Panoramic photography

Panoramic photography, like the word panorama, refers to an entire view of a surrounding area. Panoramic photographs try to capture such a view. The origin of the word comes from two Greek words, παν (pan), meaning "whole", and ὅραμα (órama), meaning "view".

There is no formal definition for where "wide angle" ends and "pan" begins, but a truly panoramic image must capture a field of view comparable to (or greater than) that of the human eye, which is 160 ° by 75° from a point of view, and it should do so while maintaining accurate detail across the entire portrait.

Currently, it is possible to take panoramic photographs in any proportion with the use of a common camera, scanner or digital cameras. There are several software available for this, capable of combining several photos into a single image, reaching a view of up to 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically, closing a complete sphere.

There are several ways to take a panoramic photo, either with the use of specific equipment, such as parabolic mirrors, or with normal equipment, later manipulating the result to compose the panorama. Many modern machines also bring functions for the automatic creation of panoramas. Some models have graphics on the screen that make it easier to shoot the next photo, so that fitting them is easier. Others take a video while you rotate the camera and then the equipment selects the frames and creates the panoramic photo from the junction of them. Notably some Sony models use this technique.

Photographers who perform panoramas are called panoramars.