You will take dozens of photographs to stitch together using Photoshop to create one continuous image. The good news is that the program can stitch together the images successfully if you overlap them about 25% on all sides when you take the photographs.

What's a Panorama?

Panoramic photos capture a very wide view like an entire city skyline rather than just one building.
Here's a good example of a panorama of our classroom.

Click photo to view gigapan style zoomable panorama.
This photograph was created with the help of a tripod motorized mount called the gigapan.

Start your project by aiming the camera at the very left side of what you want to capture and take a picture. Check the exposure settings to verify that the shutter speed and aperture are what you want. Next, move the camera slightly to the right and take another photo using the same settings. After each photo, pan the camera more in the direction you desire. Do that numerous times in all directions.
Remember to overlap your images if you want Photoshop to help you merge them, otherwise you will have to individually stitch them all together. By the end, you should have a couple dozen shots in which you will import into the computer and stitch together.
The below panorama is not very well done compared to what you should have for an A grade.


Your PROJECT:

Create 2 Panoramas of your choice (must have 1 interior and 1 exterior).

1st, select the location of both photo panoramics you want to capture. You need one interior (your favorite room, venue, or hallway maybe) and 1 exterior (landscape, cityscape, backyard, favorite sports court, etc.).

You are going to stitch together dozens of photos. Your goal is to make them all the same exposure and aperture and make your final image look seamless as if it's only one picture.

You may use the PhotoShop feature called Photomerge that will “stitch” multiple photos into one larger photo if you want.
To use the Photomerge feature go to FILE, AUTOMATE, PHOTOMERGE and select your images.

Some hints:

Using a tripod with a rotating head helps maintain camera alignment and viewpoint.

Images should have an overlap of approximately 15% to 40% of the image area. If the overlap is less, Photomerge may not be able to automatically assemble the panorama.

Use a consistent focal length.

Avoid using the zoom feature of your camera while taking your pictures.

Keep the camera level.

Stay in the same position.

Although Photomerge can process slight rotations between pictures, a tilt of more than a few degrees can result in errors when automatically assembling the panorama.

Maintain the same exposure. Some digital cameras change exposure settings automatically as you take pictures, so you may need to check your camera settings to be sure that all the images have the same exposure.

Avoid using the flash in some pictures and not in others. The advanced blending feature in Photomerge helps smooth out different exposures, but extreme differences make alignment difficult.

Here's my home. I overlapped the photos about 25% in all directions when I shot them so I would get good results using the Photomerge feature in Photoshop. Notice the top right section of the panorama appears seamless. That's the only area I worked on after photomerging it. Your challenge is to eliminate all seams between photos. Use tools such as the sponge, dodge, blur, smudge, and large blurry brushes to decrease the hard edge lines between images to achieve smooth results.

Above is an example of a 360 degree panorama video. You may create this using Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, or Flash.

360 Degree Motorcycle
Flash 3D Exterior Panorama
Flash Inerior Panorama Player