Horizon line not aligned.

[Geo Cloete]

Hi,

This is a regular accruing problem I am experiencing, that the horizon in my stitched panorama is stepped in these seascape milky way panoramas.



There are plenty of matching control points in all of the images making up the panorama.
The photos were taken with the camera mounted on a pano head and correctly setup for the lens's nodal point. 

I have also attached the message received when I run the optimizer.

What can be the cause and more importantly how can it be fixed?

Thanks

[PTGui Support]

Hi,

Could this be caused by the stars moving while you took the images? If
so, PTGui can align the stars, or it can align the horizon, but not both
at the same time.

Also, make sure no control points are placed on the clouds or on the
moving waves.

Kind regards,

Joost Nieuwenhuijse
www.ptgui.com

> Die_Plaat_Sky.jpg
>
> Optimizer.jpg
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[Erik Krause]

Am 06.12.21 um 11:24 schrieb PTGui Support:

> Could this be caused by the stars moving while you took the images? If
> so, PTGui can align the stars, or it can align the horizon, but not both
> at the same time.

To solve this, load the images containing the horizon twice. Set control
points for the sky only in one set and for the land only in the other.
Mask the images accordingly.

--
Erik Krause

[Geo Cloete]

Thank you for the pointers.

At present, I have control points only on the stars.
Is there perhaps a video tutorial where I can watch the suggested two-set workflow?

Geo

[Erik Krause]

Am 06.12.21 um 12:12 schrieb Geo Cloete:

> Is there perhaps a video tutorial where I can watch the suggested two-set
> workflow?

None that I know of. And I doubt you can learn much from a video
tutorial, as each panorama brings new challenges. But there is a very
nice article about night sky photography by Aaron Priest, which covers
almost anything you should know:
https://galleries.aaronpriestphoto.com/Articles/Night-Sky-Photography

Just a side-note: To connect the sky with the ground it is advisable to
have one image, preferably in the center, that contains control points
for both the sky and the ground.

You can also stitch sky and ground as two separate panoramas (often they
are even shot at different exposures) and later combine them.

--
Erik Krause

[Keith]

I never put control points on anything that moves ... clouds mainly, as well as the sea at times. Once you have that done, ie the horizon is fine, stitched, etc, you can use an ordinary image editor to tidy up any stars that are doubled up etc in the finished equirectangular. An alternative might be to use the masking tool in PTGui. Clouds are ok to leave a bit blurry most of the time in my experience.