I got a request from one of my readers to talk about how I shoot panoramas. I am always thrilled to get feedback from you guys, including requests. So without further ado, here’s part one of a two-part article that will hopefully show how I make these work:
First off, I like shooting panoramas. There’s something in the nature of the final images that strongly appeals to me, the sweeping nature of the image and the way that it shows so much more context and sense of place than a single shot is able to. That said, panoramic shooting isn’t necessarily something I plan on. It’s somewhat uncommon that I head into the field with the express intention of creating one, but rather its something that occurs organically once I’m there and see a scene that would be best expressed that way.
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There aren’t any hard rules for this. Strong horizontal elements are naturally necessary, but aside from that I shoot panos with more emphasis on the feeling that “I cannot capture this scene with a single image, but feel that it’s worth capturing nonetheless.” It’s a huge advantage of digital that I can shoot multiple frames and merge them with relative ease; it’s an even bigger advantage that I can see the frames as I shoot them, and therefore accurately judge the composition and overlap.
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