When I came to the tour on 11 August 2012, I brought my fisheye lens with me in hopes of making a panorama like I've done of other theaters, like the Villa. To make a panorama, I have to mount my camera to a tripod, level it, set the white balance, set the exposure, then take a few photos without moving the focal point of the lens. I usually make arrangements to get into the building when no one else is using it, so I don't have to deal with people walking in and out of the shot.
Other than setting the white balance, none of these options were available to me at the Utah Theatre. I was supposed to be part of a tour group of about ten people and we had to stay together. Using a tripod was not an option and I would have felt too conspicuous carrying one around. I did the tour, took what regular pictures I could, then left and visited a couple other downtown sites.
When I returned to the Utah Theatre, the crowd had died down and things were more relaxed. A couple other photographers were wandering around on their own, so I got to work. I put the fisheye on and tried to keep the lens in the same position as I swiveled the camera around to complete a circle of photos. The lighting was poor, so I had to use the flash. Inconsistent lighting is another thing which can doom a panorama.
I took panorama photos in eight locations. When I made it to the lobby, I had a problem. A couple people were standing in the way. Since I had doubts about any of it working anyway, I just ignored them and took my photos anyway. For the lobby, I ended up with fifteen shots:
Surprisingly, these blended together fairly well. I upgraded to PTGui Pro, which helped with the lack of tripod and the uneven lighting. I was stuck on the two people standing nearby. The woman appeared in three different spots, but the man she was talking to managed to move out of the way.
After some fine tuning to the masking, I managed to remove the woman and replace her with alternate images from the other shots, but that left large gaps and some lines in the background that just didn't line up.
The clone tool in GIMP was my only option. By copying nearby portions of the image, I was able to patch things up. If you don't look too closely.
The finished panorama:
I'm surprised, but very pleased, that the panorama turned out. Still I would love to return with a tripod, no crowds, and permission to cross the yellow caution tape.
