Photo & Video

I have been to lots of places where I felt a panoramic would be a great thing to have.  Guess what?  You don't need any special cameras to create a panoramic photo!  For this tutorial, you will need Photoshop - so if anyone knows how to make them with other image programs, please write a tutorial!

What is needed:
Photoshop (confirmed working on version CS-CS3)
Any Digital Camera

How to make a panoramic photo.

1. The first step is to snap a few photos that you will want to connect together.  IMPORTANT: Make sure that the photos you are taking will overlap at one edge (i.e. starting from the left photo, make sure that you identify a point on the right side of the shot.  When taking your next shot, make sure that point is on the left side of the frame.  Notice how my photos overlap below:

2. Once you have your photos, place them in a folder on your computer.

3. Open Photoshop.

4.  Click to File > Automate > Photomerge

5.  In the Photomerge dialog box choose "Browse", and navigate to your images.  Holding CTRL and click the images to select the ones you want. (Pressing CTRL allows you to select more than one image).  Click 'OPEN'.

6.  The images you selected are now listed in the Photomerge dialog box.  Click 'OK'.

The Photomerge will now attempt to automatically connect your pictures together (you will see some jumping around...).  If photomerge fails to automatically connect the photos, it allows you to drag the photos around and line up 'visual cues' yourself - which is quite easy.

7.  You can play with the options on the right, and preview the merged image.  Once you have something that looks right, click 'OK'.  Photoshop will now actually merge the photos.

8.  Using the 'crop tool' (or your tool of choice), remove the jagged edges.

9.  You are left with a nice panoramic photo!

This is something you want to experiment with.  I have found that when shooting my photos, overlapping the frames by 1/3 of the frame produces good panoramas.

Have Fun!!