Creating Panorama Photographs for Train Exhibit

Laurentian Rail Road Club Train Model 

Come check out the model train exhibit from the Laurentian Rail Road Club in our Overlook Gallery. One of the RR guys wanted to put panoramic backdrops that showed the Iron Range (which is a great idea!) so he went out and took some photographs around the Iron Range. Never in a million years did I ever think I would have to learn how to stitch photographs together in my job description as curator. But there I was, Google-ing "how to create panoramic photographs." There are many great websites that helped me and after 8 hours of trial and error I finally finished one. Here are some of my stitching efforts!

Sand Trap Panoramic

Golf Course Panoramic

 

Lumber Equipment Panoramic

Photos courtesy of John Linstromberg.

Panoramic Stitching Tutorials
Stitching Photos in Photoshop at phong.com
This one is very advanced. The author of this site prefers to tweak his photographs after he uses the
Photomerge function (Photoshop CS3: File>Automate>Photomerge). If you're interested in fixing the "mask" yourself, this one will be helpful.

Photoshop Cafe Auto Alighn and Auto Blend at photoshopcafe.com/cs3/smith-aa.htm
This one is more straightforward and for someone who is new at stitching was the easiest way to do it. You will need Photoshop CS3 (not sure if the other versions work... try it!)

8 Guidelines to taking panoramic photos with any camera by Digital Photography School
Short, easy to read on taking good photographs to create panoramas.

Using Photomerge, another Technique to create panorama
Again, by Digital Photography School

TIP:
When taking the photograph, one should overlap the shots, otherwise Photoshop won't know how to stitch and blend.

Happy photographing and panoramic making!