It’s not often that I shoot a panorama. I prefer to use a wider lens, which is easier and doesn’t pose a risk for weird distortion when stitched together in Photoshop. Occasionally, though, I won’t have a wide lens with me, or I’ll want to capture a scene beyond the capabilities of my widest lens. Panoramas can also be useful in rendering depth of field shallower. Ryan Brenizer is considered by many the pioneer of this type of panorama. Here are my top 10 panoramas.
I shot this panorama of the Disney’s Wilderness Lodge lobby in 2010 with my Tamron 18-270mm lens before I owned a wide angle lens.
Another extreme wide view, taken of the Grand Floridian lobby at Walt Disney World with my 17-40.
This panorama shows San Francisco at a distance from the edge of Alcatraz Island.
When I was without my wide angle lens, I shot this wonky panorama of Grauman’s Chinese Theater with my 17-55.
A simple panorama of the view from St. Paul’s Cathedral, 2009.
A sunset panorama of Lake Tahoe, which was featured in my video Northern California Dreamin’.
This two shot panorama of the inside of my car also helped me use a longer lens for shallow depth of field.
My workflow for panoramas is pretty basic. I select the images I want to use, then select them all and make any adjustments I want in Lightroom (subsequently syncing the changes) before merging them into a panorama in Photoshop. After cropping or making other minor fixes, I’m ready to save the file.
