Panorama Photography Guide

Stitched panoramas capture wide scenes without the distortion of ultra-wide lenses — and with enough resolution for huge prints.

Plan the frames

The panorama calculator tells you how many frames you need for any angle, focal length and overlap, and the final pixel size. A 50 mm lens in portrait orientation covers about 27° per frame on full frame; a 120° view needs about six frames with 30% overlap.

Shooting technique

1. Level the tripod (not just the camera) so the horizon stays straight as you pan.
2. Portrait orientation gives taller panoramas and more resolution.
3. Lock exposure, focus and white balance in manual — auto settings change between frames and cause banding.
4. Overlap 25–40% of each frame.
5. Shoot quickly when clouds or water move.
6. Take a "hand in the frame" shot before and after each set to find them later.

The nodal point

If foreground objects are close, parallax causes stitching errors. A nodal slide rotates the lens around its entrance pupil to eliminate parallax. For distant landscapes, a normal tripod head is fine.

Stitching

Lightroom, Photoshop, PTGui and Hugin all stitch well. Choose cylindrical projection for wide horizontal panoramas and spherical for 360° scenes.

Variations

• Vertical panoramas for tall waterfalls and trees.
• Multi-row panoramas (gigapixels) for extreme detail.
• Tiny planets: turn a 360° panorama into a little world with the tiny planet maker.
• Swipeable carousels: split a panorama into Instagram slides with the panorama splitter.

How big can you print?

A six-frame panorama from a 24 MP camera can exceed 80 MP — see the print size calculator.