Today we will talk about the art of panorama photography. Panoramic photos in definition is just several photos stitched together with a post processing programs. Normally people use this technique to combine photos of beautiful landscapes that is too beautiful to be captured with one single frame.
This tutorial will be divided into two section. Section one (this post) will be discussing about the photography techniques on the actual scenic site where you take the photo. Where section two will discuss about the post processing techniques. Alright, lets get started!
What equipments do you need?
For distant objects in good lights, you can afford to shoot pano with handheld. But when you shoot pano in low light (dawn/dusk/cloudy) you will need a sturdy tripod with rotatable head. There are some really sophisticated Panoramic Tripod Heads
I use Manfrotto 190XDB Tripod and 804RC2 Head
Now I have the tripod, what else do i need to do?
You just need to find a good scenic open area to shoot your pano! Got it? OK. Now find a place where you can see the whole scene without any obstruction. A tree branch or tower in the middle could potentially destroy your panoramic tryout.
Put your tripod on the place you think is the best to capture the image, then make sure the tripod is level. Most tripod will have some kind of water pass to see if it levels.
Is it level now? Ok, good.
Now follow these simple steps:
- Set your camera to aperture priority (just do it)
- Set it to ISO 100
- Set the aperture to F16 or above to be able to focus on all the scene.
- Set the image quality to RAW (if your camera supports it)
If you use big aperture, you will not be able to get everything in focus.
Ok, now take some test shoot to see what setting yields you best result. Then set your camera setting to Manual Mode. You don’t want the photos to not look seamless after you stitch it on the computer. Take several photos to cover all the scene you wanted.
Once you finish all the setting, turn your camera to one end of the scene (left or right)
Turn it slowly, and take another one
Make Sure your photos interlaps each others
Use remote/cable release or timer to avoid camera shake
Circular Polarizer can be really good in these scenic photos
Or you can use graduate filter if the sky is too bright
Try to include foreground/background interest
For better composition and sense of scale
I run out of things to say now 
Ok, that was just an example of array of image I took last month at the Grampians National Park. Notice that there are some dust on my sensor. If your sensor/lens is not clean, you will have to do the cleaning multiplied by the number of image you are shooting. Shouldn’t be too much work though. I’ll post the final image on the next post with the step by step tutorial.
Portrait or Landscape?
There are ongoing discussion as which format is better than the other. I’d say doesn’t really matter. But shooting in portrait format might help reduce vignetting and distortion. I tried it out without and difference, so its up to you if you want to try.
Let’s Recap
- Scout a good location for panorama
- Get a sturdy tripod and panoramic tipod head.
- Put your tripod into good position and level it.
- Take several photos to cover the scene you wanted.
- Take some more to make sure you don’t leave with any regret :p especially if the location is hard to reach.
Mountain Reservoir Panorama
Further Panorama Photography Readings
Panorama Tutorials by Dr. Karl Harrison
PanoWarp Tutorial
Big Ben’s Panorama Tutorials
Getting Started with Digital Panoramas
A few links to panorama tutorials and resources
