Panoramic photography represents a fascinating intersection of technical innovation and artistic vision. It allows photographers to capture expansive views that more closely reflect human visual experience. From its earliest practitioners in the 19th century to contemporary digital artists, panoramic photography has undergone dramatic evolution while maintaining its fundamental appeal: the ability to immerse viewers in scenes of breathtaking breadth and detail.

The Historical Development of Panoramic Photography

The concept of the panorama has deep historical roots. In 1787, English painter Robert Barker introduced it as a faithful 360-degree reproduction of a landscape displayed on a cylindrical structure known as a rotunda. Barker received a patent for his invention, which he initially called "La Nature à coup d'oeil" (Nature at a glance). His innovation was to display paintings on a cylindrical surface, creating an immersive 360-degree view that surrounded viewers.

Barker's first panorama depicted Edinburgh, Scotland, though it was only semi-circular rather than a full 360 degrees. In 1793, Barker moved his panoramic displays to Leicester Square in London, establishing the world's first purpose-built panorama building. These early panoramas were designed to create illusions so convincing that viewers might struggle to distinguish between art and reality. However, it wasn't until the advent of photography that this concept could be fully realised through mechanically captured images rather than painted interpretations.

When photography was invented in 1839, the panoramic concept quickly found a new medium. Early photographers, eager to capture broad cityscapes and landscapes, created panoramas by placing multiple daguerreotype plates side by side. An impressive example from 1851 shows San Francisco through five daguerreotype plates, though the original panorama reportedly consisted of eleven plates.

The earliest true photographic panoramas date back to the 1840s, when specialised rotating-lens cameras and curved daguerreotype plates were used. An Austrian patent from 1843 documents one of the first panoramic cameras, though no plates made with this device are known to have survived. Shortly thereafter, Frederick Martens patented his own panoramic camera in 1845, creating eleven large panoramic daguerreotype plates of Paris that remain important historical artefacts.

During the American Civil War in the 1860s, photographer George Barnard produced panoramic photographs for the Union Army. Military engineers and generals valued these comprehensive overviews of terrain and fortifications. Barnard's technique involved multiple wet-plate glass negatives, each exposed in a conventional camera that was rotated between shots to capture the desired image.

By the late 19th century, photographers were actively seeking ways to capture broad vistas that conventional cameras couldn't accommodate. Cameras were explicitly developed for panoramic photography. These specialised cameras fell into two categories: swing-lens cameras, in which the lens rotated while the film remained stationary, and models in which both lens and film rotated.

Mass production of panoramic cameras began in 1898 with the introduction of the Al-Vista camera, shortly followed by Kodak's entry into the panoramic market. By the 20th century, panoramic photography had become a well-established photographic practice, with dedicated equipment and techniques.

The Evolution of Panoramic Camera Technology

The development of dedicated panoramic cameras accelerated at the turn of the 20th century. In 1899, Kodak introduced the #4 Kodak, but the true revolution came with the Cirkut camera, patented by William J. Johnston in 1904 and manufactured by the Rochester Panoramic Camera Company beginning in 1905.

The Cirkut camera came in several models, designated by the maximum width of film they could accommodate: Nos. 5, 6, 8, 10, and 16. The largest model could produce panoramic negatives up to 18 feet long and an area exceeding 24 square feet, resulting in images with information content in the gigapixel range.

The camera operated by pivoting horizontally along a vertical axis while a roll of film moved across the film plane, creating remarkably detailed panoramic images. The Cirkut remained in production through 1949, a testament to its effectiveness and popularity. Frederick W. Brehm (1871-1950) played a critical role in developing the Cirkut panoramic camera, which was later manufactured by the Folmer and Schwing Division of Eastman Kodak Company. There’s an excellent article on the Cirkut cameras here, at WalkClickMake.

The Digital Revolution in Panoramic Photography

The advent of digital photography and advanced stitching software has democratised panoramic photography. Photographers can now create high-resolution panoramas by seamlessly combining multiple overlapping images using specialised software.

This technological advancement has expanded creative possibilities while making panoramic photography accessible to a broader range of practitioners. Contemporary photographers can achieve results comparable to those once requiring specialised and expensive panoramic cameras, though the skill and vision needed to create compelling panoramic images remains as crucial as ever.

The history of panoramic photography represents a continuous dialogue between technical innovation and artistic vision. From Watkins' mule-transported glass plates to Lawrence's kite-lifted cameras to today's digital stitching techniques, photographers have consistently found new ways to capture expansive vistas that more closely approximate human visual experience.

What makes panoramic photography particularly compelling is its ability to immerse viewers in a scene, providing both sweeping context and intricate detail simultaneously. The best panoramic photographs don't merely document wide spaces—they invite viewers to explore complex visual narratives that unfold across the expanded frame.

As panoramic techniques continue to evolve, their fundamental appeal remains constant: They offer viewers a window into expansive worlds that might otherwise remain beyond their field of vision, creating images that combine technical precision with artistic interpretation to transport us beyond our everyday perspective.

Iconic Panoramic Photographs and Their Historical Significance

Panoramic photography has produced some of the most visually striking and historically valuable images, capturing moments of cultural transformation, technological innovation, and human endurance. Below are key examples of iconic panoramas and their enduring significance.

1. "Forest of Masts" (1851) – San Francisco During the Gold Rush: This daguerreotype panorama, created using five plates (originally eleven), is the earliest surviving photographic depiction of San Francisco. Taken during the height of the Gold Rush, it showcases the city’s bustling waterfront, dominated by abandoned ships whose crews had joined the gold rush. The image, later reproduced as a gelatin silver print by Martin Behrman in 1910, symbolises the rapid urbanisation and economic frenzy of the era. The nickname "Forest of Masts" reflects the density of ships left idle in the harbour, many of which have been repurposed as makeshift buildings along the waterfront. This panorama serves as a critical visual record of a transformative period in American history.

2. George Barnard’s Civil War Panoramas (1860s): George Barnard, commissioned by the Union Army, produced panoramic surveys of battlefields and fortifications during the American Civil War. Using wet-plate glass negatives, Barnard rotated his camera between exposures to stitch together comprehensive views of terrain, such as his 1864 panorama of Atlanta, Georgia, before it was ordered burned by General Sherman. These images provided military strategists with unparalleled topographic detail, enabling them to plan sieges and troop movements more effectively. Barnard’s work represents one of the earliest uses of photography for military intelligence and remains a vital resource for historians studying the war’s logistics and landscapes.

3. Friedrich von Martens’ Paris Panoramas (1845): Using his patented Megaskop-Kamera, Frédéric Martens captured sweeping views of Paris, such as “Panorama of Paris from the Louvre”. His camera employed a swing-lens mechanism and curved daguerreotype plates to achieve a 150° field of view, a groundbreaking technical achievement. Martens’ images of the Seine’s quays, bridges, and landmarks, such as the Pont Neuf, documented mid-19th-century Paris with remarkable clarity. These panoramas, exhibited at the Paris Salon, bridged the realms of art and science, demonstrating the potential of photography as a tool for both documentation and aesthetic expression.

4. Frank Hurley’s Antarctic Panoramas (1914–1916): During Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated Endurance expedition, Frank Hurley captured panoramas of the Antarctic wilderness and the crew’s survival saga. Using glass plate negatives, Hurley produced images such as the ship trapped in pack ice and the crew’s makeshift camps on ice floes. When Shackleton ordered the destruction of non-essential plates to save weight, Hurley preserved 150 of the most compelling negatives, which later became iconic symbols of human resilience. These panoramas, combining technical skill with harrowing narrative, remain central to the visual legacy of polar exploration.

5. David Breashears’ Everest IMAX Panoramas (1996–1997): Cinematographer David Breashears pioneered high-altitude panoramic photography by hauling a 70mm IMAX camera to Mount Everest’s summit. His footage, part of the 1998 film Everest, included panoramas of the Khumbu Icefall and the Hillary Step, captured during the aftermath of the 1996 disaster that claimed the lives of eight climbers. Breashears’ work not only advanced technical limits—requiring 115 meters of film for 90 seconds of footage—but also humanised the risks of mountaineering, blending stark beauty with documentary urgency.

6. David Bergman’s Gigapixel Inauguration Panorama (2009): For Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, David Bergman used a Gigapan robotic imager—derived from NASA’s Mars Rover technology—to create a 1.5-gigapixel panorama. Comprising 220 individual images stitched together, the panorama immortalised over a million attendees on the National Mall. This image exemplifies the democratisation of panoramic technology, transforming a historic political moment into an interactive visual archive where viewers can zoom in to identify individual faces.

Understanding Panoramic Formats

Horizontal Panoramas: The Classic Approach: When thinking about panoramic photography, most people envision horizontal panoramas. This format excels at capturing expansive landscapes, cityscapes, mountain ranges, and architectural subjects that extend primarily along the horizontal axis. Horizontal panoramas are powerful because they recreate how we naturally experience expansive vistas. Humans have a wider field of vision horizontally than vertically, and panoramic images mimic this experience, creating a more immersive representation of broad scenes.

Vertical Panoramas: The Overlooked Dimension: Vertical panoramas are less common but equally powerful for specific subjects. They present unique challenges in both capture and composition. While most tripod setups are designed for horizontal panning, vertical panning requires additional consideration or specialised equipment. Vertical panoramas work particularly well for capturing tall structures, such as skyscrapers, waterfalls, or tall trees, or any subject with a significant vertical dimension. They offer a fresh perspective that can make familiar scenes appear extraordinary.

The Art of Panoramic Composition

1. Compositional Advantages of the Panoramic Format: The panoramic format offers several distinct compositional advantages:

Immersive representation of wide scenes: Panoramas can capture the entirety of a broad landscape or cityscape in a way that closely mimics the human visual experience.
Dramatic impact: When displayed, a large panoramic print, measuring approximately three metres in length, creates a striking visual impression.
Unique perspective: The unusual proportions of panoramic images immediately distinguish them from standard formats, drawing the viewer's attention.
Horizontal narrative flow: The extended horizontal space allows photographers to tell visual stories that unfold across the frame, creating a sense of journey or progression.
Focal point flexibility: Panoramas allow for multiple points of interest across a wide area while maintaining visual cohesion.
Suggestion of movement: The wide frame naturally implies lateral movement, helping viewers imagine where subjects are heading.
Enhanced sense of space: Horizontal panoramas can convey expansiveness, while their vertical confinement creates intimacy within the same image.

2. Compositional Challenges and Solutions: Despite these advantages, panoramic composition presents unique challenges:

Maintaining visual interest across the frame: With more horizontal space to fill, it becomes crucial to avoid empty or distracting areas.
Balancing elements: Distributing visual weight across the panorama requires careful consideration of the placement and relative sizes of elements.
Managing distortion: Wide panoramas can create distortion, particularly at the edges or with objects positioned close to the camera.
Controlling viewer attention: Without careful composition, viewers may feel lost in an overly broad image with no clear focal point.
Technical limitations: Factors like changing light conditions during capture can create inconsistencies across the panorama.
Display and Social Media: With the majority of visual content now consumed on mobile devices, the trend toward vertical aspect ratios in photography and video has been steadily increasing for over a decade. It can be challenging to display panoramic images well on a screen, particularly in social media, where photographers often have limited control.

3. Practical Compositional Approaches: Several compositional strategies work particularly well in panoramic format:

Anchored endpoints: Place strong visual elements at one or both ends of the panorama to create balance and prevent the viewer's eye from drifting off the edges.
Leading lines: Use roads, rivers, fences, or other linear elements to guide the viewer's eye across the expansive frame.
Central subject emphasis: Position your primary subject in the middle of the frame, using the extended horizontal space to provide context.
Rule of thirds adaptation: Apply the rule of thirds horizontally, taking into account the vertical constraints of the format.
Visual storytelling: Utilise the panoramic space to create a visual narrative that unfolds across the frame, beginning with one element and concluding with another.
Foreground interest: Include compelling foreground elements to create depth and draw viewers into the expansive scene.
Negative space: Embrace emptiness strategically to emphasise your subject and create a sense of scale.

Technical Considerations for Creating Panoramas

1. Equipment Options

While dedicated panoramic cameras exist, most photographers today create panoramas through one of these approaches:

Smartphone panorama mode: Most modern smartphones include a built-in panorama feature that automatically stitches images as you pan across the scene.
Digital stitching: Multiple overlapping images captured with any camera can be combined using software such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or specialised stitching applications.
Cropping to panoramic proportions: Sometimes, simply cropping a high-resolution image to panoramic dimensions is effective.
Specialised panoramic heads: For precise control, especially with vertical panoramas, panoramic tripod heads enable exact rotation around the lens's nodal point.
Anamorphic lenses: These lenses, designed for cinematography, compress the widescreen recorded image to fit on a frame of cinefilm or a standard 4:3 aspect ratio sensor, such as those in your smartphone. This appears odd without correction, but in filmmaking, the image is desqueezed with a special lens when projected, and the same can be achieved with software during the editing stage for photography. As a result, anamorphic lenses are beneficial for panoramic street or event photography, where there are numerous moving elements.

2. Smartphone Panorama Techniques

For smartphone users, panoramic photography has never been more accessible:

To access panorama mode, swipe left from the Photo mode on iPhones. On Samsung Galaxy phones, tap More, then select Panorama. Other Android phones may have slightly different interfaces.
Stability is crucial: Hold your phone steady with both hands, and consider using a smartphone tripod for optimal results.
Consistent panning: Move the phone smoothly and not too quickly to allow the software to align and stitch images properly.
Exposure considerations: Before starting, tap an area with mid-tones to set a balanced exposure that will work across the entire panorama.
Watch for moving subjects: People or vehicles moving through your panorama can create strange distortions or duplications.
Experiment with orientation: Try both horizontal panning for wide scenes and vertical panning for tall subjects.
Creative applications: Explore intentional distortion or the "cloning trick", where a subject appears multiple times in the same panorama by having them move ahead of your panning motion.

3. Technical Best Practices

Whether using a smartphone or a dedicated camera, these practices help create successful panoramas:

Overlap frames sufficiently: When stitching multiple images, overlap each frame by 30-40% to provide the stitching software with sufficient information to create a seamless result.
Maintain consistent settings: Use manual exposure and white balance settings to ensure consistency across all frames.
Level horizons: Ensure your camera remains level throughout the panning motion to prevent wavy horizons.
Mind the parallax: To avoid parallax errors with close subjects, rotate the camera around the lens's nodal point, not the camera body.
Avoid ultra-wide lenses: While it might seem counterintuitive, standard or slightly telephoto lenses often produce more natural-looking panoramas with less distortion.
Beware of close objects: Keep a reasonable distance from foreground elements to minimise distortion issues.

Practical Applications of Panoramic Photography

Landscape Photography: The panoramic format naturally lends itself to landscape photography, allowing for the effortless capture of the breadth of mountain ranges, coastlines, and vast plains. The wide format allows photographers to emphasise the horizontal expanse of landscapes while controlling the amount of sky or foreground they include.
Architectural Photography: Buildings with significant horizontal development, such as extensive industrial facilities, shopping centres, or historical façades, often benefit from panoramic treatment. The format allows photographers to capture entire structures without resorting to extreme wide-angle lenses that might introduce distortion.
Street Photography: Panoramics can capture the full context and atmosphere of a location in street settings, showing multiple activities that coincide along a street or square. The format's ability to suggest movement makes it particularly effective for busy urban scenes.
Interior Photography: Panoramic photography is an effective way to convey the full scope of interior spaces, from grand halls to intimate rooms. Vertical panoramas work exceptionally well for interiors with interesting ceiling details or multiple levels.
Event Documentation: The panoramic format is an excellent way to document large gatherings, conferences, or sporting events. It captures the scale and atmosphere of the occasion in a single image.

Pioneers of Panoramic Photography (19th-Early 20th Century)

Carleton E. Watkins (1829-1916)

Carleton Watkins stands as one of the earliest masters of landscape photography with panoramic sensibilities. Beginning in 1861, Watkins repeatedly photographed Yosemite Valley over the course of twenty years, using "mammoth" glass plates that rendered both the vastness of the landscape and its infinite details with remarkable clarity.

During his 1865-66 visit to Yosemite, Watkins created a particularly notable series from atop Sentinel Dome: three individual photographs that, when viewed together, form a comprehensive panoramic view of the valley. His work was so powerful that it influenced President Abraham Lincoln to sign legislation preserving Yosemite Valley in 1864, establishing a precedent for the American National Park System.

Watkins' achievement is particularly impressive because of the arduous nature of his process. He transported approximately 2,000 pounds of equipment via mule train, including his oversized camera, large glass plates, and flammable chemicals necessary for the wet-collodion process.

H.H. Bennett (1843-1908)

Henry Hamilton Bennett became a photographer after a Civil War injury made his previous carpentry career impossible. Between 1865 and 1908, he documented the Wisconsin Dells region with extraordinary technical skill.

These panoramas, such as his 1886 image of his son leaping between rock formations, combined technical innovation with promotional artistry. Using a stop-action shutter he invented, Bennett captured motion with unprecedented clarity, aiding tourism campaigns that marketed the Dells as a natural wonder. His seamless multi-plate prints, often exceeding 20 inches in width, set a standard for the commercial and artistic potential of landscape photography.

Bennett mastered the difficult art of printing multiple large negatives onto a single enormous sheet of paper with such precision that the seams between negatives were virtually invisible. His panoramic prints, sometimes combining three or four 20" x 24" negatives, created sweeping vistas of the Wisconsin River landscape that were unprecedented in their scope and continuity.

George R. Lawrence (active early 1900s)

George Lawrence pushed panoramic photography into literal new heights. His most famous work, "San Francisco in Ruins," captured the devastated city following the 1906 earthquake from an altitude of 2,000 feet. To achieve this remarkable image, Lawrence developed an ingenious system using Conyne kites to lift a 50-pound panoramic camera. The camera, stabilised by booms, lead weights, and silk cords, was triggered remotely via an electrical current sent through an insulated wire.

The resulting photograph provided a breathtaking 160-degree panoramic view of the ravaged city, becoming both an iconic representation of the disaster and a commercial success. Prints sold worldwide for $125 each, generating approximately $15,000 in sales, equivalent to about $440,000 today. Beyond his aerial innovations, Lawrence photographed large groups, legislatures, industrial plants, and major events, including the Republican National Conventions of 1904 and 1908.

Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Although not exclusively a panoramic photographer, Ansel Adams' approach to landscape photography incorporated panoramic sensibilities in both composition and subject matter. His black-and-white photographs of the American West, particularly those of Yosemite National Park, demonstrate a remarkable ability to capture expansive landscapes with extraordinary detail and tonal range.

Adams co-founded Group f/64, which advocated for "pure" photography featuring sharp focus and full tonal range. With Fred Archer, he developed the Zone System, a method for determining optimal exposure and development that proved particularly valuable for capturing expansive scenes with varied lighting conditions.

His meticulous approach to capturing and printing grand landscapes influenced generations of photographers. Adams' work also had a substantial environmental impact; his photographs helped expand the American National Park system, earning him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.

Contemporary Panoramic Masters

Andreas Gursky (b. 1955)

German photographer Andreas Gursky has created some of the most compelling large-scale panoramic works of recent decades. His "Gardasee" (Lake Garda, Panorama), made between 1986 and 1993, exemplifies his approach to panoramic photography.

Measuring 15 1/8 by 47 inches (38.4 by 119.4 cm), this chromogenic print was flush-mounted to acrylic, creating an immersive viewing experience. The panoramic format works particularly well for Gursky's detailed approach, encouraging careful observation of the expansive scene.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Renowned primarily for his black-and-white photography, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto made a rare foray into colour with his 2022 panoramic work "Mt Fuji." This epic panorama was transferred directly via pigment print onto 12 washi paper partitions, creating a traditional Japanese folding screen, known as a byōbu.

This format offers unique advantages for panoramic presentation, combining a functional room divider with an immersive visual experience akin to walking through the actual landscape. The horizontality of the panorama contrasts with the vertical silhouette of Mount Fuji, creating a dynamic visual tension.

Sugimoto was inspired by Katsushika Hokusai's famous "Red Fuji" print, which captures the mountain at first light with the sun's red-orange rays emerging from the horizon.

Edward Burtynsky

Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky has spent nearly four decades documenting human impact on the natural world, often using panoramic formats to capture the scale of environmental transformation. Beginning in the late 1970s with formalist landscape photographs that mimicked the compositions of Abstract Expressionism, Burtynsky gradually expanded his vision to address social, political, economic, and cultural concerns.

His panoramic series, including "Railcuts," "Homesteads," and "Tailings", documents the physical trauma inflicted on landscapes by human activity, particularly resource extraction. The panoramic format proves especially effective for Burtynsky's work, as it reveals the vast scale of environmental alteration that might be less apparent in more tightly framed images. Burtynsky's achievements have earned him a TED Prize and led to award-winning documentaries about his work.

Contemporary Award-Winning Panoramic Photographers

Several contemporary photographers continue to push the boundaries of panoramic photography, often receiving recognition through specialised competitions:

Jesus M. Garcia’s panorama of China's Li River in Guangxi Province, "Good Morning Damian Shan," was stitched together from seven vertical images. The photograph, taken at sunrise, won an Open Award in the "Nature/Landscape" category at the 2017 Epson International Pano Awards.

Wojciech Kruczynski won the Carolyn Mitchum Award for "Eye of Stokksnes," a panoramic capture of Aurora reflections on Iceland's Stokksnes Black Beach with the Vestrahorn mountains in the background. Creating this image required carefully synchronising multiple factors, including weather conditions and tides.

Contemporary photographer Andrew Prokos specialises in panoramic photography of cities, skylines, and landscapes. His award-winning panoramic photographs are available as limited-edition prints, and large-scale panoramas can reach up to 200 inches (five metres) in width. Prokos's work is recognised for its clarity and detail and has been exhibited in galleries and art collections internationally.

Jeff Bridges: Cinematic Panoramas Behind the Scenes

While primarily celebrated as an Academy Award-winning actor, Jeff Bridges has cultivated a parallel career as a dedicated practitioner of panoramic photography, documenting film sets with a distinctive technical and artistic approach. Since 1984, Bridges has employed a Widelux F8 camera—a 35mm swing-lens model gifted by his wife—to capture behind-the-scenes moments across five decades of film production.

This choice of equipment proves particularly apt for cinematic environments, as its 28mm lens pans nearly 180 degrees across a curved film plane, mirroring the widescreen aspect ratios used in motion pictures. The camera's mechanical operation, involving a rotating slit shutter that exposes film progressively during its pan, creates images with a temporal dimension-recording elapsed time within a single frame through motion blur and occasional double exposures.

Bridges' panoramic work functions as both historical documentation and artistic reinterpretation of film production. His photographs reveal the collaborative machinery behind iconic movies—from Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King to the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski—while maintaining the mystique of the filmmaking process. The elongated format proves particularly effective for capturing sprawling sets, with examples including the neo-western landscapes of True Grit and the cybernetic environments of Tron: Legacy.

By positioning his camera at eye level during downtime between takes, Bridges achieves an intimate perspective on actors like Meryl Streep and Matt Damon in unguarded moments, juxtaposed against the artificiality of lighting rigs and green screens. This approach transforms mundane details—a makeup artist's toolkit or a grip adjusting scaffolding—into compositional elements that echo the visual language of the films themselves.

The technical constraints of the Widelux camera have informed Bridges' creative methodology. With fixed shutter speeds (1/15 to 1/250) and apertures (f/2.8 to f/11), each exposure requires precise calculation of light levels and subject movement. Bridges occasionally subverts these limitations intentionally, as seen in his double-exposure portraits where actors rapidly reposition during the lens' sweep to create ghosted "tragedy and comedy" mask effects.

His 2019 monograph Pictures: Volume Two demonstrates how these in-camera techniques parallel filmmaking's illusionary craft, with panoramic frames containing multiple layers of narrative: the fictional scene being shot, the crew creating it, and the meta-commentary of Bridges' photographic intervention.

Recognising the Widelux's endangered status—discontinued in the 1990s due to factory fires—Bridges has partnered with Silvergrain Classics to relaunch the camera as the Widelux X, combining the original optical designs with modern manufacturing techniques. This initiative not only preserves the analogue panoramic tradition but underscores Bridges' commitment to photography as a collaborative art form, mirroring his cinematic philosophy.

Proceeds from his photographic books benefit the Motion Picture & Television Fund, further cementing the symbiotic relationship between his dual practices. Through both imagery and advocacy, Bridges positions panoramic photography not as a nostalgic affectation but as a vital medium for interrogating the boundaries between reality and artifice in visual storytelling.

Give It a Try!

Panoramic photography represents a fascinating bridge between technical skill and artistic vision. From its beginnings in painted cylindrical displays to today's smartphone panorama features, the desire to capture views beyond our standard frame of vision has driven innovation in both equipment and technique.

The panoramic format offers unique compositional opportunities and challenges that reward thoughtful practice and experimentation. Whether capturing sweeping landscapes, dramatic architectural structures, or intimate scenes with a fresh perspective, panoramic photography encourages photographers to see the world differently—to consider how elements relate across an extended frame and how this expanded view can tell richer, more nuanced visual stories.

Panoramic capabilities offer smartphone photographers a convenient entry point to this compelling format. The technical barriers have never been lower, allowing creative focus to shift to the more critical questions of what to include in the frame and how to arrange elements for maximum impact.

As you explore panoramic photography, remember that successful images in this format rely not simply on capturing a wider view, but on thoughtful composition that takes advantage of the format's unique properties. The best panoramas don't just show more of a scene—they reveal relationships, progressions, and contrasts that might be missed in standard formats, offering viewers a fresh way to experience the world.

Resources

Here’s an interesting video from Emil Pakarklis, on location at the beautiful Gauja National Park in Latvia: “The iPhone Pano mode is an amazing camera feature that lets you capture stunning ultra-wide images… It’s great to use whenever your scene doesn’t fit into a standard photo. This could be a beautiful landscape scenery, a large architectural building or any scene that’s big and impressive. Watch this video to find out how to capture breathtaking panoramic photos.”

Here’s a fantastic video from Nick Carver, the 4th in his series on shooting panoramas with a 6x17 large format film camera. However, this final episode looks at the composition of panoramic images rather than the technical side and the gear, and provides valuable insights no matter what you are shooting with. Nick’s own description of the video is funny and worth reading: “Hey, fun fact: if you watch this entire 4-part series back-to-back it’s like watching a Chia Pet grow. What can I say? I’m growing my hair out and letting the beard fill in. Really embracing that “homeless guy” vibe. Anyway, onto photography. Yes, this is the final part of my 4-part video series all about 6x17 photography. This time we’re talking about the artistic stuff. You know, the intangible stuff, the completely subjective stuff, the stuff that has no definite right or wrong and is perpetually debatable. Those are the topics I like to tackle because there’s no chance any viewer will find fault in what I’m saying. No chance. So get ready, ladies and gentlemen, because I’m about to cure the entire world of artistic uncertainty. I have all the answers on what it takes to create a great panoramic composition. And I’m sharing all of those answers in this 21-minute video. I’m just playin’ guys. Just some 6x17 goofin’. Despite all the “rule of thirds” crop overlays and “golden ratios” and that swirly line drawing thing they overlay on famous artworks to show how the artist used math to create a perfect composition…despite all that, I know composition is subjective and it’s not an exact science. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to each his own, etc etc. But I thought you might like to hear my take on it anyway.”

In this video, Thomas Heaton is out on the coast with Big Bertha shooting panoramics: “Today I take out my Fujifilm GX617 panoramic film camera with some Kodak Portra 160 and Fuji Velvia 50. I have not had much luck with this camera in the past, but today I finally feel like this camera and I are starting to get along. We shoot some beautiful sunrise photography at my local beach and try our best to avoid any people getting in the frame... and it is a big frame!”

This week’s assignments…

For this week’s daily photos, your brief is to get out there and experiment. Use the pano mode on your phone with different zoom settings, and try vertical as well as horizontal shots. Try some portrait shots in pano mode—ask your model to keep still when you pan over their position, and even see if you can include someone in the frame twice!

Let’s see panoramas that demonstrate your skill in composing for wide format, whether shooting landscapes, street photography or an interesting take on portraits. Try to include examples of varied types of panoramic shots over the week, including some vertical images.

Panoramas

Reflections