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J
johnjmurphyiii
Inspiring
August 5, 2018
Answered

Solution to Horizon Glitch in Panos?

  • August 5, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 1902 views

I shot some panos at the seashore, and most came out ok.  However, several decent (by my limited standards) shots were spoiled by a small kink in the horizon line across the water.  I did shoot hand-held rather than tripod.  I shoot a lot of panos, but sometimes in a marine environment this problem crops up.  In the recent shots, the horizon line also has some distant breakwaters.  I've tried all three Lightroom panorama options and varied the order of the selected shots without success.  What causes the kink in the horizon?  Is it a minute change in camera angle?  Is the problem in Lightroom itself; where the reading of the horizon is muddled by the breakwaters, at jetty in the foreground, or other lines that cause confusion? Is there a solution in Lightroom or in taking the shot?  Thanks.

A small portion of the pano, with the kink, has been inserted.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Todd Shaner

The three panels were:


Looking at the three posted "panel" images they are overlapped by ~50%, which is more than sufficient. The actual focus in all three images appears to be good, but all three have sharpness fall-of in their edge and corner areas.

Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD Lens Image Quality

I created a panorama in LR 7.4 with the three posted JPEG image files with no alignment error (see below) or image softness in the area of the original misalignment.

The lens has curvature of field, which causes the off-axis areas of the image to become progressively softer. Manually setting the lens focus slightly closer may help balance the overall image sharpness. LR Merge to Panaorama uses the image data with no Develop controls applied. Assuming the originals are raw files the JPEGs may have merged better because sharpening and other settings have been applied to them.

1 reply

cmgap
Community Expert
cmgapCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 5, 2018

The kink in the horizon is due to the original images not lining up. Hand holding takes practice. If I am not using a tripod when taking a pano I will pre-visualize through the camera where each shot will line up first then take the shot.

J
johnjmurphyiiiAuthor
Inspiring
August 5, 2018

This is certainly possible.  It may be that marine shot panel misalignments are more noticeable than other types due to the stark nature of the horizon line.  It is strange to have the rest of the panel seam line up correctly except for the "kink".  The larger portions of the pano also line up ok.  An obvious or gross error is easier to accept than a tiny one.  Thanks for your response.

Tony_See
Tony_See
Inspiring
August 5, 2018

I'm wondering which lens you are using and in which of the shutter modes this shot was taken John?

Respectfully both can have an impact on such a line I believe.

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