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Tutorial | June 2009 | M.McKennedy

Do you have a iPhone? Check.  Do you have $2.99? Check.  Do you have a desire to take panoramic photographs with your iPhone? Check. Do you have a least one finger to use to push a button on your iPhone? Check!  Do you have an iTunes account? Check! Then all you need to do is finish reading this article and you will be on your way to creating eye-catching panoramic photographs.

A panoramic photograph is an picture or series of images that offers a wide view of a scene.  Sure you could take a series of photographs by using a tripod and lining up each shot perfecting using photo editing software such as PhotoShop but there is a much simpler way.

There is an app for the iPhone called ‘Pano’, created by Debacle Software and costs a mere $2.99!  Yes, you must shell out the money for the iPhone but if you are reading this you are most likely either a current iPhone owner or someone who is considering purchasing an iPhone (I say do it! unless it will put you in debt).  Install the app on the iPhone and click the icon to get started.

So far we have two ingredients, well three really.

1) iPhone

2) ‘Pano’ installed on the iPhone

3) someone to press the iPhone button

Step 1: Select mode – portrait or landscape…that is the question (portrait being vertically long, and landscape meaning horizontally long).

Step 2: Take the first picture – that’s right! it’s as easy as clicking the button…go ahead, snap that first photo!

Step 3: Line up the overlay from the last image with the same location in the photo you are about to shoot and then….take the pic (don’t worry, I won’t describe taking every single pic.  I think that you can use up to thirty images with Pano, which should be plenty!) .

Step 4: Take successive photographs – keep rotating the camera bit by bit, lining up each previous image overlay with the photo next in the series.

Step 5: Finish it up – Click the little “gear” and choose ‘Make My Panorama Now!” – the screen will show a status bar while it processes the images.

That’s all there is to it.  Panoramic images made easy on the iPhone!

Here are a few more example panoramic photographs for your viewing pleasure.  Click on any image to view a larger instance of the photo.