What is Panoramic Photography?
Panoramic Photography is capturing images on a wider format, so as to include much more than what eyes can see naturally from a point. To capture a panoramic image, one needs a wider aspect ratio so that there is a view which is unobstructed of a vaster area.
Understanding Panoramic Photography
In the early stages of panoramic photography, images were captured at angles of 150 degrees, with moving cameras. Now it is possible to get a full 360 degree image with sophisticated cameras which rotate, keeping the exact time with the moving of the film. With sophisticated photo editing software, it is also now possible to "stitch" together images taken from ordinary cameras to form a consolidated panoramic image.
Usually panoramic photography is used to capture scenes of landscapes of natural beauty or even of city skylines. This photography gives a wide perspective to the scene, accentuating the effect of vastness and capturing it in an image. Although a panoramic view is usually thought of on a horizontal perspective, like in landscapes, the photographic technique can also be used to create a panoramic effect from a vertical perspective. For example, if you are standing quite close to a skyscraper building and would like to capture the towering beauty of the structure, you could use the same technique, but instead of panning horizontally, you will be going vertically.