Lichfield Vertiramas

I was inspired by an article in Amateur Photographer, which described a photographer who was recording the interiors of Holy Spaces as panoramas. These vertical format panoramas were described as Vertiramas. However, the way in which these had been produced was not described.
So to be able to produce a Vertirama, I had to solve a number of technical issues.

-Firstly, I needed to capture a series of images, which could be joined together to form such an image. I needed a tripod and video head that would enable me to capture the sequence of images. Then I had to practice so as to make sure that my tripod head did not ‘wander to the left and/or to the right, as the sequence of images was captured. Because any misaligned images would cause the final image to ‘bend’ or to ‘twist’.
-The first attempts ended in failure, because of technical issues, such as my tripod slipping on the smooth floors, or the head rotating, when I needed it to be locked. I sought some advice from Hudson Henry, and purchased a stone bag. I then loaded the bag, and also applied a downward pressure upon the tripod, with my left hand, as I moved the camera between shots with my right hand.
-Secondly, The inside of cathedral can have deep shadows and bright windows. The range of tones was too much for my elderly micro 4/3rds camera. So, I opted to use exposure bracketing, so as to capture on the meter and plus or minus 3 exposure stops. Because of the way in which Panasonic set up my camera’s software, I had to capture 7 exposure bracketed images.
-I took test shots, and also used exposure composition to make sure that I could capture the full range of tones. I set the camera to manual focus, and stopped the lens down to f 11. As there was a risk of diffraction, I also used the ‘reduce diffraction’ settings in the camera menu. To further reduce the risk of vibration, I used a remote shutter device. I then discovered that I needed three hands, because I needed two hands to operate the tripod. So, I held the shutter release cable in my teeth. Then locked the heads vertical movement, before using my right hand to trigger the next set of exposure bracketed shots.
-I put the sets of 7 exposure bracketed raw images together inside of the HDR part of Photo Raw 2025 Max. I toned down the opacity of the HDR filter slightly, so as to get a more natural looking result.
-I had used a 9mm lens, on my micro 4/3rds camera. So, I also had to apply the necessary lens corrections.
-My micro 4/3rds sensor is noisy, so I used NoNoise to remove the noise.
-The result was a large number of TIFFs.
-I used the Panorama mode inside of PR 2025 Max, to join the stack of TIFFs together into a panorama.
-However, the panorama proved to be too large for the 64 GB of RAM inside of my PC, and the panoramas had poor joins, between some of the base images. So, I instead divided the TIFFs into three groups. Then I made three Panoramas, which were designed to overlap parts of the other two Panoramas. Then I used PR’s Panorama mode to join the three panoramas together into a vertirama.
-I repeated the above-described process to make other Vertiramas.
-However, the cathedral used bright spotlights, which appeared to me to be unnecessary distractions. I tried to clone them out, but could not get an acceptable result. So, I duplicated each image, and used Layers inside of PR 2025 Max. I transformed the layers, repositioned them, then used the masking brush to replace the bright spot lamps, with stone work from the other layer.
-By this point I had several OnPhoto files containing the vertiramas. I used Develop, Effects and Local Adjustments to further refine the images. Then exported the images as new TIFFs.
-I then made an A3 sized new canvas with a black base layer. Then added two of the vertiramas, and transformed them to fit. Lastly I cropped the new canvas file, and exported a new Jpeg.

The vertiramas depict parts of the inside of Lichfield Cathedral, i.e., the Nave and the Choir. The images were captured on different days, hence the sunshine seen in one, and the gloomy rainy-day light in the other. The images were captured and processed during 2024 and 2025, after PR 2025 Max was launched.
I enjoyed the technical problem solving like challenge. But, I also like having a radically different viewpoint of a familiar thing. i.e., we are all familiar with the feel of walking into and being surrounded by a large building, such as a cathedral. But these images give you a viewpoint that you can not see, with just a single pair of eyes.
Cathedrals are busy places. So, it is best to plan to take images at quiet times, such as just after they open to the public. But even at quiet times, photography can be difficult. Such as, there will be periods of prayer and worship, during which photography must stop. Here may be weddings, christenings, and other private religious services. Also, there may be art installations, and exhibitions, or the staff frantically preparing the cathedral for a special service or important religious celebrations. So, photography may not be possible during every visit. Expect to be disappointed, and make the most of it when you aren’t.
I am pleased with the images, and I intend to make more at other cathedrals. However, one should always ask yourself, ‘could I have done this better?’ On reflection, I could have done better if:
-I had used a tripod with a fully lockable 3-way panorama head; and/or
-I had used a wider lens such as Laowa’s new 6 mm lens, (effectively a 12mm lens in full frame terms); and/or
-I had one of the newest micro 4/3rds cameras, with a better dynamic range.