From the course: Creating 360-Degree Panoramas and Interactive Tours

Building a stable platform

From the course: Creating 360-Degree Panoramas and Interactive Tours

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Building a stable platform

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- So we're gonna get one more shot here as the sun's going down, and in order to pull this off, we're gonna step up our quality of our shooting platform. Now, Ron, we've got all these lines here. Grids, squares, columns, what happens if we don't compensate here for Parallax? - Well, if our camera is not set right, then Parallax is going to cause the details in the background to be different than the details in the foreground, and they're not gonna line up right, and it's gonna be a disaster trying to put them together later. - Alright. Well, let's start by attaching some of the pieces. So we need to get a first rail on here, and what's nice is this has it's own bubble level, why do we need to pay attention to the level? - Well the level is really helpful if you're doing a single row panorama, because you'll start getting this stair step kind of a situation, and you won't be able to use the full vertical field of view, where if you have a level view, you'll be even. However, if you were to take the ceiling and the ground, we can level it later. - Okay. So that's what these pieces are gonna help with, right? - [Ron] Right. - So I'll just slip that on, and this is gonna give us the ability to really tilt the camera, right? - That'll tilt the... That'll tilt this one, this one will pan right and left, and this one is gonna allow us to tilt up and down. - And then why do we need one more arm here? - [Ron] Well, we've gotta attach the camera. - Okay. - [Ron] And the camera is actually going to be back behind the center of the tripod, so that the lens can be above it and we can rotate about the lens. - So obviously, once this is attached, we may have to slide things forward or backward. - Right. - Let me grab the camera. And in this case, we're still going to attach it ultimately. There we go, right? - [Ron] That'll work. - Now because this isn't tightened down, we have to be careful that it doesn't flop on us. So there is a tension knob here, just to adjust that a little. - [Ron] Do we wanna do vertical portrait orientation again? - Probably. So with the L bracket, it's pretty simple. - [Ron] Same, yeah, exactly. - Pop, turn, line up, and latch. - [Ron] Bingo. - So pretty straightforward, walk us through how this would work. - Well you're gonna have a couple of different adjustments, the first one is to make sure that the entrance pupil of the lens is right above the rotator, and you can tell just by looking straight on that it' not at the moment. - Okay, so we need to move it a little bit that way. - Yes. - So we'll just loosen that, right about there. - And then we can, we'll get it roughly there, and then the best way, really, to check is to rotate it pointed straight down. And then you get a real tall person to go ahead and look through that lens. - Pretty close. (laughing) - I'm on my tip toes. - And see to it that it's right above that center screw. - Alright. That looks centered. - Alright. Rotate that back. It's a little tight. There. Okay. That was a really easy step, the one that takes a little bit of practice sometimes is moving it front and back. So we want the entrance pupil, so to speak, no Parallax point of the lens to be right above here as well. And the best way to do that is the tried and true technique of choosing some item that's close by you and some detail that's far away, and we can make sure that those line up because Parallax is that difference. If the details change in your scene it means that things aren't going to line up, so that if I see something behind the tree and then I rotate the camera, I see something else behind the tree, that's Parallax, and we want to avoid that completely. And the way to do that is just to let this a little bit loosened so that we can move forward and aft, until the details, while on the right side of the frame, line up with the same details when we rotate to the left side of the frame. - Well I have shot with this lens before, and I kind of know, I use this little rim here, once you get familiar with your gear, - [Ron] You do that on purpose. - Yes, well, once you've tested your gear, you're familiar with it, it works out well. - Well done. - Alright, so now we're attached, we tightened things down, we'll do the same 360 degree rotation, - And now you have the option... First of all, you have Parallax fixed completely, - Right. - Already, and then you have the option to tilt up and down as well to get more field of view if you want to. - Alright, well why don't we go ahead and shoot with this a little bit, and make the shot.

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