanoToolsNG@yahoogroups.com:

L.A. Times "Panorama of the Week"
Posted by: "Paul Fretheim" paul@inyopro.com inyopro
Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:44 am (PDT)

Apparently the Los Angeles Times has initiated a feature they are
calling "Panorama of the Week." Here is the one from today's "paper,"
that is, the L.A. Times web site:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/arts/la-laphil-pano,0,3418644.htmlstory

Paul Fretheim
======================

Prison Riots Aftermath | Bryan Chan - LATimes

This is a good use of a panorama, to put the viewer in the news scene. I'm curious as to why the burned out housing block isn't the featured panorama. It is a powerful scene, and I would also have liked to see the prison courtyard.

I'd like to hear from Bryan about conditions, etc. during the tour if that's possible.

Working the nadir into our panoramas is a challenge, yet it is doable. Many of you don't include it, and I'd like to hear why. Is it a technical problem, stitching problems, or a question of photo manipulation ethics? Post a comment, or drop an email if you're shy. I'd like to help if I can.

This blog has been quiet of late and I want to change that. What do you want to learn? Also, please send links of yours and others' work to help prime the pump.

Panoramas at NPPA Visual Journalism Workshops

If you're coming to the NPPA Visual Journalism Workshops and plan to attend the panorama session, there will be panorama heads, lenses and demo versions of software for your use.

Bill Bailey at Nodal Ninja has loaned us six of his company's panorama heads (3 NN3 and 3 NN 5) plus levelers for your use. These heads are also available for purchase at a workshop discount of 10%.

We'll also have a couple of Bo Bracket pano heads for the Sigma 8mm f/3.5 available.

Canon, Nikon and Sigma have loaned lenses, a mix of fisheyes, extreme wide-angle, and wide-angle zooms.

There will be demo versions of PTGui and Pano2VR available for you to load onto your laptops.

If you have a tripod or monopod, bring that if you can fit it in your kit.

During the sessions, I'll fill you in on gear checkout. I plan to set up times on Thursday and Friday for one-on-one with anyone who needs help with stitching, and critique if you desire.

Feel free to contact me directly (gary [at] garyobrien {dot} com) if you have questions.

What do you want to learn about?

I'm preparing materials for a panorama demo workshop at the NPPA 2009 Visual Journalism Workshops. 

In a general sense - even if you're not going to attend the workshop - what do you want to learn about shooting panoramas?

What information do you need? How to shoot them, gear, using software, presenting, printing?

Let me know - specific questions are best. Please use the comments so others can see.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

On the Border

Quick post, because I'm about to board a flight to RDU at Phoenix Sky Harbor. Pat Shanahan of the Arizona Republic has a nice package of panos from the Arizona-Mexico border.

Take a look: http://www.azcentral.com/flash/borderfence360/borderfence360_index.html

I'll post more later... I had a nice chat/impromptu pano seminar with Pat and Dave Seibert from the Republic this week, and I can tell you more about how the project came about.

Calling All Panoramists

I'm wondering how many of you are regularly publishing panoramas on your publication's website. 

If you are - tell me. I want to feature the work you all are doing. Don't be shy.

Post a reply, or email me!

Meet My Friend Bo

I've been working with a new panorama tool this past month or so, and I'm liking it a lot.

It's the Bo Bracket, a simple, light, accurate panorama bracket made by Bo Lorentzen, a photographer and computer graphics artist. The bracket is made of model aircraft birch plywood, cut with a precision laser and laminated.

The bracket is designed for specific lenses.  I ordered mine to fit my Sigma 8mm f/4 fisheye.  It's also available for the Sigma 8mm f/3.5, the AF Fisheye-Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8, and several point-and-shoot fisheyes. 

Its construction is simple - the base with 3/8" tripod mount socket, the lens bracket, and a long screw with wingnut to hold it all together. It clamps around the lens, allowing it to be rotated around its no-parallax point (NPP), or "nodal point". 

Bo recommends using a Manfrotto 259B tripod extension column as a rotator, since the base of his bracket is too small to allow attachment to a regular size tripod head.

I'm using mine atop a short metal post that originally was part of a Forscher Polaroid back for a 35mm film SLR. (Moral of this story - never throw any piece of photo gear away, no matter how obsolete).

The post and Bo Bracket go atop a monopod, and I rotate that, being careful to keep it as vertical as possible. This is very similar to how I used the Nodal Ninja 3 on the campaign trail earlier in 2008. It's very helpful to use a hot-shoe two-axis bubble level

or a surveyor's rod level to keep the monopod vertical. 

I use the monopod from both ground level and holding the monopod up as high as I can. In the picture at left, I'm using my credential holder to hold up the monopod. A flag holder like you might see in a parade would work very well for this. And of course, you'll need a wired remote release.

There are a couple of things to be aware of. In my early testing, I was using the bracket with a Nikon D200. The overhang of the D200's prism cover contacts the bracket, but I was able to turn the lens 90 degrees and mount the camera. Depending on the camera model, this may prevent getting the lens fully into the bracket, thus missing the NPP.

Also, the instructions included with the bracket caution that it's very sensitive to moisture. It's recommended to coat it with epoxy if it's going to be used in wet environments.

The one thing the bracket can't do is to swing up and down to shoot zenith and nadir precisely from the NPP. In the tests I shot (not shooting up or down, but just around), the zenith hole was minimal and could easily be patched by editing the top cube face. The footprint of the bracket is quite small, making a nadir patch easier. The nadir can be shot handheld away from the NPP if necessary. PTGui's viewpoint correction feature makes stitching these off-NPP images much easier.

I put the rig to the test this past weekend at the new zMax Dragway @ Concord. Check out the three panoramas on this page of Thatsracin.com, our motorsports website. These panos were all shot with the Nikon D700 full-frame sensor camera and my trusty Sigma 8mm f/4 fisheye. I've wanted the three-frame advantage of a full circular image, and I wasn't disappointed. I'll post my impressions of shooting and stitching circular images in the next few days.