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Good Ideas for 360-Degree Panoramic Photography

Panoramas surround every person, every day; they are the cities we live in, the wilderness we explore and even the rooms we call home. Creating 360-degree panoramic photography is about capturing an environment, a surrounding, just as if the viewer of the photograph were right there, experiencing the moment. Landscapes, cityscapes and inspiring moments can all be brought to life with 360-degree panoramic photographs. The trick is to create panoramas so smooth that the viewer doesn't even realize where the actual scene begins or ends.

Hardware
- Tripods are immensely useful for panoramic photography; tripods keep the camera steady as you take the many photographs required to create a panoramic shot. Piecing together panoramic shots can be challenging. There is a variety of software that allows photographers to digitally combine and align their photographs into amazing panoramic shots. Regardless of software, photographers should have an idea of a beginning and ending point for every panoramic shot.
Ground Level
- Many ground-level locations offer panoramic opportunities. Taking panoramic shots at ground level allows you to focus on the scenery that immediately surrounds a location. Good examples of ground-level panoramic photography include a shot of a forest from the center of a small meadow, a shot of a city square's architecture from the square itself, and a shot of a lake shore from a location as close as possible to the center of a lake.
Up Above
- Photographing panoramas from high locations allows a photographer to capture landscapes and scenery not normally visible at eye-level. Higher locations include the tops of buildings and mountaintops and locations above the panorama you are photographing. Taking a panoramic shot from a high location can be challenging; if you dip or lift the camera -- in an effort to more fully view the landscape -- the consistency, or smoothness, of the shot may be jeopardized.
Vertical Perspective
- Vertical 360-degree panoramas can be tricky, the ground and the sky hard to align. When taking a vertical 360, it's important to consider presentation. One example of a vertical 360 that works is a shot of a tree-filled silhouette over a dusk-lit lake; the two, not-quite-mirror images will wrap around, touch each other, and create a sense of continuity, even when half of the landscape is in reverse.
Creative License
- You don't necessarily need to take a 360-degree panoramic shot in order to create a 360-degree panorama. A long horizontal shot, such as the shot of a tree branch, can be wrapped to create a 360 panorama, with the tip of the branch touching the base of the branch. A similar method can be used for ocean views, sunsets, mountain views, cityscapes and just about any other wide shot.

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