Shooting panoramas for PTgui template collection

 

	The tripod I used : a Cullmann Magic 2. I choosed it mainly because if the column is not locked, it can be freely rotated, thus avoiding the need of a panoramic head. The top of the column is small and minimizes touching up of spherical panoramas to suppress the tripod.
	A cardboard protractor with two scales, one every 20°, the other every 30° is taped to the tripod, an index is taped to the rotating column. The plate with the logo is a nice place to put a bubble level to verify that the camera is rotating in an horizontal plane.
	This tripod is not the stiffest you can get, but it is lightweight and very compact when folded. And you can get rid of a bulky and heavy panoramic head while keeping good precision in your shooting. (for an even lighter solution, see my virtual tripod method !). It can also be used as a monopod, see for example John Wood's monopod setup for panorama shooting.
	My trusty L-bracket was used for all fisheye (Nikon FC-E8) shots.
	The same L-bracket was also used for all portrait-mode (vertical) photos (with or without Nikon WC-E24 wide angle adaptor). But this time the Coolpix is fixed on the other side of the bracket to rotate near nodal point. (There is -among other tips- a list of Coolpix nodal point positions at Dave and Pat's www.360texas.com)
	A flash bracket was used to position the optical axis of the camera over the rotating point for all landscape-mode (horizontal) photos.
	Automatic exposure is locked to avoid differences of color or luminosity between adjacent images... Remaining discrepancies between images is generally caused by lens flare : try to avoid direct sunlight on the lens, especially with the fisheye.
	...and the "less contrast" mode is used to try to maintain details in both high lights and shadows.