Helicon-Like Photos with Photoshop

[sirenwerks]

Bob in IDaho, who, on vacation in Skyline Drive  in Virginia, stopped at the gift shop at Panorama and had someone take our picture.  There was some kid upstairs in the scene. I Big Brothered her out of existance.  No guilt.

I assume the Bureau of Record Changes approved the negation of that individual. Sounds like the start of a Kundera novel to me....

[RS-27]

I try to play the Devils advocate (pay attention to Mick & the boys...) for a topic that generated umpteen pages on the Tboard, and someone comments on the throwaway.  Sheesh.

Bob (Rodney) in IDaho  (any play is good play)

A confession:  it was a little black girl, about 10yrs.  My commie-pinko/leftist/liberal/bleeding heart is still distressed at the callous disregard that was (not) shown.  I'm still conflicted.

[pnolan48]

Phil,

I did this technique for years before Helicon hit the market, usually with three shots in Photoshop. The only "problem" I had was the change in size at the top and bottom edges of slices of a deep vertical shot. This could be corrected with the barrel/pincushion distortion tool, but it took some guessing. The same problem occurs in stitching together shots for a panorama, and it depends on the focal length of the lens. At 24mm on a DSLR a barrel correction of -7 (a pincushion of +7) is a good starting point. I've also used the "skew" tool to match the edges, as it can be faster, and you can see the results on-screen. It's easier to stitch together 6 shots at 24mm than 3 shots at 12mm (those focal lengths are just approximations).

I haven't had too much of a problem with the halo effect in Helicon. Perhaps that's because I haven't been looking for it. Or that I don't shoot a lot of extreme close-ups. Helicon gets really confused when I shoot a 3/4 view of ships with railings. This can be fixed with the opacity masks, but it's a lot of work! I just shoot at f/22 at 12mm when I run into this.

I thought the Trainboard discussion, since I was at the center of it, was very informative. Yep, I manipulate images with Photoshop. I take out nits, and extend foregrounds and backdrops to eliminate clutter. I use 42 years experience in printing to enhance contrast and brightness for the printing process--that would be done anyway, by any art director/pre-press operator.

My approach these days is brutally simple. I compose a shot and take it. If I like it and there's a nit or two, I either clean the nits and retake the shot, or deal with them in Photoshop. I'll cut in a foreground or backdrop to eliminate clutter, so the viewer can focus on the scene. That's it. If I had more time, I could achieve all these effects with temporary foregrounds, temporary backdrops, etc. I don't have the luxury of that time.

[pbrooks]

"Phil,

I did this technique for years before Helicon hit the market, usually with three shots in Photoshop. The only "problem" I had was the change in size at the top and bottom edges of slices of a deep vertical shot. This could be corrected with the barrel/pincushion distortion tool, but it took some guessing. The same problem occurs in stitching together shots for a panorama, and it depends on the focal length of the lens. At 24mm on a DSLR a barrel correction of -7 (a pincushion of +7) is a good starting point. I've also used the "skew" tool to match the edges, as it can be faster, and you can see the results on-screen. It's easier to stitch together 6 shots at 24mm than 3 shots at 12mm (those focal lengths are just approximations)."

-----------------

Thanks for the input, Pete-

I too have tried stitching together panorama shots, and it's a bugger!
I compliled one I took at the beach, and didn't notice each exposure was changing
because I left the exposure on automatic. Not only was the distortion there,
but each exposure was darker than the one beside it to compensate for the position
of the sun. Doh!

There's another little effect that happens when compositing in Photoshop,
and I think you're touching on it as well. When you focus on the back, the
image is slightly magnified. I think this accounts for the "squashed"
foreground-to-background effect in some of my photos.

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not a Helicon detractor,
just offering another technique to fall back on. I think Helicon does great
on solid objects, but just as you said it gets confused on things
like railings and ship rigging, those kind of subjects.

Nice photos of your layout in the new N-Scale, by the way.
I just got a copy yesterday.

Take care,  ;D

-Phil

[pnolan48]

"Phil,

I did this technique for years before Helicon hit the market, usually with three shots in Photoshop. The only "problem" I had was the change in size at the top and bottom edges of slices of a deep vertical shot. This could be corrected with the barrel/pincushion distortion tool, but it took some guessing. The same problem occurs in stitching together shots for a panorama, and it depends on the focal length of the lens. At 24mm on a DSLR a barrel correction of -7 (a pincushion of +7) is a good starting point. I've also used the "skew" tool to match the edges, as it can be faster, and you can see the results on-screen. It's easier to stitch together 6 shots at 24mm than 3 shots at 12mm (those focal lengths are just approximations)."

-----------------

Thanks for the input, Pete-

I too have tried stitching together panorama shots, and it's a bugger!
I compliled one I took at the beach, and didn't notice each exposure was changing
because I left the exposure on automatic. Not only was the distortion there,
but each exposure was darker than the one beside it to compensate for the position
of the sun. Doh!

There's another little effect that happens when compositing in Photoshop,
and I think you're touching on it as well. When you focus on the back, the
image is slightly magnified. I think this accounts for the "squashed"
foreground-to-background effect in some of my photos.

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not a Helicon detractor,
just offering another technique to fall back on. I think Helicon does great
on solid objects, but just as you said it gets confused on things
like railings and ship rigging, those kind of subjects.

Nice photos of your layout in the new N-Scale, by the way.
I just got a copy yesterday.

Take care,  ;D

-Phil

Thanks, Phil. Shooting a multi-deck layout can be a bear, due to the vertical clearance problems. This prolonged shoot really tested my patience.

Like you, I learned to go manual for exposures for deep verticals and panoramas. Even manual doesn't work all the time, as all cameras have a noticeable fall-off out by the edges. So it's back to Photoshop to even out the exposures at the edges, which leads to burn-out problems in the middle! I'm using the gradient filter to keep the center of each image under control--and it's mostly guesswork again.

I had real problems up in Alaska, where the sun moves very quickly across the horizon. I got seams where there are no real seams, due to the movement of the sun. I guess I work too slow!