Panorama Pictures
Using Software to Produce Smooth Panoramas

Panorama pictures are photos which have an elongated field of view.




Often the picture goes wider than the eye can actually see while viewing a scene. There are times when you might like to create pictures such as these for dramatic scenery.

Some digital cameras that have a setting for panorama and will create this type of image. However, you can easily create this yourself by "stitching" two or more photos together in panorama photo software.




You will achieve the best results if the pictures are taken consecutively while you capture a long scene in multiple shots. They can overlap slightly; the software will take care of this.

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The panorama stitching software that I use is called Autostitch. You can download a demo version and use it continuously. If you want more advanced stitching capabilities, you can purchase one of the other programs they offer.

Once you have downloaded Autostitch, go to File - Open. Locate the folder with the images you want to use for your panorama picture. Hold down Ctrl while you select each one. Make sure they all appear in the space labeled File Name towards the bottom of the screen. After you do this, click open. The program will stitch your images together in the correct order.



Choose which program you want to open the panorama photo and Autostitch will open it and place it in the same folder that the original pictures were located. I ususally just use Windows XP My Pictures.

I have found that I can use two or three images very successfully. However, once you go beyond that, some distortion may occur. Another program to use to create panoramas is Photosho Elements 7. This program is not free, but it allows you to edit the panorama photo. This is a nice feature since at times you will want to do a bit of cropping.