How to Make a Panoramic Shot out of Several Pictures ~ Enhance Photography Skill

Panoramic shots are elongated images portraying views such as landscapes. Not every camera is equipped with the panoramic shot option, which is why certain alternatives exist to making a panoramic shot manually. You can piece together several pictures side by side, either digitally on a computer or by gluing them together by hand to form one panoramic image. The first rule of such a project is that the pieces must flow and be part of a whole, rather than being random images. Typical panoramic images are 16 by 9 inches.

Instructions

Take a photograph with your camera of an image such as a landscape, view or skyscraper. Hold the camera steady at the same height, and slowly slide it over to the left or right by about 2 to 3 inches, making sure there's an overlap between the images. Take a shot. Repeat the process for at least five shots, remembering to hold the camera at the same height for each shot.

Transfer the images to your computer via USB cable or a card reader. Move them to a new folder on your computer or to your computer's desktop.

Open up each of the images, and visualize the panorama they would create when put together.

Open a photo editing software such as Photoshop. Create a new project that measures 16 by 9 inches or as large as you want your panoramic shot to be.

Open the images one by one in the photo editing program, and paste them onto the new project side by side. Programs such as Photoshop place each image in a separate "layer," which means that images can overlap without being cropped or cut off.

Move the images into place until they form one whole, this being the panoramic shot. Adjust each image so that it looks like it flows from the image before it and with the image after it. Crop the top or bottom of the entire project if necessary (for example, if one image was shot lower or higher than the rest). If the image is longer than 16 inches, crop its sides or leave it as is.

Save the project in a desired format such as JPEG.

Take a photograph with your camera of an image such as a landscape, view or skyscraper. Hold the camera steady at the same height, and slowly slide it over to the left or right by about 2 to 3 inches, making sure the images overlap. Take a shot. Repeat the process for at least five shots, remembering to hold the camera at the same height for each shot.

Cut a panoramic-sized piece of cardboard or paper using scissors. This will serve as the backbone for your pictures when forming the panoramic shot. It can be 16 by 9 inches or larger if desired for mounting purposes. You can skip this step if you prefer.

Print out the pictures you took, which will form the panoramic image. Place them side by side on a flat surface.

Figure out how these pictures will form one panoramic shot. Pick up two of the pictures that are side by side, and piece them together until the image on them lines up. Tape the pictures on the back with a small piece of tape. Repeat the process until the panoramic image is formed out of all the pictures. It may end up being longer than 16 inches. You can cut off its sides or leave it as is.

Turn the taped up pictures around, and tape them together with bigger pieces of tape so that the pictures don't fall apart from one another easily. If you want to give the image a sturdier back, apply glue or double-stick tape to its back and mount it on the paper or cardboard.