Hi all,

I've spent a few hours down at our local airport this weekend trying to get
a good Panorama / Montage type of shot (where the finished shot covers a
very wide angle of view, but also has the same aircraft appearing multiple
times).

The biggest issue I faced was getting the timing right - take the shots too
close together and the aircraft images overlap when stitched - take them too
far apart and there isn't any overlap to stitch them (keeping in mind were
talking moving aircraft here). Additionally, if the timing isn't very
consistent then the aircraft won't have consistent spacing. Not to even
mention the issues of the objects getting bigger as they get closer, and the
angular velocity changing!

Some time ago I purchased one of Canon's TC-83 (I think)
Timer/Counter/Remote shutter releases for the 20D. It's quite a cheap/clever
bit of kit - it can be programmed in a few seconds for all sorts of
combinations of delays - counts - and repetitive combination shots. Today
(in a rare blnding flash of ingenious thinking) I set the timer to take
shots at 1 sec intervals (the minimum the timer will do unfortunately) as
soon as the aircraft started to roll (and gain a bit of speed) - once you
push the start button all you have to do is keep the centre AP point on the
aircraft (keeping in mind that the whole rig is on a leveled tripod) and
every second it automatically focuses and takes the shot.

The net result of the technique was that I was able to stitch together a
very "unusual" (in a good way!) looking montage/panorama with about a 4 to 1
aspect ratio containing no less than 13 shots - with generous overlaps (to
make stitching a breeze) and 13 images of the aircraft as it took off (close
spacing at first, then progressively increased spacing as it accelerated).

Just thought others might appreciate the technique - it should work well for
anything from a large bird taking off upwards.

Cheers,

Colin