Panorama Making. Lightroom CC vs Photoshop CC. Quick comparison

Hey guys,

I thought I'd share some thoughts on one of the areas I've always struggled with a bit, processing decent, clean panoramas. And how easy the new Lightroom CC panorama stitcher is to use.

I've tried a few different programs, such as Hugin, Arcsoft & Photoshop. Had a couple of decent results with Hugin but you just about need a special degree in physics and mathematics to be able to use it effectively.

The other program which I have had really mixed results with is Photoshop, one of the main problems being major banding throughout the image (see image below).

So when Adobe announced they'd be incorporating a Panorama maker in their newest Lightroom update, I was pretty keen to see how it went. So I went through my archives for an image I liked, which I had stitched in Photoshop previously, but had the problems as mentioned above, banding.

One advantage I noticed straight away over photoshop is you get a live projection preview before it starts stitching. You only get half the options that photoshop offers (Spherical, Cylindrical or Perspective) but it's so handy being able to see a preview before the stitch starts, which in turn will save a countless amount of trial and error time, especially if you're just a novice like me.
Another cool little advantage is you can auto crop before stitching. This will probably only save you a couple of seconds in post, but it's handy nonetheless.

From there all you have to do is hit merge and let the magic happen. The time it takes to stitch would be about the same as if you'd just right clicked and sent it to Photoshop. Depending on your computer's capabilities though, I'd say it's faster and more efficient to use Lightroom, and would use much less ram than if you had to open up Photoshop at the same time as having Lightroom open.

From there once it's stitched it's saved directly into the folder you stitched the photos from, and you can start processing straight away! Too easy.

So that's my super quick review of the benefits that I can see of using Lightroom for panorama stitching over Photoshop.

Below I'll show you the full image I stitched using Lightroom CC, then a sample of the banding I got using Photoshop.

Matt.
meimages.net

Little Bay, NSW.
6 vertical image stitch using Lightroom CC.

Close up of the vertical banding caused when stitched with Photoshop CC

Sydney Storms, Seals & Slabs

Earlier this week Sydney was absolutely hammered with strong winds, huge rain downpours and a gigantic swell.
It all started on Monday morning with what seemed nothing too unusual, just a windy, rainy day. But by nightfall the wind had turned gale force and was shredding branches off trees with ease, turned coastal promenades into sand dunes and was ripping fences from their foundations. The bulk of which happened on Tuesday morning. I wasn't game enough to even go out for a look let alone have my camera battered by sea salt and sand. So I held off as long as I could until I could sit inside no longer. On Wednesday afternoon there was a small break in the clouds and the sun came out so I jumped in the car and headed down to nearby Coogee. It was still blowing furiously by I found some space in between the rocks for a few shots, the waves were a bit messy and I was ready to move on until this rainbow appeared in the distance.

Rainbow stretching out from North Maroubra Headland

Here I was trying to capture the rainbow in the waves spray.
If you look close there is just a touch of spectrum in the left side of the wave.

After the rainbow I headed down to Botany Bay National Park in La Perouse for a look. Of course as soon as I got there the rain had come in and it started pouring down, but I stuck it out and waited for a break in the clouds before making the short trek down to the heads.

If I thought the wind in Coogee was bad, well it had nothing on the open and exposed headland down here. But I found a few wind breaks in the cliffs and set up for a few shots.

For a wild and windy day there was plenty happening, lots of bruising waves, a few seals, and even had a fly over by this aircraft. After some quick research I found out it was a Douglas C-47 Dakota A65-94 VH-EAF, built in Oklahama City in April of 1945. You can read more about it here if your interested: (http://hars.org.au/2009/05/douglas-c-47-dakota-a65-94-vh-eaf/)

Douglas C-47 Dakota

Must've seen about 4 or 5 seals in total but these two lovers we're side by side the entire time I was there.

These two seals were kicking about for a good couple of hours just past the white wash

I spent a good three hours or so down here just watching, wave after wave come crashing in. So much power.

Huge slab!

Double Barrel

Had a small break in the clouds and the sun just started to come through. Glowing down in this wave.

As the sunset approached the tide hit its low and the waves started to drop off a fair bit, although the waves that we're still popping up did become a bit cleaner as a result. Then the sky lit up and turned a nice shade of pink.

Hiding behind the rocks taking shelter from the wind.

And that was about the last of it. Thursday morning was as still and quiet as you could hope for. Allowing for the huge clean up that laid ahead to commence.

Matt
meimages.net 

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