Software

Here is a list of the software used in planning shoots and taking, processing and assembling the images. Most of the software is used on a Windows 7 64bit system.

Planning

• Google Earth is not just for stallite images but also for terrain contouring – so you can pre-visualise what you are going to be able to see from a given viewpoint
• The Photographer’s Ephemeris is used for calculating sun / moon rises and sets; shadow directions and lengths. The desktop web app is available free at http://app.photoephemeris.com and the Android and iOS versions can be purchased at http://photoephemeris.com/

Pre-processing sofware is used in getting the images from the cameras and scanners into a standardised form

• VueScan is used for scanning slides with a Pacific Image 7250Pro3 Film Scanner. The software is not free and can be obtained here:  http://www.hamrick.com/
• Flexible Renamer is used to translate the image file names to a standardised form. It can use regular expressions to parse and rename files and is versatile. It’ is free and is available here http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA014830/english/FlexRena/ (as of 1 July 2014).
• ExifTool and ExifTollGUI are used to modify EXIF information in image files. Both are free. ExifTool is available here: http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/ and the graphical interface, ExifToolGUI is available here:  http://u88.n24.queensu.ca/exiftool/forum/index.php/topic,2750.0.html
• FastPictureViewer Pro is used for viewing both RAW and JPG images in pairs with excellent filtering capabilities and it has a wide range of codecs available. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.fastpictureviewer.com/
• ImageMagick is used for batch processing image files (resizing, rotating, converting, overlaying …). It is free and is available here: http://www.imagemagick.org/index.php

Processing software programs are used interchangeably to produce the final images.

• Photomatix Pro is used for combining bracketed images into HDR images. It can also be used to produce HDR effects on a single unbracketed image. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.hdrsoft.com
• Helicon Focus is used for focus stacking and controls the camera remotely.  It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.heliconsoft.com/
• PaintshopPro X5 and Photoshop 6 for final image processing.
• Nik Collection filters from Google. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.google.com/nikcollection/ An alternative is Topaz from TopazLabs.
• Neutralhazer plugin from Kolor removes atmospheric haze from images. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.kolor.com/
• Hugin allows extensive control over stitching and blending panoramas. The interface takes some learning but you can see the results on this site. It is free and is available here: http://hugin.sourceforge.net/ Alternatives are AutoPano Giga from Kolor and PTGui from New House Internet Services. An interesting one to try also is the Image Composite Editor (ICE) from Microsoft, although the last version was released in 2011.
• PanotourPro from Kolor allows you to create virtual tours from multiple panoramas, images videos and sounds. It acts as a script generator for KRPano. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://www.kolor.com An alternative is Pano2VR from GardenGnome software.
• KRPano is a great tool for making multiple resolution panoramas and 3D objects. It has a nice overall set of tools and the xml output can be enhanced and changed if you are willing to get into programming. It is not free and can be obtained here: http://krpano.com Alternatives are Zoomify from Zoomify and Pure Tools from Immervision.