Shooting Outdoors - GigaPan EPIC PRO V User Manual

7.2 Shooting Outdoors

Try these tips settings for photographing huge vistas:
1. Examine the scene to identify what will make your panorama interesting and
aesthetically pleasing, such as framing, colors, symmetry, perspective, textures,
etc. Take a few individual photographs to assess exposure and contemplate the
rectangular boundaries of what you want to capture.
2. Gigapan panoramas usually cover a larger area, which means that you will need to
learn to make choices about exposure and focus.
3. Choose an appropriate focal length for your needs. You need a longer focal length
such as 300mm to be able to see details that are far away, but changing light conditions
or weather changes may require a shorter focal length such as 50mm to decrease the
capture time.
3. Focus on an important element of the scene and manually set the focus.
4. Focus on an element that isn't too bright or too dark, and manually set the exposure.
Use a lower ISO if possible to reduce image noise.
5. Set your camera's White Balance to either Sunlight or Cloudy, depending on the
weather. Do not leave it at Auto. Use an Expodisc, color card, or grey card to set a
custom White Balance.
6. Make sure that the sun is behind you. If this isn't possible, hide the sun behind an
object. If you photograph into the sun you greatly increase the contrast and range of
exposures necessary to capture the scene.
7. If you are using a larger lens, ensure that you set 'Motor Rigid' to 'On' and 'Motor
Speed' to 'Med' or 'Slow'. Also, set the pre trigger delay to a value great enough to
allow the lens to settle after the GigaPan moves and before actuating the shutter.
8. If there is substantial wind gusts, consider placing the GigaPan and lens behind a car
trunk, tree, building, or a collapsible portrait reflector. Use a higher shutter speed that
is at least the reciprocal of the focal length such as faster than 1/300 of a second for a
300mm lens.
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