Basic Tips on Panoramic Photography for the Digital Age

Before the digital age, panoramic photography was only possible with the use of expensive cameras and through hours of endless stitching in the dark room. Today, creating panoramic images in your home computer is a lot easier with advanced softwares for panoramic stitching and editing. However, this does not mean that you can create great panoramic photos without following some basic guidelines in shooting the pictures for it. Here are some of the basic rules.

1. Use the Panorama Mode on your Camera

The panorama mode on your camera does two things. One, it shows you the last photo you took along with the current image that’s in front of the camera lens. This feature is very important in shooting frames that you will overlap later. Each succeeding shot should contain a portion of the last scene and the next scene, so on and so forth. This feature makes sure you are able to do that. Second, the panorama mode also makes sure that the camera will keep the same exposure settings for a collection of photos.

2. Set fixed Aperture and Shutter Speeds

In case your camera does not have a panorama mode, you should set the metering mode to manual. To get the proper aperture and shutter speed, focus the camera on several parts of the scenery and check out what settings your camera is suggesting. Choose the mid-range setting and make sure to use it for all your shots.

3. Keep the Camera Leveled

Whether you are using a camera with a panorama mode or not, you should shoot with your camera leveled. Shooting upward will cause the lower part of the image to hit the lens at a sharp angle thereby creating a bit of curving and distortion. Shooting downwards will create the same situation for the upper part of the frame. Distortions are okay for single shots. But if you are going to stitch them together, the overlaps will not match because of the distortions that resulted from an angled camera. So, shoot with the camera leveled so that the overlaps will be perfect fits.

4. Check for Changes in the Scene

Inconsistencies in the frames will be hard to cure. Imagine catching a person walking several times in several frames as you take your multiple shots. This will not work well when you stitch the photos together. You will have a panoramic photo where one person appears several times in it. So, check for possible inconsistencies before starting to shoot.

 5. Make Sure you Overlap

The more you overlap the better. Stitching several photographs together for a panoramic effect is all about achieving the best clarity. Look at it as you would look at painting a wall. Passing the same spot several times with your red paint-soaked brush will make that spot redder. The same thing happens when you overlap scenes. It makes that scene clearer.

Modern softwares have made photo stitching for the panoramic effect easier and faster. This convenience gives us more time to develop our skills in the actual shooting to produce even better panoramic photographs.