How to Create a Panorama

Using a Point-and-Shoot
Camera and Free Software
Introduction
While the creation of panoramic images has traditionally been limited to
professional photographers with expensive equipment, new software makes it
possible to create high-resolution panoramas by combining images from any
low-budget, point-and-shoot camera. This booklet explains how to take
photos for use in a panorama and how to combine them together into a single,
wide-angle image.

Commercial software packages such as Adobe Photoshop have functions for

the automatic creation of panoramas, but these come at a high price and offer
very little control over the way images are combined. The method explained in
this booklet uses free software called Hugin to combine images. Hugin is an
advanced image alignment tool and its many parameters can be overwhelming
at first, but once mastered, it can be an indispensible part of any
photographer’s toolkit.

Prerequisites
• A point-and-shoot digital camera and proficiency using it
• A computer running Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux
• The computer program Hugin, which can be downloaded for free from
http://hugin.sourceforge.net/

Optional: If you prefer to skip straight to Part II to start using Hugin, you
can download sample images from:
http://myweb.students.wwu.edu/~kvalhea/eng302/sample-images.zip

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Example Results
The procedure described in Part I of this handout was used to take these six
images in a cramped coffee shop:

Next, the procedure in Part II was used to combine them together into this
single panoramic image:

This scene would have been impossible to capture without panoramic

techniques.
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Part I: Taking the Photos
1. Take a photo at the far edge of the scene you want to capture.
2. Without allowing the camera to automatically adjust its settings, take
another photo that overlaps the first by approximately one third.
3. Repeat step 2 until the entire scene is captured, using one of the
following arrangements:
a. Use a linear arrangement for wide scenes spanning the
horizon.

b. Arrange the photos in a grid to simulate a wide-angle lens.

c. Use an unordered arrangement to adapt to unique features of

the scene.

4. Load the photos on to a computer.

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Part II: Combining the Photos
1. Start Hugin.
2. On the Images tab, click the Add individual images button.

3. Select the images from one panorama then click the Open button.

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4. Still on the Images tab, select all listed images and click the Create
control points button. This step may take several minutes.

5. Click OK.
6. On the Optimizer tab, select Positions (incremental, starting from
anchor) from the drop-down menu then click the Optimize now
button.

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 7. When the Optimization result window appears, read the value for
average control point distance. If this value is less than 5, skip to step
11.

8. Still in the Optimization result window, click the No button.

9. Follow the instructions in Appendix A: Fine-tuning control points.
10. Return to step 6.
11. Still in the Optimization result window, click Yes.
12. Click the View: Preview window menu item.
13. In the Panorama preview window, click the Center button.

14. If the panorama is off-center, left-click the point of the image that
should be placed in the center.

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15. If the panorama is incorrectly rotated, right-click a point on the image
that should be on the horizon.
Note: Don’t worry if the edges of the images aren’t blended together
well – that will be corrected in a later step.
16. Return to the main Hugin window.
17. On the Optimizer tab, select Positions and Barrel Distortion (y,p,r,b)
from the drop-down menu then click the Optimize now button.
18. When the Optimization result window appears, click the Yes button.
19. Open the Panorama preview window and click the Center button.
20. From the projection drop-down menu, choose one of the following
projections:
a. The rectilinear projection preserves straight lines in the image
at the expense of stretching the far corners. It accurately
portrays photos of architecture, but strong distortion at the
edges becomes a problem with very wide scenes.

b. The cylindrical projection allows for distortion of horizontal

lines while preserving vertical lines. Stretching occurs at the
extreme top and bottom but is avoided in horizontal
expansion, making it an excellent choice for wide linear
panoramas.

c. The equirectangular projection attempts to maintains

accurate areas of objects with the image at the expense of the
distortion of both horizontal and vertical lines. The shapes of

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 objects become distorted but their sizes are maintained.

21. If the panorama is off-center, left-click the point of the image that
should be placed in the center.
22. If the panorama is incorrectly rotated, right-click a point on the image
that should be on the horizon.
Note: Your panorama may have a curved horizon that cannot be
straightened by centering and rotating. Correcting this involves placing
special control points and is beyond the scope of these instructions.
23. Click the Fit button.
24. Return to the main Hugin window.
25. On the Stitcher tab, click the Calculate Optimal Size button.

26. Click the Stitch now button.

27. Type in a name for the panorama then click the Save button. This step
may take several minutes.

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 28. Exit Hugin. You can find your panorama saved as a TIF image in the
location specified in step 27.
29. You're done! Enjoy sharing your panorama.
Optional: Use your favorite photo editor to crop the panorama down
to a rectangle.

Appendix A: Fine-Tuning Control Points

1. On the Control Points tab, select two different, overlapping images
from the left- and right-side drop-down menus.
2. Locate control points that are placed on any of the following features
of the image:
a. Far edges of the image, which suffer from stronger lens
distortion
b. Repeating patterns, which may have wrongly-placed control
points
c. Objects in the foreground, which may have moved relative to
the background due to the parallax effect
3. For each control point that is wrongly placed or on one of the above
features,
a. Click the control point.
b. Click the Delete button.
4. Repeat steps 1 though 3 for every combination of two overlapping
images in the panorama.