Saturday, May 5, 2007

Grand Canyon Panorama


We were hiking in the Grand Canyon towards “the best view of the sunset” when I stopped to get this scene. It’s a good thing that I stopped because that “best view” didn’t happen and because I especially like this shot.

A panorama is a wide view and especially if wide as compared to height. Panoramic photographs were (and still are) made with special cameras, wide angle lenses and strips of film. Like many aspects of photography, digital cameras and editors have changed panoramic photography as well. This particular image is composed of nine separate shots using a Canon G3 digital camera. The separate images were “stitched” together in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

A panorama should be printed instead of displayed on a screen. There is almost no point in showing a panorama on the Internet or even on a computer unless it can be panned for viewing. In the tiny image above, all detail is lost. The print shows the other members of our hiking group. Of course, the print – even at 1 foot high and 8 feet long – is miniscule compared to the actual view.

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