Photography Tips and Tricks

You may have seen expansive panorama photos of a city’s skyline and wondered, “How did the photographer do that?” Well, it is pretty simple, actually, and you don’t need any special lens to do it. All you need is your digital camera and a photo editing software such as Photoshop or Photo Suite.

What is Stitching?

Stitching is taking multiple images and turning them into one long image that looks like a panorama. Basically, you’re taking the images and digitally stitching them together to make a whole image. Mirror panoramas are two photos of the exact same landscape flipped and stitched together to make one panoramic image.

Take the Pictures

First, you need pictures. Start by choosing your location. The perfect location is an unobstructed view of a landscape.

Stand facing the landscape and rotate your waist to the left so that your digital camera’s viewfinder is capturing the left edge of the landscape. After you take that photo, rotate your waist a little to the right so that your viewfinder still has a little of the scenery you just photographed, but also has new scenery. Keep doing this until you have taken photos of all of the scenery in the landscape.

Make sure that you do this quickly enough that the light does not change or the images won’t match.

Stitch the Photos

When you get home, upload all of your photographs to your computer and open your photo editing software. Create a blank project that is the number of photos you have wider than it is tall. For example, if you have five photos that you want to stitch, then you will need to make your project five time wider than it is tall. So, if you want the panorama to be 4 inches tall, then your width would need to be 20 inches if you have five photos.

Now, you can manually stitch the images together. Add your photos to the project one-at-a-time. Drag one photo so that the edges overlaps with the one before it so that the two photos match up like a jigsaw puzzle. Do this with all of the photos until you have a line of photos that look like one image. You may have to crop the edges of the project so that they are an even line.

There you have it! Now you know how to make your own panoramic images with stitching.

Candid photos show the personality of the subject in an un-posed setting. If these types of photos appeal to you, then try these tips to capturing the best candid photos possible.

Candid Subjects

The best candid shots happen when the subject is at ease and busy. Here are some ideas for candid subjects:

• Children playing
• A senior citizen telling stories
• Girlfriends chatting
• A grandparent teaching a grandchild to do something
• A parent interacting with their child
• A person enjoying a hobby

Surprise

If your subject is a ham or hates to have his photo taken, it can be hard to get a candid photo. Hams pose as if they are on a modeling show and picture haters always want to cover their faces.

To get the best photo, you may need to surprise you subject. Walk up to them while they are occupied, get your camera ready, and call their name. As they look at you, take the picture before they have time to react.

Observing

Sometimes, surprising your subject can cause unusual facial expressions. Another way to capture your subject is to be the silent observer.

To be the perfect silent observer, you need to make sure that your subject don’t know you have a camera. This will make them relaxed and more likely to act, well, candid.

Position yourself so that you can get some good shots, but won’t intrude on your subject. This may require you to use a zoom. Also, try your best not to use a flash. Flashes of light are a dead giveaway that you’re taking photos. Remember, stealth is the key.

Patients

Candid shots are a bit harder than posed shots because you are not giving directions. It may take you many shots to get just the right look, so be patient. After a little effort, you will be able to get candid shots you can be proud of.