Properly finding a lens’ nodal point is the best way to ensure that stitched panoramas can be easily assembled with no visual defects. The process of create a stitch panorama is simple. You take a series of images as you rotate the camera through an arc. This can be done hand held, using a tripod or using a tripod and an offset head or slider rail. After the images are captured, software such as Hugin is used assembled and blend them into a single panorama. This final stage is where problems begin to show up.

Hand Held Stitch Panorama of the US Capital Basement. Some visual defects are obvious even at reduced resolution.

Closeup of Misalignment

This misalignment results from parallax error, which is caused by the viewer shifting locations. This error can NOT be fixed in post processing. There is no way to align this image so something isn’t misaligned. In this case, the camera was hand held so my location moved quite a bit from shot to shot. In a shot like this, with many elements at different distances, parallax error was unavoidable without the use of a tripod and offset head that had been properly calibrated for the lens in question.

Every year the International Lindy Hop Championship is held in the Washington DC area and this year was no exception. Despite a horrible earthquake and a massive hurricane packing stiff breezes and light drizzle (at least in our area) the show went on and 700 plus hard core lindy hoppers from all over the world converged on the Westin in Alexandria, VA. The weekend started out on Thursday and didn’t let up until early in the morning on Monday. The competition included the normal range of events such as the Strictly Lindy, various levels of Jack and Jill, Show Case, Team and Cabare. This year’s competitions included a Classic Lindy division and a Junior division.

Annie performs an aerial during her showcase routine.