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The wide, panoramic image has fascinated photographers and viewers since photography began. The earliest photographers shot multiple images across a scene and either blended them together in the darkroom or printed the shots separately, overlapped them, and pasted the images together in a sort of panoramic collage. Later, big panoramic cameras were developed that took very wide photos onto a long roll of film.

Today, you can shoot panoramic photos in two ways: photograph a wide scene complete in itself using a camera specially made for panoramic photography, or take multiple standard photographs across a wide scene and combine them in the computer. You can also crop a standard photograph into a panoramic format. This works especially well with medium and large format cameras because they have the extra film size that can take the cropping without losing too much quality.

Composing the Panoramic

Panoramic images require a different approach to the scene than a standard photograph. This is a whole new way of seeing. Simply putting a scene composed for a standard image into a wide composition never works. Such a photo looks just like a regular scene surrounded by too much space.

The first thing you have to do is see the scene in front of you as a strong horizontal or vertical composition. Most panoramics are horizontals; they easier to find and usually more attractive to viewers. But verticals can be very compelling, too. Think tall trees or waterfalls, for example.

Now you need to examine the scene for its potential. This is easiest with a panoramic camera because you can look through the viewfinder and see the image. You have to imagine a multi-shot panoramic put together. Can you eliminate the nonessential elements above and below the horizontal area of interest and not have the scene suffer? Or the same to the right or left for a vertical composition? This is very important to consider, as many scenes have important elements that can’t be cut off.

Next, check the scene from left to right for a horizontal, or bottom to top for a vertical. You need a composition with something interesting and important at the left, then additional elements all along the scene until you reach the right side of the composition, where there still needs to be something visually important. Apply the same reasoning to a vertical. Many panoramic images fail because there is simply not enough interest throughout the composition. This doesn’t mean there has to be drama throughout – good color, interesting graphic elements, or anything that keeps the eye engaged and moving across the scene is good.

If you are shooting with a dedicated panoramic camera, you simply take the photograph and have the film processed. This is it. You don’t need anything more to complete the image. Shooting the multi-shot panoramic requires more effort.

Shooting the Multi-Shot Panoramic

The panoramic purist is extremely careful in how he or she sets up the camera for a multi-shot image. There is no question that such an effort does make for images that go together better in the computer. Don’t let that keep you from the magic of panoramic shooting (because it is magic). You can get good results even from casual image capturing.

Here are the basic steps for getting good panoramics from multi-image capture with a digital camera.

1. Use a tripod. While it is possible to shoot panoramics without one, a tripod helps in keeping the separate images aligned and it will help you see your composition better.

2. Level your tripod and camera. If you shoot at an angle to your scene, the images you shoot will be hard to combine in the computer. Use a level if you can.

3. Plan out your composition. Decide where the panoramic shot will go – from where on the left to where on the right.

4. Set your camera on manual. Set both exposure and white balance to specific settings. Don’t use autoexposure or auto white balance. You need the individual shots to match, but autoexposure and white balance will tend to put variations into the shots. Don’t use a polarizing filter, either, because it polarizes a wide scene unevenly.

5. Shoot starting from the left, then overlap your individual shots from left to right. Use at least 30% of the image for overlap. Shooting from the left just mimics the way we see and makes it easier to track your compositions.

6. If you need to bracket, bracket whole sequences, not individual shots.

Putting It Together: Once you have the images for the panoramic, you need to put them together in the computer. This is called stitching. There are two ways of doing this: software designed to automate the stitching process, or standard image processing software, such as Photoshop, to do the process manually.

Stitching the Panoramic

At one time, automated stitching software was a real compromise. That is no longer true. While the traditionalists like to manually stitch images together, you can get equal results in most automated programs. The algorithms used are amazing, and in some situations, actually do a better job than the piece-by-piece work in something like Photoshop. Manual stitching, however, can be a necessity when the individual shots have not been carefully matched for exposure and overlap.

Automated stitching programs come in two types: dedicated programs designed only to stitch panoramic images, and automated parts of an image processing program. One of the best dedicated programs is ArcSoft Panorama Maker. This inexpensive program offers a set of excellent tools that automate the process as well as make the blending of individual shots work well. Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements include a very good automated function in their Photomerge feature.

In an automated program, you simply bring in your photos, put them in the right order if the program can’t sort them properly (usually it will), and tell the software to go to work. You usually have some ability to tweak the panoramic where individual photos haven’t merged as well as others. When done, you can bring the image into Photoshop or other image processing programs and use such things as the cloning or healing tools to fix problems.

For manual blending, bring the images into a program that offers layers, and for the most efficient work, layer masks. To fully explain this is beyond the scope of this book, but there are many books available that explain the process. Here is a quick overview to help you understand how it works.

1. Open all of the images in your panoramic sequence.

2. Take the far left shot and increase the Canvas size (not the image size) to equal to the size of your final panoramic image (e.g., if each shot is inches wide and you have four shots, make the canvas 40 inches wide).

3. Drag all of the other images in the sequence onto this expanded image (use the move tool and drag the image onto the expanded canvas). It works best to drag them in the order shot. In most programs, this puts each image on its own layer (which is what you want).

4. Line up all the images, overlapping them as appropriate until they match as best as possible. Turn down the opacity of a layer you are moving for overlap so you can see through it and match the underlying image. You may have to rotate the image slightly if it is perfectly aligned with the other shots.

5. Fix any non-matching images for tonality and color.

6. Start blending the overlaps. Use a layer mask to help you paint in and out each layer through the blending area. This can take some time and practice.

7. Fix any image matching problems by working each layer, one at a time.

8. Fix difficult overlaps with the clone tool.

Five Tips for Better Landscape Panoramas

1. Look for strong horizontal lines - A strong horizon line or other horizontal line that cuts across your panoramic from left to right can integrate it visually; this is an easy way to get a good panoramic composition. If you are shooting a vertical, look for a strong vertical line.

2. Be wary of polarizing filters - The polarizer is a great filter for landscape photography, but usually not for panoramics. This is because the sky is cannot be polarized in such a way that the color and tonality stays consistent across a panoramic scene.

3. Try composing from the outside in - This goes against the way most people start their compositions. However, it can really help ensure that your panoramic composition has interesting elements starting at the outside edges.

4. Use space in your panoramic images - Space is not the same as empty places in a composition. Space can be an important creative element for a photograph if you look for it. A good example of this would be if you created a composition with a striking tree at the left side, then a big expanse of blue sky (the space) through the middle and right side of the photo.

5. Be careful of your autofocus - When shooting a multi-shot panoramic, you may find that your camera autofocuses in the wrong places on some of the shots, ruining the effect. Either turn off the autofocus or be very aware of where the camera is focusing for each shot.