Update
LOL, I JUST realized that I have an earlier project of panoramas here on Behance. It must have been one of the first projects I created! Many the same panos are there, but it's very interesting to see how much I've evolved in my proficiency and post processing "eye", because many of the "same" images are not "identical". If you want to compare, check out this link.
I haven't shot many panoramas in my photographic career, but I do love the end result when I take the time to do it. This project contains the sum total of the panoramas I've shot (or I feel are worth sharing, anyway).
Many of these panos were shot over the past 8 Excellent Adventures that I've been on with my friend Tom Green, our sons, Joe and Rob and the odd other hangers on. These camping trips are a great time to do panos, as I have amost no restrctions on my time and can take the time to sett up a tripod and do things right.
The other thing I've learned over the past year - not limited to panoramas - is that it's a good (great, actually) idea to revisit previously processed images and give them another go. Skills improve, software evolves and gets better, and the synergy of these two facts almost guarantees that what you reprocess today will look very different from your attempts months or years ago. I find that I'm far less fearful of experimenting and making signifcant attempts to increase the drama and richness of my images.
This project is a great example of re-processing. None of these images were recently shot; the most recent are the ones from Sonoma, last summer. But I have reprocessed almost everyone one of them, including a couple of the ones from Sonoma.
I hope you enjoy these images.
I decided to "artify" this panorama, using Adobe PaintCan. What do you think?
So if you've not tried shooting panoramas before give them a - ummm - shot. In fact, give them several shots.
While you can buy expensive tripod accessories (nodal mounts) to ensure metered, accurate images for your panoramas, I've found that landscape panos don't necessarily require them. Nodal mounts are critical for architectural or close up panoramas, unless you enjoy a frustrating (and often very manual) image stitching workflow.
Here are a few tips (in no particular order) if you want to try your hand at creating panoramas.
1) Always shoot in a vertical orientation, so you have lots of top and bottom to work with. Often, panos will need cropping and you'll appreciate that extra area when the time comes.
2) Overlap each image by 30 - 40%. It may sound like a lot of waste, but it will make for a better, more accurate panorama that requires less touch up in the end.
3) Where possible, shoot in RAW format. This gives you a lot of flexibility if you need to adjust exposure from frame to frame, and you're less likely to blow out highlight detail this way. RAW images will give you more control over those pesky shadows, too.
4) In high-contrast situations, bracket your exposures. You have the sun backlighting though the trees? Bracket and then in post, use those bracketed images to create an HDR version of that frame. Yes, this takes more time but you will thank me later.
5) Use a tripod. Yes you can get decent panoramas from hand holding the camera, but a tripod just makes life a lot easier and more controllable when it comes to maintaining that overlap between frames. It also helps you visual the end result better.
6) Make sure your tripod is LEVEL. Test this with a spirit level and make sure to check on the camera through the entire range of your panoramic rotation. I have a nasty habit of leveling my camera using the ball head on my tripod, which often means the only time the camera and tripod are level and in sync is at one viewing angle. Ensuring a level capture base makes creating a pano easier and can reduce the amount of cropping you have to do later.
7) Roads and sometimes large objects in the foreground can be challenging. Be prepared for some foreground distortion or the need to do detailed perspective correction. Photoshop CC's Adaptive Wide Angle feature can help when it comes to roads, but it will take practice.
8) Most importantly, take your time and have fun.