HDRI Production Notes

Spherical HDR production in OSX

using the Nikon 5700 +FC-E9 Fisheye

by Lisa Yimm


	Equipment set-up:

	Nikon Coopix 5700 digital camera

	Nikon FC-E9 Fisheye

	BoPhoto bracket for FC-E9

	Manfrotto 3011 tripod with extension rod.

Step One: shoot the images

Shoot 6 images around, 5 exposures at each position, 1 (preferably 2) stops apart.

Step Two: process the files

1) Sort images into folders by position, then rename images with exposure value.

2) Open the set of images for the first position in Photoshop.

3) Copy each exposure onto a different layer in one single photoshop file.

4) Set crop to 1500x1500, crop image to just within the edges of the spherical image.

5) Rotate the image 90 CCW

6) De-warp each layer using fisheye filter

7) Save out each layer as a tif into a new folder labeled for the exposure value, with each image labelled with the position only (ex: a.tif, b.tif, c.tif, d.tif, e.tif, f.tif) Make sure that you label each set of images in exactly the same way...this will allow Stitcher to automatically assemble the other sets of images after you have stitched the first panorama.

Step three: stitch the panoramas

Once the first set of images is stitched to your satisfaction, render out the panorama as a spherical image and save as .tif. Save the stitcher file into the same folder as the image files you're using.

Then place a duplicate copy of the stitcher file in each of the other image set folders.

Open each Stitcher file in TextEdit - and change the path from the absolute path to the relative path of the folder you're in. For example:

Change this absolute path:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>

To this relative path:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="yes"?>

Save this file.

This will have changed the file application from Stitcher to TextEdit, so select the file, do a CMD+I to bring up the Info palette and change the "Open with application" back to Stitcher.


		Open each of the other sets of images and render out the stitched file, making sure to label each image with the exposure. Touch up the assembled panoramas to remove any traces of the tripod. Assembling the HDR in Photosphere: Add images to a new catalog, then re-enter exposure values in decimal form. Adjust time on images to within 30 minutes of each other. Select all images in the catalog window, in the Edit menu select Make HDR....uncheck all boxes. Save the assembled 32-bit image in the Radiance format. The image to the left shows the file organization for one complete set of images taken on the set pictured below.


	Article and images ©Lisa E Yimm, 2006 All Rights Reserved.


	last modified: Tuesday, June 05, 2007