Yeah, you have probably seen it on your phone. And maybe like me, you selected it and saw no difference so you never tried it again since then. But now we are learning cause it is one of the easiest and coolest shots you can take with your smartphone.
What is panorama? It is a series of images stitched together to form a single wide angle shot. It is an option that allows you to take panorama by moving your phone so as to capture much more than just a single field of view. This format enhances our creativity and makes us see things in new ways.
When you need to capture an image with just a bit wider field of view at a greater detail, then your camera and lens combination can provide in a single shot. You can let it travel a little bit then stop it. You can make it as long or as short as you like capturing only what you need to include.
HOW DO YOU TAKE PANORAMIC IMAGES WITH YOUR PHONE?
1. Open your camera app on your smartphone.
2. Go to settings and change the shot mode. On some phones you don’t even need to open the settings as it is on the icons on the top side of the screen. If so, then just select it. Like in the figure below on the top left corner, in blue is the panorama icon.
3. Tap the shutter button.
After you tap the shutter button it becomes as shown.
4. Move your device in one direction slowly, be it left, right, up or down, according to the arrows guiding you.
5. You can stop at a certain number of images when you feel you have captured what you needed. The small boxes in the above image indicate the number of shots taken.
When the shots are stitched you get this kind of panoramic image. That road is not bent by the way in reality.
TIPS ON CAPTURING PANORAMIC IMAGES
- Positioning and stability
Before shooting, you can find a focal point at which you will stand and move your device. You can do some test shots before doing the actual image. Pivot around a single small point, i.e. turn your camera not your body. The smaller your pivot area the better your shots will be. You can use this for landscapes and large shots with no object in the foreground. But if there is an object, you can move. Take multiple shots even with some side to side movements. If the object is large, it is not an easy task but standing in one place could result in a curving distortion when you stitch your panaroma together. Bad positioning can cause ghosted images or bumpy horizons. Horizontal straight lines positioned close to the camera can be bent in the creation of a panorama but can be used intelligently at an advantage.
A steady camera is required even for normal shots. Here, when unsteady, it results in a choppy stitch especially if the camera allows continuous shots. Keep your phone level. Some phones can guide you in this. A trick to steadiness is holding your phone vertically. It is very tempting actually to hold it on a landscape mode for better viewing of the shot as you take it but, resist the urge and hold the phone upright.
Unsteady camera making the image blur.
- Lighting
To create a wide angle ununiform looking stitched image, the lighting has to be consistent. If the exposure is different in different shots imagine how the photo will look like stitched. It could still make an interesting photo but try consistency, especially when indoors or in a low lit situation. However, some phones ensure the exposure doesn’t change in the shots for one panorama image.
Due to inconsistency in exposure, some parts seem darker others brighter in the image.
- Movement
It is tough when creating a panoramic photo of people as they tend to move. As such, panoramic photos should avoid including anything that moves so rapidly. People will need to be still to achieve the desired shot. The weather, wind and rain, can create problems for a panoramic photo when matching up subsequent shots and are best avoided.
Movement creates some blurred shots making the stitched image not clear on one side.
- Multiple shots
Don’t be afraid to go over the same area more than once. It helps you get the overlaps and can also help you have other options should your exposure turn out wrong. Also ensure that you have passes including a little more of the area above and below your intended shots. This way, you can be sure to capture an even amount of sky and ground for when you stitch and you can crop later.
- Use panorama mode
This is the most basic tip. If you are taking panoramic photos, then use panorama mode. It will certainly produce better panoramic images.
- Take vertical panoramas
Most of the time when we think panoramas we just think the horizontal landscapes. We should not forget the vertical ones! Imagine the sky, sunset over mountains that you want to capture. Those tall buildings, high waterfalls and all those other tall stunning views. Wouldn’t it be interesting to capture them with a vertical panorama? Try it now for some interesting shots.
An example of vertical panorama.
Telean Deon Fletcher 
I’ll try it
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Yeah…it’s really interesting
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have learnt something new
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I didn’t even know what panorama was..by the end of your blog posts…I’ll be a professional photographer😂😂Food photographer I say
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I didn’t know about paranoma mode until I read this
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