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Shooting a Panoramic Image
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Shooting & Stitching a Panoramic Photo From Start to Finish

on Feb 9th 2011 with 19 comments
Tutorial Details
  • Requirements: SLR, Tripod, Spirit Level, Photoshop
  • Completion Time: 2-3 Hours
  • Difficulty: Intermediate

Twice a month we revisit some of our reader favorite posts from throughout the history of Phototuts+. This tutorial was first published in October, 2009.

In this video tutorial, we look at the camera set up and post-production technique for creating stunning panoramic image. You’ll be shown how to position your camera and tripod at the scene, experiment with portrait vs. landscape shooting, and given a walkthrough of stitching the various images together in Photoshop.

The Final Result

Panoramic Photo

Watch the Video

Key Points for Shooting Panoramics

  • A tripod & spirit level are advised
  • Set exposure on manual or aperture priority
  • Focus manually
  • Lens: Focal length 35-70mm
  • Wider lenses may cause stitching problems
  • Overlap each frame by 15-20%
  • Be aware of lighting within the scene
  • Average your exposure or bridge them

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By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Simon Plant is an award winning Uk Photographer with over 20 years experience shooting automotive-life-location images for advertising. He also produces Behind The Scenes Digital Photography Tutorials for his training site .  

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  • http://bluetideproductions.com/ Zach Reed

    Great Post Simon! I really enjoy your video tips! Keep it up!

  • http://digital-escape.blogspot.com CDA

    is the audio mono ?

  • Christian

    I’m missing the point where the composed shot is edited like the final image is. Is it possible to explain that too? Thanks!

  • http://flickr.com/photos/lorenzhs deepleap

    Wow this is really great! I love the sample images at the end, they are simply stunning!

  • http://zamoht.deviantart.com ZaMoHt

    I have been shooting panoramas for some years now, and there were some new, helpful tips in the video. :)

  • Michele

    I hate to say this, but I really hate the video tutorials. It completely eliminates the ability to skim the article and see if I actually want to read and even try it. If it’s a video, I’m usually not even enticed to watch the intro. :/

    • http://davidappleyard.net David Appleyard
      Staff

      Hi Michele – I value your feedback, and appreciate that it’s difficult to know what to expect in a video. We try to help by providing a good description of what’s included, along with some “summary tips” etc.

    • 07

      I’m with michele on this one. Video tutorials are easy to follow, hard to work along with. If you need to re-check a step at some point, it becomes extremely difficult to find that step again, whereas with a written w/ included images tutorial its always easy to skim back to a specific step.

      Unless the result is a definite “wow i really need to know how to do that..” I won’t even bother coming back to the tutorial later on, if I watch it at all to begin with.

    • Tim

      I’m with you on this too – I live in a part of the world where broadband is still a dream, and I pay $150 per gigabyte of bandwidth on satellite at 128kbps… So I won’t be watching this, even though I’d love to see how Simon does it.

      Please let’s only have videos when they really are essential to the tutorial.

    • http://shaneparkerphoto.com Shane Parker

      I completely disagree with the others. I don’t understand why these guys wouldn’t want videos, especially on the phototuts site! In video, we’re able to visualize and hear what the speaker is trying to get across. The speaker often adds in little things here and there as he goes along that would otherwise be left out in writing. When writing tutorials I find that a lot of authors leave out a LOT of things that they probably would have said in a video simply because most authors try to “tighten up” the tutorial when in written form to stay on topic as much as possible. In video format, you often get a lot more out of the tutorial because the flow is much more natural and “accidents” are allowed to happen that can really add to the content, even without the authors intent.

      To me, seeing and hearing a tutorial on photography is a million times better than reading through it. This is a photography-based tutorial site people, c’mon!!

      PLEASE continue with more video tutorials!

  • Mr phong

    there are so many thing useful and vital that I just get
    thank alot

  • http://promps.22web.net promps

    Thanks for sharing these wonderful idea…i loved it…
    promps

  • http://www.mywedding.ie gabriel

    i don’t think stitching from hand-held is as good as from tripod. and just a tripod is not good enough if you want to get detailed prints. you shoud really use a panoramic head if you’re looking to get the final image printed.

  • http://www.andrislinz.ch Andris

    I love these video tutorials.

    For me the best tipp was to shot on a vertical axis. I never thought about that one.

  • http://www.rcartstudios.com Christian

    Nice!!

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmize/ DM|ZE

    I don’t normally like videos because they go to fast or the audio is not good or missing. This video tutorial was pretty good but as some pointed out if you want to go back you have to find the location in the vid. Maybe some time markers or bookmarks in the video would help solve that. For those that are on a budget or hobbyist check out hugin… it’s great for panoramas.

  • dylan

    It be great if you could add an option to download the file, say for premium members or the public. I am limited on a bad connection where you cant stream movies (well at lest without smashing my head into my computer with connection problems)

  • http://www.eshban.com Eshban Bahadur

    excellent tutorial. Thanks and waiting for next

  • Ryszard Kasprzyk

    There is a much easier way to create panoramic images.

    1. Shoot a video or a sequence of photos.
    2. Download the freeware Microsoft Image Composite Editor http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/multiimagefusion/index.aspx#videopano
    3. Load the photos or video.
    4. Press “Go” and close your eyes.
    5. MICE will do the trick and export it to JPG, TIFF, HD Photo Image, what have you.

    You can then view it with MS HD Viewer: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/63888522-375b-49b5-a8a0-5cb308deb5c5/

    I am amazed by the quality and ease of use of this freebie Microsoft program. More power to your digital elbow, MS Research folks!

    Ryszard