Many photographers, particularly landscape ones, have been exploring the new world of digital stitched panoramic photography. The prospect of unlimited resolution and field of view opens literal new vistas in your toolkit, and also can be the least expensive way to get a good quality wide angle shot.

In stitched photography, you shoot a series of overlapping shots covering a wide field of view. Then, special software blends the photographs to produce a seamless result. This allows shooting the complete sphere around you, a 360 degree view, or simply a sweeping panorama of any field of view you choose. The latter shots can produce dramatic giant prints, while full spheres and many 360 shots are often viewed on computer screens that allow the viewer to pan and zoom around the entire field. If you’ve ever seen a majestic landscape and felt you simply had to capture all of it, You’ll want to explore panoramic shooting.

The software for panoramics takes ordinary photos and, knowing the focal length, projects the typical rectilinear image back onto the sphere it really was. (Non-fish-eye lenses all work to keep straight lines straight on the print, even though they are not really straight to the eye). Once projected on a sphere they can be overlapped and blended smoothly.