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Stitching Panoramas - Am I doing something wrong?


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Hi All,

**For some reason the forum won't let me add a second image, I will clear cookies etc and try again**

 

Currently testing Affinity Photo (Mac) via a ten day trial, just posting some queries on these forums before the trial expires, thanks for any help offered.

Not sure if the screenshot shows it, but you can see little defects (like dark smudges) where Affinity has stitched images together. And when converting to black and white, the image looks very muddy, like there is no detail in the shadows of the mountain.

When I do it in Lightroom, I have none of these issues and, while the image does require editing, out of the box it looks better and requires less work. I also disabled the option to auto apply changes in Lightroom, so that it would not auto adjust the image exposure settings.

I hope the attached images shows what I have stated above. Am I doing something wrong?

 

Thanks

Iain

Affinity.png

Edited by //iain
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@//iain

These will be helpful in stage 2 (the cleanup): 

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Panorama/panorama_stitching.html?title=Stitching panoramas

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/photo/desktop/video/332168133/

For the initial stitch, part of it will depend on the overlap of the component images, part will depend on what your settings are in the assistant. I've seen those smudges before -- check out the linked help[ and video and see if it doesn't make things better for you.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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7 minutes ago, Brad Brighton said:

@//iain

These will be helpful in stage 2 (the cleanup): 

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Panorama/panorama_stitching.html?title=Stitching panoramas

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/photo/desktop/video/332168133/

For the initial stitch, part of it will depend on the overlap of the component images, part will depend on what your settings are in the assistant. I've seen those smudges before -- check out the linked help[ and video and see if it doesn't make things better for you.

Thanks for the response.  I watched that video and tried the steps within but, there was always something not stitching properly.  None of it really explains why the image looks so bad also, once it has been stitched.  Look at the main shadow in the munro, its so muddy with a lack of shadow detail. :(

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@//iain One thing I've noticed with Photo is that if your RAW files need attention, give them the develop treatment before stitching then save as EXR for further processing/stitching.

Also, do make sure your Develop Assistant settings are what you want them to be -- View > Assistant Manager... then click Develop Assistant. 

Since I don't use Lightroom, I can't give you any one-for-one suggestions but I've done LOTS of panos using Photo and the things I've suggested so far have helped me control the topics you've brought up. Certainly doesn't guarantee your success though. If you want to post a zip of the originals, I'd be happy to do a stitching on my side for you to compare whether there's any improvement (not to show off my skills or anything -- this exercise might let you know if it's more about the practice with Photo or its capabilities/lack thereof).

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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19 minutes ago, Brad Brighton said:

@//iain One thing I've noticed with Photo is that if your RAW files need attention, give them the develop treatment before stitching then save as EXR for further processing/stitching.

Also, do make sure your Develop Assistant settings are what you want them to be -- View > Assistant Manager... then click Develop Assistant. 

Since I don't use Lightroom, I can't give you any one-for-one suggestions but I've done LOTS of panos using Photo and the things I've suggested so far have helped me control the topics you've brought up. Certainly doesn't guarantee your success though. If you want to post a zip of the originals, I'd be happy to do a stitching on my side for you to compare whether there's any improvement (not to show off my skills or anything -- this exercise might let you know if it's more about the practice with Photo or its capabilities/lack thereof).

Hi Brad,

Sounds good. Where do I post the zip file? It would be good to see how it turns out in the hands of someone far more proficient with photo.

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2 minutes ago, //iain said:

Hi Brad,

Sounds good. Where do I post the zip file? It would be good to see how it turns out in the hands of someone far more proficient with photo.

Post it here if you don't mind the public nature of the forum. If you prefer it to be private communication, my email address is bbrighton at the domain in my post signature.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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2 minutes ago, //iain said:

Files attached.  My idea for this, if it helps was B&W, high contrast.  With the foreground in deep shadow, deepening on the shadow of the munro but still being able to see some detail there also. 

Pano.zip

Can't open the zip file -- how was it created?

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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@//iain How strange. I haven't had this problem with the forums before but the zip appears to be corrupted. Files 1 and 2 appear to be mangled. It looks like 3-7 are intact.

Screen Shot 2019-07-09 at 11.59.35 AM.png

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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@Brad Brighton @//iain

The supplied .zip downloaded and unzipped without problem for me (running Windows) but the archive seems to contain only one image, named "1.ARW" so I'm not at all clear what this is supposed to show??

Jeff

Win 10 Pro, i7 6700K, 32Gb RAM, NVidia GTX1660 Ti and Intel HD530 Graphics

Long-time user of Serif products, chiefly PagePlus and PhotoPlus, but also WebPlus, CraftArtistProfessional and DrawPlus.  Delighted to be using Affinity Designer, Photo, and now Publisher, version 1 and now version 2.

iPad Pro (12.9") (iOS 17.4) running Affinity Photo and Designer version 1 and all three version 2 apps.

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Thanks for the cross-check @emmrecs01! There's definitely something amiss in the file; unclear if it was during creation or transmission to the forum.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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1 minute ago, //iain said:

Attempt 2. If this still fails, I guess the forum must be doing something to the file.

Archive.zip

It failed differently this time (more spectacularly). I received 5 of 7 the first time. If you just want to email the first two or try posting those individually maybe that'll get me a full set.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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@//iain

What I see when attempting to open your archive using 7Zip in Windows:

 

ScreenShot00571.jpg

Win 10 Pro, i7 6700K, 32Gb RAM, NVidia GTX1660 Ti and Intel HD530 Graphics

Long-time user of Serif products, chiefly PagePlus and PhotoPlus, but also WebPlus, CraftArtistProfessional and DrawPlus.  Delighted to be using Affinity Designer, Photo, and now Publisher, version 1 and now version 2.

iPad Pro (12.9") (iOS 17.4) running Affinity Photo and Designer version 1 and all three version 2 apps.

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7 minutes ago, //iain said:

Attempt 2. If this still fails, I guess the forum must be doing something to the file.

Archive.zip

The first one was 138.9 MB but this one is 20 MB smaller.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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I can get 3 to 7 unzipped, but the 1 and 2 ARW files are borked.

45198220_ScreenShot2019-07-09at21_34_54.thumb.png.1366ece8d1ea1b3349318b03c6930be6.png

 

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

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So, with @//iain's permission and for the benefit of others, the first pass (to me) looked like too many images with too much overlap. When you have fine detail and slightly varying angles AND lots of overlap, it becomes quite difficult to properly mask for alignment. The original set of images (which I received directly) had 7 images -- selectively choosing 4 of them yielded better results due to fewer conflicts.

The rest, so far, is a matter of adjusting contrast, levels, etc. that I'll let Iain describe when the forum allows his return tomorrow. :-)

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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I used terminal to repair, well partly repair the zip file, I used the command
 

zip -F {drag zip file here} --out ~/desktop/partlyrepaired.zip

You can also try -FF

iMac 27" 2019 Somona 14.3.1, iMac 27" Affinity Designer, Photo & Publisher V1 & V2, Adobe, Inkscape, Vectorstyler, Blender, C4D, Sketchup + more... XP-Pen Artist-22E, - iPad Pro 12.9  
B| (Please refrain from licking the screen while using this forum)

Affinity Help - Affinity Desktop Tutorials - Feedback - FAQ - most asked questions

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Finally got back to my laptop.

Thanks @Brad Brighton for assisting with the Pano, and to everyone else who has contributed so far. After playing around with stitching different images together, and not using all 7 (as suggested by Brad), I am able to get a pano stitch with no blemishes. It's a little disappointing that photo wasn't able to do a better job with all 7, as PS and LR have no such issues.  However, it also needs to be taken into consideration that this application is £40 so, this really is not a deal breaker. If I do switch to Affinity, this is something I will be able to adapt to with ease.

I was also able to get the final edits very close to how my LR versions turned out.  It took more work than LR and I hope improvements are made in this regard but again, I think it's simply a matter of getting used to the application.

Very impressed so far and thanks again to everyone who contributed to this discussion.

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You probably CAN successfully use all 7, @//iain but there will be more work involved to mask the overlap properly (another official video: https://player.vimeo.com/video/161038267/ -- I think this is a different one, focuses more on challenging alignments).

Unless you're trying to get the specific benefits of overlaying the multiple exposures (in which case you probably want to look at the stack groups as well), it's generally a benefit to use fewer images as long as you have enough overlap. About 20% is the number thrown about on these forums often.

https://bmb.photos | Focus: The unexpected, the abstract, the extreme on screen, paper, & other physical outputTools: macOS (Primary: Ventura, MBP2018), Canon (Primary: 5D3), iPhone (Primary: 14PM), Nikon Film Scanners, Epson Printers

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