Image merging is a challenging task. If you’ve tried blending two different images into a single large-scale picture in the past, you must know how difficult it is to get a quality image. Producing a quality image through blending is challenging since it is hard to achieve an idealized alignment. Moreover, adjusting two different images in succession is also time-consuming. However, today, panorama photo stitching can be used to carry out the image blending process with perfection.
Panoramic photo editing is the most effective and reliable image editing technique that can give more than stellar results. In this technique, several photos are stitched together in a horizontal manner for creating a wide-angle view, thereby including all the desired details in a single picture. Because of its effectiveness, companies offering panorama photo stitching services are also in huge demand.
Panoramic photography has proved to be exceptionally helpful to many industries. It is massively employed in real estate sectors to create 360-degree real estate panoramas and it helps many realtors and real estate companies to take their business to higher echelons.
In this article, we’ll help you to create panoramic photo stitching on your own. However, before we start, let’s understand first understand the basics.
What is Photo Stitching?
Photo stitching is the process of combining two or more images to get a better and realistic final image. This helps to represent a property or landscape in a much better way than the single images. While processing images for a better image, the software program selected is important. A misstep here can lead to unappealing results.
Panoramas are basically of two types. They are
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Cylindrical Panoramas
These are predominantly used to present the interior and exterior of a property. This projects the image in such a way that the image is mapped inside a cylinder. This works excellently for wide panoramas. As an added advantage this also keeps the vertical lines straight.
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Fish-eye Panoramas
This is used to present larger-surfaced images that are captured in fewer shots. Providing a tube-shaped projection and well-maintained contrast, the procedure is comparatively simple and cost-effective.
Following are the major differences between cylindrical and fish-eye panoramas;
- Cylindrical panorama is restricted to capture 360-degree images from a single pre-determined setup point providing for less flexibility. Fish-eye on the other hand, apart from the 360-degree image capturing facility, can include surfaces randomly as well.
- It does not need a tripod set up. However, a fish-eye panorama can pose problems as it can capture undesired image details that can be considered noise at times.
- Also, it is tiresome to align the images together before processing for merging, and only.
How to Shoot Panoramic Photos: Tips
You can easily carry out 360 panoramic stitching using the photo merge service of Photoshop. However, before you start with the process of panoramic stitching, the most important thing you need is panoramic photographs.
Capturing 360-degree panorama photos asks for creative photography and knowledge on how to shoot an excellent image. This includes the following three intricate and important aspects:
- Understanding the camera well
- Having the correct and most suitable camera settings
- Critical focal points
Right from the camera setting, everything is important. Any imperfection in any of the photo shooting steps will reflect in your final output. Also, putting individual pictures together should not create trouble with the software. So, it is important to take the snaps prudently and with perfection.
Below are a few things to keep in mind while shooting panoramic pictures.
- Using a tripod helps you in taking successive shots by slightly turning your camera as you need. Always try to set the tripod on a flat surface or else adjust camera rotations.
- Start taking snaps from the extreme left gradually moving towards your right. Set the timer and take the related exposure shots. Check the snaps without moving the camera. If all of them look fine, move ahead or else recapture again.
- Choose the right lens depending on your scene as well as by understanding how they work. For instance, using a wide-angle lens will give depth to your image by further pushing the background elements. On the other hand, using a telephoto lens will pull the scene elements forward giving the composition a flattering look.
- Try handheld shooting. Sometimes, shooting handheld can offer pleasing results. However, keep yourself steady. To keep the images at level, your viewfinder must be pressed to your eye. Now, pan the camera from left to right by placing your elbows close to your sides. Only use your body’s upper part to rotate.
These aspects combined with your understanding of how to move around taking progressive images and ensuring that you don’t miss any crucial and defining spots will result in exceptional real estate panorama photography.
It is important to make sure that every image clicked will cover the following images, which makes constant image stitching possible. If you miss any of the elements here, the task can get extremely tiresome. Now, let’s discuss what are the different software you can use to carry out the 360-degree photo stitching process.
Best Panorama Photo Stitching Software you can use
Once you have the images, the next step is to combine or merge them for a single high-quality image. For that, you’ll need a software program. The software you choose must be reliable, easy-to-use, and efficient in producing high-quality merged images. Software programs such as Adobe Photoshop and PTGui are often regarded as the best. However, there are other software that you can use:
- Image Composite Editor
- PhotoStitcher
- Stitch Up
- Panorama
- Stitcher
- PanoramaMaker
- SharpStitch
Though there are several best photo stitching software programs that one can take advantage of when it comes to image merging, the result is mainly dependent on the skilled approach of the professionals, which brings us to the next question, i.e., how to stitch perfect panoramic images. Continue reading to learn how.
How to stitch your photos to 360-degree panoramas using Photoshop?
People who are new to it may take time to carry out the perfect stitching. However, if you have no plans to do it yourself or the project you’re working on is extremely important, then it is best to go for a professional image stitching service.
Follow the steps below to carry out panoramic image stitching in the Adobe Photoshop software:
- Open the software.
- Start opening the photos one by one sequentially starting from the extreme left.
- Go to File > Automate > Photo merge. (This is the same in almost all recent versions of Photoshop.)
- Choose auto from the dialog box that appears. After that click, the button named “Add Open Files”.
- Check the file numbers of added photos in such a way that the camera has itself numbered them.
- In case you find the file names falling in the wrong order, remove all and rearrange until everything is in order. It is now that Photoshop starts its actual work. The snaps will be analyzed and photos will be blended. It may take a few minutes till you get the final results.
- You can also work on the final image and adjust color, contrast, or saturation to get better results. Now, save your picture and this ends the theoretical process. Once done, you will see how excellently things are executed.
So, by following the above steps, you’ll be able to perform panoramic stitching. However, if you’re not happy with the outcome, there are a lot of companies providing panoramic stitching services that you can hire.
WinBizSolutionsIndia is also a professional photo editing company that has been in the industry for years. So, you can outsource panoramic photo stitching services to us and obtain stunning photo stitching outcomes. Our professionals know to handle not just Adobe Photoshop but all the latest tools with the most advanced features. The company is also widely approached by wedding studios, freelance photographers, and realtors to carry out image stitching.
Not just this, but WinBizSolutionsIndia also excels in offering a wide range of other services, like real estate image editing services, product photo editing services, day to dusk image conversion services, etc. So, you can reach us for any type of requirements in this regard. Also, rates are affordable and perfection is guaranteed. For bulk orders, we even offer amazing discounts.