The Pseudo Panoramic

Most digital cameras today have the ability to create in camera interesting panoramic images. It is one of those things where you push and hold the shutter release then slowly pan your camera from left to right while the camera captures a series of images that are processed in camera to create a panoramic picture. It actually works rather well and I do use it from time to time myself. Even though there are numerous ways to create panoramic images there is another shot cut you can use to generate what appears to be a panoramic; The Pseudo Panoramic.

The Pseudo Panoramic is simply a creative cropping technique where by you trim the image across the top and bottom to create a wide area look. I run across photographers sometimes who tend to shy away from cropping probably believing this is what the camera captured and that is my image. They may also have a specific size image in mind like an 8 x 10 format or something like that. Certainly this practice is a perfectly rational and acceptable technique one where even I put into practice quite a bit. But sometimes an image serves itself well to take on a wider look.

There is no real magic here or complex formula, its just a matter of looking at the image determining what can be cropped and what should be kept. I typically do not worry so much about the aspect ratio, or size of the image. I just crop it until it looks the way I want it to look. If I need it to be a certain size I will usually create a poster format for a specific size and paste the image onto the background. The idea then is to observe the content of the image and determine how well it serves itself as a panoramic.

So give it a try. Using ordinary size images and making them appear like a panoramic can add a great deal of spark and interest to you photographs.