AutoStitch

Using AutoStitch to create panoramas is quite simple. The hardest part is taking the sequence of photos. Now this photo of the Pantheon would have been easy to take if only I had that $1000 wide angle lens - but since I don't I took a series of photos working from left to right and making sure that I overlapped in between photos. The recommendation is usually an overlap of 30%. A tripod is also recommended so that all the photos have the same vertical coverage. (I usually just "eyeball" the overlap and I don't usually lug a tripod unless I'm going to a specific shoot.)


Once you have the photos and you know where they are on your hard drive, open AutoStitch. It isn't much to look at but ...


The only thing you might want to change in the Options is the scaling. If you are going to print your photo at more than a 4x6" size, you will want to increase the scaling from 10% to 25% or even 50%. Be warned though that creating the panorama at these scalings will take much longer - time to go get a coffee.

If you have the scaling set, then the File menu - Open lets you select your photos. Be sure to change the view to Thumbnails so that you can see which photos you are choosing. You choose more than one by holding the Control key down as you click on photos. If they are in sequence as they are here, then click on the first and shift-click on the last to pick them all. Once you have selected all the photos, click Open and wait.

Eventually AutoStitch will open a window with the panorama created. The black areas are those for which AutoStitch had no information - I missed them when I took my photo sequence. That's why a tripod is recommended.


But with a little cropping and the addition of a blue sky and clouds borrowed from another photo, I have a very nice photo of the Pantheon, its Obelisk and the little piazza it occupies.