Let’s begin by defining what a panorama is.  A panorama is a picture or photograph containing a wide view, or an unbroken view of the whole region surrounding an observer.  Essentially, what it boils down to for a photographer is, horizontally stitching together several photos to create a seamless picture.

Materials We’ll Need

• A tripod or stable surface
• Digital camera
• A computer
• Adobe Photoshop

The Shoot

Traditionally, panoramic photography subjects are landscapes or city skylines.  However, in reality, just about any subject can be used.  Once you decide what you’ll be shooting, it is important that you find a stable position.  This is probably the single most important part of creating a panorama.  Photoshop is good at joining together the frames you’ve taken but it is not without limitations.  It can be frustrating to go through the whole process only to end up with ragged white lines between photos or large sections chopped out because Photoshop had a difficult time identifying where to place each photo.  This situation is easily avoidable however, and it is why I always recommend. . . actually, I STRONGLY suggest using a tripod.   Truth is, I don’t take my camera anywhere without my tripod being close by.

For the panoramic shots I take, I always start at the extreme right of what I want to capture.  I set my timer and take some bracketed shots (this comes in quite handy when dealing with dynamic range situations too).  When you have the settings you want and have taken your first frame on the extreme right,  you will then need to grab a reference point about 20% - 30% away from the left side of your viewfinder.

Now you will swivel the camera so this reference point is at the far right but still in the viewfinder so you have some overlap in you photos.  This overlap is extremely important to have for Photoshop to do its job properly.  The great thing about digital is that it costs you nothing to take those extra frames.  So err on the side of caution and take as many shots as you need to.  Once you have swiveled far enough and have your next shot framed, repeat the process you used to shoot your first picture.  Now, just repeat this process until you come to the extreme left end of your panoramic shot.

Making The Panorama

• Now that all the hard work is done, it’s time to put Photoshop to work.
• Open Photoshop on your computer
• Go to File > Automate > Photomerge and you will see this dialog box

• Browse for the files you will merge together and add them.
• Make sure “Auto” is selected in the layout portion
• Click “OK”

Photoshop should now be working on stitching your photos together.  This can take several minutes, but once it’s done, you will see the final results.  At this point, your picture will still need a few final tweeks such as cropping and making sure everything looks nice and level.  Once that is done, you will save your file and voila, your new panorama picture.