Correct Way to Shoot & Stitch Panos in Lightroom! (easy to get it wrong)

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In this week’s episode, we discuss what pros know about panoramas and beginners still avoid. I've always known about panorama photography from my beginner days, but I always looked at it as a way to just make really wide photographs. With this in mind, along with not being completely confident as to how to do it, I completely avoided it. In this video, I'll review the many reasons and situations where you might want to do a pano along with the correct on-location technique and how to stitch the photographs together using Lightroom. I hope you enjoy this week's video and as always thanks so much for watching! - Mark D.
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[@robertgrenader858]

I always do panos in vertical mode, which results in a wide and tall image. The other critical tip is to remove any polarizers from your lens. In the beginning, I ruined panos when I left a CPL in place. Excellent video, Mark. Great explanation.

[@PMCN53]

Yep, Agree, capturing in vertical gives you more cropping options 👍🏻

[@gillprince]

Same here, otherwise the pano often ends up too long and thin.

[@DaveKingMusic]

What’s the problem with CPL’s? Angle of light?

[@alanhartmann3355]

Yes, the polarization effect won't be uniform across the width of the image.

[@GreenCurryiykyk]

Thanks for the polarizer info. I did not know that.

[@renoholland7090]

It is Wednesday, another video from Mark and another change to learn something. Life is good. OK, the fact that my wife is cooking a steak dinner also helps to make it a great day.

[@JMiller1070]

I always shoot my panos in portrait orientation. Gives you more room to work with on an image. I also use a nodal rail which reduces the parallax distortion of panos

[@BenPisarik]

I can solve that Rubik’s cube for you mate 😂

[@jakemcavoy2554]

VERY helpful!!! The best PANO presentation I’ve come across for beginners such as myself in pano. Thank you, Mark! ❤

[@chriskeentechnician]

That was brilliant! I've been wanting to give pano stitching a go for a while and this removes some of the fear that I had that it would be a complicated / difficult process. Thanks Mark!

[@adjake1]

i watched a webinar a while back and the photographer mentioned that she often shoots waterfalls in a panorama to help keep the grandiose perspective of the falls. I happened to have shot the same falls with a very similar composition in the past which really helped me to wrap my head around the technique. I used a wide angle to get the shot and I assume she shot much tighter with a 2 4 or 6 shot pano. Her shot completely showed the true scale of how grand the waterfall truly is, where mine , probably shot between 15-20, really made the falls look kind of small. This was dry falls in Highlands NC which you may know. I'm looking forward to getting back and trying some panos of places ive already shot to compare. As always, thanks for the 411.

[@MarioManTV]

How does one effectively stitch a waterfall? Unless you used long exposure, I would think that the moving water between the shots would be quite noticeable without a lot of post-production work.

[@seanchem1]

The panning while checking the histogram is a great tip! Good to keep in mind. Thanks for that!

[@larrygray1557]

I take quite often in real estate photography. Initially had a multi level pano head over the focal center for parallax control and compass degrees for overlap, but now, just handhold for speed. Initially started with landscape mode like you did. Now portrait mode only. So much more control of the finish product, with greater sky and foreground, so much more area for cropping that rock position without being limited by the white boundaries limiting the frame. Also, no need to use boundary warp or other stretching due to the excess you have to work with. For framing each shot overlap, while the grid will give you thirds, I find a marker in the viewfinder. What is touching it - example, a tree - move the tree to the edge for the next shot and note what is hitting that marker for the next shot as it is moved to the edge.

[@gillprince]

Agree 100% with all of this! I also shoot most of my panos hand held, unless it’s a night pano or pre sunrise etc., and as long as you have your spirit level on in the viewfinder it works perfectly 😊

[@pauldowney7130]

Thanks Mark - you just eliminated the intimidating (for me) choices around those tools for doing panos. Now I have no more excuses to avoid the process! 👍

[@cmichaelhaugh8517]

Excellent video. I’ve shot a lot of panos but never slowed down enough to experiment with each option in such a disciplined way.

[@jonpaulpepen9470]

6:40 I use camera raw which I think uses the same merge engine, but I actually find perspective works very well for merging images taken with telephoto lenses (starting around 70mm full frame equivalent, and needing a higher focal length the more images I merge)

[@gillprince]

Interesting! I will try that 😊

[@colleenkl]

Extremely helpful video Mark. Thanks for the in-depth presentation executed so clearly!!!! Can't wait to try it myself.😊

[@markledbury3666]

Awesome video Mark! Great info and a very helpful intro to stitching pano images. Thanks!

[@richardpesce5325]

Really clear examples Mark. Thanks!

[@rlau68]

Thanks for the helpful information Mark!👍

[@steveboys5369]

Another really interesting video Mark, thanks for sharing.

[@alanevans9246]

Mark, Great content, very helpful and educational. Many thanks and as always, keep snapping!

[@SinaFarhat]

Nice! Thanks for a informative video! Have a good week!

[@lisasquiresphotography]

Thank you for such an excellent, comprehensive tutorial!

[@michaelt7320]

Great video, Mark, thanks. You really covered the options and the (potential) pitfalls.

[@keiththompson2289]

This was done very well. Thank you!

[@julesselmes]

Mark, another thorough and very informative video. You really are an extra tool in my photography toolbox! Thank you

[@bobwlkr]

Excellent, Mark! Many thanks!

[@davidkelly1427]

Fantastic video Mark and very good tips on working on Panoramas in Lightroom.

[@Pondstreeter]

Thanks for showing examples of the different options in Lightroom. Very instructive.

[@barbarachamberlain6918]

Excellent! Looking forward to trying.

[@chrishall6364]

A very useful and inspiring video; thank you very much Mark!

[@sarahmitchell4729]

Once again another great video. Thank you

[@donhendricks3190]

Awesome as always, Mark! (Please - never apologize for spending time to teach us valuable tips & tricks! You are always worthy of the time we invest in your tutorials!) I haven't done too much with panorama's but this has inspired me! I plan to experiment with this in the coming months (summer is coming!). Many thanks. Loved the tutorial. With love from Atlanta.

[@warricksmith5178]

Superb vid, Mark. The most thorough tutorial on processing panos I've seen -- and I've seen a lot over the years!

[@melissam731]

Just what I needed to learn. Thanks so much for an excellent tutorial that is straightforward and concise.

[@wimscheenen3535]

Great walkthrough of all the options and how to use them best 👏🏻🙏🏻

[@conniequinton371]

Thank you for the video. This really helped.

[@esspiefotografie4786]

Hi Mark, this presentation reminded me of the time when panoramas were created in the darkrooms. Just imagining the transition is overwhelming. Thanks for this post. Have a nice day!

[@mikepenny2491]

Very well explained,thank you

[@BetchelVisuals]

Another great video. Thanks!

[@nghiepdam2061]

Thanks, Mark. It's a very good instructional video.

[@richarddenise3886]

Extraordinarily well done! 👍👍👍

[@teljo363]

Great video, very useful & informative, thank you. 👍

[@kathyperkins7628]

Great video, thanks for sharing Mark. I haven’t tried panos before but will now give it a go 😊

[@alanbudge]

Another great video Mark, making this subject so interesting. I'm quite a lazy photographer really and despite being curious about panos, I've never bothered to do one before. Your video has changed my view and I'm now looking forward to trying it out.

[@RGP_WA]

Thanks Mark! This is a great technique I will add to my work flow as I am learning LRC!

[@stevenloeven9508]

Great video Mark, I was just thinking of trying my hand at panos now I know how to go about it thanks!

[@ronhuff9736]

Thanks for all the information on panos-- a lot of things I did not know!! Great video!!

[@FINS4x3]

Another great video, man. I'm jealous of your trip to Norway. It is hopefully on my list of places to shoot in the next few years. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to share your insight.

[@markallemang7745]

Love your methodical approach of looking carefully at what each option does. Leads to very clear understanding of the why. Had never considered telephoto pano. Going to try that on a city skyline.

[@michellewesson4409]

Great video. Your clear and succinct explanations make me want to go out and try this. Kudos

[@galpiper9129]

Great video, I do pano’s quite a lot & found this really useful, thanks.

[@vzshadow1]

Thanks for the great tutorial.

[@nb7524]

Thanks Mark, finally I think that I can tackle a pano. I’m now looking forward to it.

[@pokhara535345]

Wonderful mark it was really fantastic to learn from a master

[@chantallabelle8571]

Very interesting video.. thank you for the good information about pano.

[@JoeHTX]

Good information, thank you! I've been perplexed with the "fill edges" setting, getting the ghosting and misplaced objects. I never though about using the stretch edges first then fill a smaller part with the "fill edges". Now I have some new techniques to try to improve my panoramas that I'm sure will do wonders for them.

[@PMCN53]

A great tutorial Mark👍🏻

[@Bwanar1]

Great video...good refresher. Haven't done them in awhile and only in Photoshop. Glad you can stay in Lightroom now.

[@1964pmitchell]

Fantastic video, used to do stitched panoramas many years ago but never kept up with it. Definitely worth revisiting as a way to reinvigorate my photographic journey.

[@gillprince]

I love stitched panos - definitely worth getting back into it!

[@Suhailkhan53]

Excellent video indeed. ❤❤

[@KoloksPhotographyAU]

Thanks mate, really enjoyed it! Time is not a matter as long as we learn something!👍🏼

[@ianslingsby3415]

Love the idea of a zoom pano great tutorial Mark.

[@misreb1]

Interesting! I have always used the prespective option for the landscape. I shall try the other two options from now on

[@MrAnah2009]

Great effort and excellent video. You made it so simple to produce such a high quality image. Liked the video and subscribed.

[@keithspangler4814]

Very helpful!

[@GrahamHolmes]

Thanks Mark. Great video as always. I have had good results with handheld pianos too both with my wide angle and my 70-200.

[@michaelmanzonephotography]

Good video. I also like to use the warp and content aware tools in Photoshop. That way you do not have to crop so heavy.

[@GuidoVanDeWater]

Great video!

[@RobZ1967]

I've played around with the pano feature, but this explains a lot!! Thanks for another great video!!

[@lucacanever]

Great video, thank you. Very interesting the idea of using a telephoto lens for panoramas.

[@IanRobinson-wl6uq]

Good session learnt alot👍

[@johnbeattyphotos]

Mark, great explanation of the different options LR gives for panos. I have used it but have not given the options a try. For years my goto program (that I still use) is Kolor Autopano Giga which is now out of production.

[@susanfirth2279]

Great timing on this one Mark. I have been trying my hand at stitching a pano recently. I will go back and try some of these tips. Beautiful images. Especially like the zoomed in one.

[@gillprince]

How are you getting on with it so far? I do love a stitched pano!

[@mariosnicolaou8770]

Excellent video Mark. I also shoot my panos in portrait orientation like the previous commentator. Never mind if you go long in your videos, it's always a pleasure to watch and listen to your expertise. Thank you for a great video. I really do appreciate that you explain the details in your videos, including all the options, as sometimes we might just get used to doing things a certain way and not realise that right in front of us is a button that makes our job so much easier, or improves the quality of our photo. I have learned a great deal from your videos because you put the effort into finding these details for your viewers :)

[@scothowe539]

I switched over to a modified fluid head with a leveling base that Hudson Henry touts on his channel. It works wonderful for shooting panoramas. Multi row and vertical panos are much easier because your always level.

[@DaveBerthiaume]

Good stuff. I always shoot my panos as a series of vertical (portrait) images so that I have plenty of top/bottom room to play with when cropping.

[@gillprince]

Same here 😊

[@VABrowneMDPhD]

Excellent review of the Photo Merge Panorama capabilities in Lightroom. I find that choosing spherical, versus cylindrical, versus perspective projections depends on the lens and focal length. I my experience wider focal lengths seem to work better with the spherical and cylindrical projections, whereas cylindrical and perspective work better with longer focal lengths.

[@garryhughes3747]

Very helpful. Thank you. I have had a few messed up skies in a panorama by forgetting to take off the polarising filter!

[@ianspatz8234]

Great video. Like others, I have used Pano but without understanding some of the differences and options you reviewed. I use it hand held, portrait orientation. It's important to use manual settings to ensure that all the images are exposed the same. I don't bother to fix the focus as, for anything at a distance, it's not going to change from shot to shot. I am jealous of how fast your computer processes these panos. Mine takes forever.

[@gillprince]

That’s a great point about shooting in manual (vs something like aperture priority) to avoid the exposure changing and giving you banding in the sky - I was surprised he didn’t mention that. And on focus, I’d agree, but if you’ve ever tried doing a pano in a woodland, where some elements are quite close to you, then making sure your depth of field is enough to ensure all elements are in focus becomes really important. I only discovered this by getting it wrong the first time!

[@reesmarkham2140]

Thank you, Mark,and thank you, God, for the refresher coarse .going to Kauai in April only taking prime lenses. Will most definitely be taking panoramic ❤ Rees

[@brandonwalter8532]

This was so cool to watch! Thank you! I regret not knowing this when I lived in Washington. I need to go back! 😂 Excellent video sir!

[@dumodude]

I took a business trip to BC soon after getting my first DSLR. I brought my camera along and thought I'd take a few photos, time permitting. It was winter and I convinced the hotel staff to open the patio for me late in the day, where there was a gorgeous vista. I had experimented with a few panos in Lightroom, but this time around I took 15 (5x3) handheld photos, 24 megapixels each. Lightroom stitched them together wonderfully, and that was about 8 years ago. The final image after overlap and cropping was about 150 megapixels. The picture's nothing to write home about, but the process was very successful and impressive.

[@lanceschill75]

Good post, Mark

[@noelmallia]

fantastic video as always, Mark! I like to take panoramas holding the camera vertically and add more photos so it will be a wilder image

[@milescherkasky9837]

Thanks!

[@gabrielgomez7099]

Thanks for your tips. I never saw the slider among the options, it's really useful. Maybe it's not in my LR version. Greetings from Spain.

[@ianjohnstone1061]

Well done Mark, The video is a Beauty Mate... 🙃AU

[@guykerr8111]

Helpful…… Thanks!

[@steliospodimatis3395]

Great explanation and the photo example's were very helpful in the understanding of the features LR. Thanks! BTW.. you mentioned in a previous YT video that you upgraded your monitor can you share which one you settled on?

[@sean19]

Great tips . Thanks 👍👌🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@charliecarteroutdoors9217]

Awesome info, I have been holding off on panos just because of not knowing what to do with them really. I will be trying it out soon.

[@JohnSmith-ov7iz]

"Create Stack" is also a good option to select. A good way to keep the original files and the resulting pano organized.

[@markjarrett9400]

Thank you. I have had a lot of problems making a pano with a 24 mm lens with astro picture. Lightroom and photoshop did all sorts of crazy things. This leads on to the question does the focal length have an impact on producing a more realistic pano.

[@paulcooper9187]

It was helpful

[@smartiefox256]

Great tutorial! Another video I can suggest if anyone has questions about panorama settings in Photoshop/Lightroom. Towards the end of the video; I actually checked my 2022 folder and more than 60% of my panoramas were photographed on my 150-600mm lens. I never thought about this at all., Thanks a lot for making me notice - will definetly help me to explore the wide angle pano a little more this year :)

[@jespererrboe4093]

I learned an awful lot THERE - thanks

[@johnlyon8403]

I’m looking forward to experimenting with my tilt shift lens to create some panoramas.

[@FredericoVianabr]

Very nice video! Would have been great to see the final version of those 2 pano's with your editing ☺️

[@AdamMatthewsPhotography]

Fantastic video! This was really helpful. I've played around a little with spherical vs. cylindrical in the past, but I haven't actually shot that many panos. The "why you might shoot these" was also great insight. I have wondered about / struggled with cropping panoramas. Do you typically crop for a certain aspect ratio? Or just crop creatively as needed by the image? And maybe what are some of the advantages / disadvantages?

[@robertwhitemoto]

Thank you Mark, very helpful! Hey what tool do you use to capture your screen while showing Lightroom in this video?

[@EMvanLoon]

Pano merge with settings 'perspective' is really useful when using tilt/shift lenses, of course in the shift modus.

[@kendoggett8868]

Really appreciate your videos. Just excellent and really has taught me a lot. Question on Pans. Do you prefer horizonal or vertical perspectives. I tend to gravitate toward vertical as you get MORE in the finished product. Your thoughts? Thanks.