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How to Make the Great Wall of China in a Panorama

Anyone who has been to the Great Wall of China knows that it is difficult to capture its grandeur in one photo. Panorama photographs are a great solution for this problem. They are perfect when you are photographing something very large such as a cityscape, skyscraper, mountain or cathedral. The Great Wall itself is best photographed in panoramic view, producing a high-impact photo that shows off the wall's impressive size.

Instructions

Getting Started
- 1
  Decide how you want to frame your photo. Often, people center their photo around a "point of interest." When taking your photos of the Great Wall you may consider using one of the lookout towers or a hilltop as a point of interest. Your panorama may be horizontal or vertical, so consider your options.
- 2
  Take a progression of photos of the Great Wall using a steady hand. Most panoramic photos are made up of three to four shots.
- 3
  Review the photos on your camera. All of the images must overlap or your panorama will be incomplete. If you are unsure, take several series of photos to be safe.
With Windows
- 4
  Import your photos into Windows Live Photo Gallery.
- 5
  Select all of the photos that you want to include in your panorama by holding down the "CTRL" key as you click on them.
- 6
  Click "Make," then select "Create a Panoramic Photo." This feature lines up your photographs for you, making the process quick and easy. The more overlap there is, and the more similar the lighting in your photograph, the better this feature will work.
- 7
  Crop your photo to clean it up by clicking "Fix," and selecting "Crop Photo." This evens out the edges of your picture, making a finalized panorama. Click "Apply" after selecting the part of the photo you want to use.
With Apple
- 8
  Check and see whether your camera's software offers panorama photo settings or panorama editing software. If not, you will need to download software that works with iPhoto. One option is DoubleTake, which is software that works with iPhoto to create panoramas. DoubleTake can be downloaded online.
- 9
  Import your photos into your iPhoto gallery.
- 10
  Use your camera's photo editing software. Or, if you are using DoubleTake, drag the photos you want to use out of iPhoto over to the DoubleTake icon and drop them onto it. If you drop all of the photos at once, the program will guess their order. If you drag them one at a time, you must put them in order yourself.
- 11
  Align your photos by clicking on the overlapping area and then clicking "Align." The program automatically lines up your photos.
- 12
  Crop your photos by choosing the middle "inside cropping" button. This cropping feature cuts out any extra white space that is left on the edges of your photos. When you are satisfied, save the image and drag it back to iPhoto.

Photography