User talk:Benh/Archive/2017

Panorama stitching

Hi Benh, I played a bit around with SmartBlend, the plugin that Colin suggested for PTGui. The comparison before and after speaks for that plugin. I will use it in the future for this can of issues. Regarding the particular picture we talk about I realized that removing the last frame I gained some sharp area than with the previous version. Anyhow, Smartblend is a cool thing and I will surely use it in the future. --Poco² 16:05, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Poco_a_poco glad that helped. SmartBlend has an uncanny ability to locate the seams in good places, and make them less visible. But it hasn't been maintained for 10 years, so I worry a bit about its future. -- Colin (talk) 16:23, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

@Poco a poco: that's quite an improvement! So you had duplicate and it's actually removing the blurred image that fixed the problem? Not smartblend? I personnaly can't use Smartblend on MacOS and am forced to manually edit the seam masks in case of an issue. But enblend is pretty good and I rarely have to resort to such extreme measures :) And @Colin: how does Smartblend behaves with a river/water stream from your experience? That's often where I have to soften transitions and do other manual sewing. - Benh (talk) 08:27, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

I haven't studied the picture closely to see if other seams are handled better than the obvious one in the area that was soft. Certainly, identifying a bad frame and removing it can help. Sometimes I have found that the bad frame is necessary to fill the scene but (e.g. in the case of a frame that is mostly sky) you can use it but pick as much as possible from other frames. I have done this using Photoshop. It sounds like Benh does this, but perhaps Poco you have not tried this? You set PtGui to output the warped individual elements (I forget the exact checkbox description) as well as the stitched panorama. Then open the panorama in Photoshop. Then open one of the frames and overlay it precisely as a layer. Then use a mask to choose which parts you want. This can also be used to eliminate twins and other stitching issues especially if you have plenty overlap. I know PtGui also has a mask feature but I haven't used it and not sure how that would work with HDR framesets. I think that is also similar in choosing which part to avoid, though it is pretty final unlike the Photoshop method where you can adjust the results at will. Smartblend is very slow compared to PtGui's stitch. And since I use 16-bit tiff for the intermediate file, that probably makes it even slower. Actually I think PtGui uses its own method rather than enblend. I haven't got much experience with rivers -- only the Josselin Château. I can't actually remember if I had to hand stitch any of that. I do know that control points were difficult for the reflected portion in the river, as the castle's reflection changed with the ripples and the leaves on the surface move.

When I used to take panoramas hand-held, I would take two shots of each frame in case one was blurred. Now I have a panoramic tripod head, that is less necessary and I rarely find any bad frame. I still took pairs of frames for the Albert Hall photo, as I knew there was no opportunity to return any time soon. Poco, you might want to consider taking two frames, or increasing your overlap, in cases where it is windy or you have reason to think a frame could be bad with shake. Another problem I have is my cheap plastic 50mm lens does not have a heavy silky smooth geared manual focus, but a lightweight and crude focus ring that turns with the autofocus. In the past, I have found the focus has shifted during a large stitch, such as when pointing the camera up or down. I guess the weight of the lens (light though it is) is enough to just bump the focus a little. Now, I carry a small roll of sellotape and use this to fix the focus in position throughout the stitch. Something to consider if that might be the cause of a bad frame or to (though you would notice all the subsequent frames were bad). -- Colin (talk) 08:53, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

I use the masking feature in PTGui Pro quite often, and it works well for HDR panoramas too. I have saved quite some hand-held panoramas that way, where I have had a bad frame, or parallax error from foregorund elements, like a small tree. For each frame you can mark an area as 'green', which implies PTGui shall include this area of the frame in the final stitch, or you can mask it 'red, which means it must not include it. Based on this it adjusts the seams nicely under these constraints, if they are possible, that is. When using multiple exposures, I make the mask for one of the exposures and then I copy the mask to the other frames of the same shot (there is a copy-paste maks function in the masking interface), but different exposures. In that manner the seams are made consistently whatever kind of output you choose to post-process. Yes, sometimes you find you need to adjust the maks in the postprocessing step, but I find PTGui is quite fast at generating a new stitch and and if you have imported it in Lightroom, it automatically updates your tone-mapping setting and other adjustment in Lightroom to the new 32-bit HDR tiff that i usually proceed to work with. For me this process is less tedious than the management of many layers in photoshop. -- Slaunger (talk) 11:00, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

Chambord_Castle_Northwest_facade

Dear Benh,

I am a Prof. in Architecture and I am currently redacting a book titled “History of Interior Design and Furniture” and it will be published in Turkish edition. I would like to use your image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Chambord#/media/File:Chambord_Castle_Northwest_facade.jpg. At the end of the book, the name of the beholder of the image is noted in ‘Picture Credits.’ Do you prefer us to use your nick name in Wikipedia or we can note your proper name if you prefer.

Best regards, Mustafa Demirkan hippofish 12:24, 11 May 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Serhatakbak (talk • contribs) 12:24, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

Hi Mustafa. I removed your email. My real name is fine. I assume (most of) what I do. And you'll find it on the description page. Thank you for using it and letting me know. - Benh (talk) 21:06, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Pont_du_Gard_BLS

Dear Benh LIEU SONG, I am a Prof. in Architecture and I am currently redacting a book titled “History of Interior Design and Furniture” and it will be published in Turkish edition. I would like to use your image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pont_du_Gard_BLS.jpg. At the end of the book, the name of the beholder of the image is noted in ‘Picture Credits.’ Best regards, Mustafa Demirkan hippofish 13:14, 6 June 2017 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Serhatakbak (talk • contribs) 13:14, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Hi Mustafa. Same as above. Thank you again for letting me know. - Benh (talk) 22:04, 6 June 2017 (UTC)

Request Photo license Venice

Benh LIEU SONG,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Piazzetta_San_Marco_Venice_BLS.jpg I am writing an article abour scenography and would like to show your picture of the Piazetta San Marco as an example. I would like to ask if you give us permission to do so. Pleaase contact me via -. I am not sure what the terms of licence would be. Is this OK: Foto: Benh Lieu Song, 2015, Wikipedia Commons ? Thank you very much! Kind regards

Happy holidays! 2018! ;)

			* Happy Holidays 2018, Benh/Archive! *
			Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Joyeux Noël ! Bonne année! Frohes Weihnachten! Frohes Neues Jahr! Счастливого Рождества! С Новым годом! ¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo! Щасливого Різдва! З Новим роком! -- George Chernilevsky talk 18:56, 25 December 2017 (UTC)