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Panoramic photography with a digital camera
Panoramic digital photos cover a wide angle of view. In its extreme a panoramic
photo can cover 360 degrees of view. Such panoramic photos are for example taken
from a sky scraper to convey the view it provides. Most new digital cameras
provide a panoramic mode that supports such photography.
There is no formal or definitive definition of what a panoramic photo is. It is
common practice to define panoramic photos as such that cover a wide angle of
view. How wide? A common definition is “wider than our eyes can see” – or in
other words – provide an artificial view that otherwise we could not have gotten
by just looking at the scene (without moving our head left and right or up and
down of course). The image below is a typical panorama:
A panoramic view of the Montreal skyline.
Photo courtesy of Matthew Heguy.
Panoramic digital photos can be taken in a single shot using
special panoramic wide angle lenses. This technique is limited of course as for
example a 360 degree panoramic photo can not be taken this way.
Another way in which panoramic photos are created is in segments – a few photos
are taken in series and are later attached to each other to create one big
panoramic photo. The process of attaching the photos together is fast and easy
thanks to modern digital photo processing software (as long as you’re following
some guidelines when taking the photos). Panoramic photos are not limited to
capturing landscape or wide angle view. They can be very useful when capturing
objects that are just too big to be captured from where you stand. For example
if you are standing too close to a tall tower and can not retreat to a farther
position – using panoramic photography will enable you to capture the complete
tower (in 2 or more shots).
Most digital cameras support a special panoramic mode. In this mode the camera
optimizes its optical settings for panoramic wide angle photography. But more
than just setting the optical parameters the camera also provides tools that
allow you to more easily take the photos series and later on stitch them
together. When put in panoramic mode the camera will first let you choose if you
plan to take a horizontal panoramic photo (i.e. taking photos from left to right
or right to left while keeping the vertical position fixed) or to take a
vertical panoramic photo (i.e. taking the photos from bottom to top or top to
bottom while keeping the horizontal position fixed). You can also choose a
combination.
After you choose the panoramic mode – the camera will let you start taking the
photos. On its LCD screen you would always see the previous photo you took and
the new photo you are taking. This allows you to easily compose each photo in a
way that it complements the previous one. You would also want to make sure the
photo overlaps a bit with the previous photo – this allows for easier photo
stitching later on. The camera also names the digital photos files in a special
format that further helps stitching.
Photo stitching can be easily done on a computer at home. Many digital cameras
come with a photo stitching software. If your digital camera did not come with
one you can find either free or low priced commercial software that can stitch
single photos. Basically what the photo stitching software does is: based on the
photo file names it orders the photos in their right order. Then it identifies
the overlapping areas in each pair of photos and places the photos in a way that
these overlapping areas match (this is why having a bit of overlap is
important). The final step is to attach all those pairs of files and create a
single panoramic digital photo.
It is a good practice to use a tripod when taking panoramic photos. A tripod
will help you maintaining either a fixed horizontal or a fixed vertical
position. Also it is good practice to keep the optical settings fixed between
shots and to make sure that the lighting stays the same. As always practice
makes perfect – go and experiment with panoramic photography and master your
digital camera panoramic mode.
Ziv Haparnas is a technology veteran and writes about practical technology
and science issues. You can find more information about photo album printing and
photography in general on Ziv's
photo printing website.
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