Understanding the way to learning how to do panoramic photography is one of the most exciting and fun things in photography. You can produce thousands of photos that look beautiful on your wall or home office. It's not only a great way to practice the way you look at photography in general, but a great way to master your landscape photography skills as well.
Let's start with why panoramas were "created". Software companies knew that the view was larger than what our cameras could record. So they invented a process called "stitching". Stitching is a term used to describe taking a series of photos side by side and merging them together to create one single, long and wide photo.
For panorama photography you don't need anything too pricey when it comes to cameras. You just need a tripod, good lighting and some software. My favourite software to stitch my panoramas is called "Panorama Maker Pro". Nowadays they have version 6 accessible. You can even trial it for a brief period of time to decide whether or not it is right for you.
I have made a lot of panoramas with the software. Once complete you can clearly see how it beautifully elongates a scene. This works splendidly for landscape photography. When you want to capture your scene and do not have a wide or ultra wide angle lens, making a panorama is great fun.
How To Take Panoramic Photos- Here is how you set up the digital camera There's one thing to create panoramas, and another thing to actually take them. There is a particular way to take panoramic images and it's less difficult than you are probably thinking. Okay, so let's get started.
Let's start with photographing a landscape image. Select the scene you want to shoot. Make sure your landscape has nice lighting and there are no strong shadows across your scene, it will make it a lot easier to stitch if you have a clear and open landscape.
Set your digital camera up on a tripod. Keep the camera firmly fastened and able to move from left to right or right to left only. It's imperative that you let the tripod to move horizontally. If your tripod accidently moves downwards as you are shooting you make risk having your photo out of focus and the software will be unable to stitch correctly.
Don't photograph into the sun. Have the sun behind you. It is better to shoot at the end of the day, or the start of the day. The light is nicer, softer and so much more gentle at the start and end of the day. The colours are richer too.
Producing Panoramic Photos Choose manual setting and position the camera towards the part of the view you want to expose well. Now keep the camera on those settings the whole time. Let's say you have the digital camera at 1/250th of a second and F20, 100 ISO. You've decided that you want a certain part of the scene to be well exposed and these settings will do it. That's good, keep them that way and don't change the settings at all. Once you have chosen your settings, now take a sequence of photos, one after the other. Turn the camera from left to right, for example. Make certain you leave a section of the scene as overlap. Your stitching software program needs to overlap something.
What Kinds Of Things Can You Make a Panorama From? Fast moving subjects may not work- based on the light. Start with motionless subjects. Landscapes with a nothing but sky and a mountain range are good subjects to begin with. Nothing is moving so the software should not have any concern stitching your scene together.Let me explain.
If you are shooting with a shutter speed of /125th of a second and the subjects is fast moving, like water for example, then you may not have a fast enough shutter speed for the motion of the digital camera and the water. In one photo the water will be at the top of the rock and the next photo the water will be half way along the rock. When the software tries to stitch two irregularities together it will not be able to form a full picture. You must always keep the image without movement so the software can stitch the photo in precisely the same spot. It will then make photo 1 the same as photo 2. There will be no difficulties and the two photos will come together nicely.
However, on saying that, if you have loads of light and a fast shutter speed you must to move the camera earlier than the water is moving. In other words, you need to move super fast to make sure you set up your camera in a way that the stitching will match up. If the water is moving at 1/250th of a second, then you need to move at 1/500th of a second. You need to move the camera from left to right, faster than the water. But for now, start with a single picture without speed of any kind. Keep your mind on a stationary subject. It?s simpler in the beginning that way.
What Other Scenes Make Terrific Panoramas- There are plenty of ways to make your photos extensive and large.
Mountain ranges are not the only places that look interesting as panoramas. Once you have mastered the shutter speed and speed of movement for photographing a series of pictures, why not attempt a waterfall. Once you have mastered this technique of panorama taking, you can work to produce panoramas in any direction. Not only do horizontal panoramas work but so do squares (tiles- two at the top and two at the bottom of your photo, and so do vertical scenes.
I took a sequence of photos at Katoomba National Park in New South Wales, just a couple of hours drive out of Sydney, Australia. I did what was known as a "tile." The image comprised of 6 photos; 3 bottom ones and 3 top ones. I was vigilant not to overlap any sections of the water because I was unable to move the camera quickly and have a fast shutter speed. This was due to the sunlight dipping behind the mountain. I used a very high ISO to compensate for the light decrease. I knew it would be ok to do this as my digital camera wouldn't overexpose anything in shadowy light like this. I was fortunate, the image turned out well.
Making Your Panorama as a Final Image- Placing your panorama together
Once you have photographed a series of shots from left to right, say 5, simply upload the photographs to your laptop. Open up the Panorama software. Then, when you are in, decide on the photos you want to work on. You will be able to follow the instructions pretty well when you are in the program itself. If your panorama works properly, you should see a big scene. It is astonishing to look at, for the very first time, that your photos have now become one and you are looking at a large scene- exactly the way you saw it with your own eyes. It?s a stunning thing to experience. :)
Producing panoramas is a superb way to not only become skilled at the art of photography but allows you look at scenes differently. You will have a new love and excitement for landscapes especially.Don't only stick with landscapes. Once you get more accustomed with the progression, try creating photos of trees, water, oceans (remember your light and shutter), roads, and even walking tracks. Everything I have mentioned seems like a landscape scene, but if you do additional photographing you will find you can make a panorama out of just about anything. It's so much fun to do!
Let's start with why panoramas were "created". Software companies knew that the view was larger than what our cameras could record. So they invented a process called "stitching". Stitching is a term used to describe taking a series of photos side by side and merging them together to create one single, long and wide photo.
For panorama photography you don't need anything too pricey when it comes to cameras. You just need a tripod, good lighting and some software. My favourite software to stitch my panoramas is called "Panorama Maker Pro". Nowadays they have version 6 accessible. You can even trial it for a brief period of time to decide whether or not it is right for you.
I have made a lot of panoramas with the software. Once complete you can clearly see how it beautifully elongates a scene. This works splendidly for landscape photography. When you want to capture your scene and do not have a wide or ultra wide angle lens, making a panorama is great fun.
How To Take Panoramic Photos- Here is how you set up the digital camera There's one thing to create panoramas, and another thing to actually take them. There is a particular way to take panoramic images and it's less difficult than you are probably thinking. Okay, so let's get started.
Let's start with photographing a landscape image. Select the scene you want to shoot. Make sure your landscape has nice lighting and there are no strong shadows across your scene, it will make it a lot easier to stitch if you have a clear and open landscape.
Set your digital camera up on a tripod. Keep the camera firmly fastened and able to move from left to right or right to left only. It's imperative that you let the tripod to move horizontally. If your tripod accidently moves downwards as you are shooting you make risk having your photo out of focus and the software will be unable to stitch correctly.
Don't photograph into the sun. Have the sun behind you. It is better to shoot at the end of the day, or the start of the day. The light is nicer, softer and so much more gentle at the start and end of the day. The colours are richer too.
Producing Panoramic Photos Choose manual setting and position the camera towards the part of the view you want to expose well. Now keep the camera on those settings the whole time. Let's say you have the digital camera at 1/250th of a second and F20, 100 ISO. You've decided that you want a certain part of the scene to be well exposed and these settings will do it. That's good, keep them that way and don't change the settings at all. Once you have chosen your settings, now take a sequence of photos, one after the other. Turn the camera from left to right, for example. Make certain you leave a section of the scene as overlap. Your stitching software program needs to overlap something.
What Kinds Of Things Can You Make a Panorama From? Fast moving subjects may not work- based on the light. Start with motionless subjects. Landscapes with a nothing but sky and a mountain range are good subjects to begin with. Nothing is moving so the software should not have any concern stitching your scene together.Let me explain.
If you are shooting with a shutter speed of /125th of a second and the subjects is fast moving, like water for example, then you may not have a fast enough shutter speed for the motion of the digital camera and the water. In one photo the water will be at the top of the rock and the next photo the water will be half way along the rock. When the software tries to stitch two irregularities together it will not be able to form a full picture. You must always keep the image without movement so the software can stitch the photo in precisely the same spot. It will then make photo 1 the same as photo 2. There will be no difficulties and the two photos will come together nicely.
However, on saying that, if you have loads of light and a fast shutter speed you must to move the camera earlier than the water is moving. In other words, you need to move super fast to make sure you set up your camera in a way that the stitching will match up. If the water is moving at 1/250th of a second, then you need to move at 1/500th of a second. You need to move the camera from left to right, faster than the water. But for now, start with a single picture without speed of any kind. Keep your mind on a stationary subject. It?s simpler in the beginning that way.
What Other Scenes Make Terrific Panoramas- There are plenty of ways to make your photos extensive and large.
Mountain ranges are not the only places that look interesting as panoramas. Once you have mastered the shutter speed and speed of movement for photographing a series of pictures, why not attempt a waterfall. Once you have mastered this technique of panorama taking, you can work to produce panoramas in any direction. Not only do horizontal panoramas work but so do squares (tiles- two at the top and two at the bottom of your photo, and so do vertical scenes.
I took a sequence of photos at Katoomba National Park in New South Wales, just a couple of hours drive out of Sydney, Australia. I did what was known as a "tile." The image comprised of 6 photos; 3 bottom ones and 3 top ones. I was vigilant not to overlap any sections of the water because I was unable to move the camera quickly and have a fast shutter speed. This was due to the sunlight dipping behind the mountain. I used a very high ISO to compensate for the light decrease. I knew it would be ok to do this as my digital camera wouldn't overexpose anything in shadowy light like this. I was fortunate, the image turned out well.
Making Your Panorama as a Final Image- Placing your panorama together
Once you have photographed a series of shots from left to right, say 5, simply upload the photographs to your laptop. Open up the Panorama software. Then, when you are in, decide on the photos you want to work on. You will be able to follow the instructions pretty well when you are in the program itself. If your panorama works properly, you should see a big scene. It is astonishing to look at, for the very first time, that your photos have now become one and you are looking at a large scene- exactly the way you saw it with your own eyes. It?s a stunning thing to experience. :)
Producing panoramas is a superb way to not only become skilled at the art of photography but allows you look at scenes differently. You will have a new love and excitement for landscapes especially.Don't only stick with landscapes. Once you get more accustomed with the progression, try creating photos of trees, water, oceans (remember your light and shutter), roads, and even walking tracks. Everything I have mentioned seems like a landscape scene, but if you do additional photographing you will find you can make a panorama out of just about anything. It's so much fun to do!
About the Author:
Amy Renfrey is a professional photography instructor. She shows you how to take stunning photos every single time, even if you have never used a digital camera before. To discover how to take good photos/ better than ever before go to her website today.
