I have some ideas for software that can create HDR images or panoramas. I'd like to learn how to do these myself, for example how to create algorithms for image alignment, combining parts of images for HDR & tonemapping, etc. (Preferably in C/Obj-C, though the concepts will apply to any language.) Where are the best places to learn about these things, and what might be some simple projects I could start with?
I'm near the fabulous Powell's Technical Bookstore, so I can easily take a trip there — if you have any specific recommendations for books I'd love to hear them.
This is probably way too late to help, but for anyone else out there hoping to start more or less from scratch learning about Panoramas and/or HDR imaging, I'd recommend starting by reading Richard Szeliski's excellent Panorama Tutorial. He's one of the leading names in Panoramic imaging research, and that tutorial gives a thorough overview of all aspects, from image formation basics to registration (bringing disparate images into a commong coordinate system), blending, ghost removal, etc. It also covers HDR aspects of Panoramic images such as how to combine differently exposed images into a panorama. He also recently published a computer vision textbook that would probably have a lot of useful info; I know it has at least a small section on HDR imaging. Draft versions of the book are available for free on the associated website.