Sometimes a picture tells a story. Other times the story just needs more.

Step 1: Storm Moving Across the Valley

On a family vacation to Mesa Verde we stopped at the last scenic over look on the way out of Mesa Verde. On this particular day there were three fast moving storms traveling across the valley. The view from horizon to horizon went from one extremely sunny, beautiful afternoon ahead of the storm to a very dark shaded area under the storm. I did not have a wide angle lens with me at the time so I started taking photographs of the event with the hope that I could create a panoramic shot of the valley. I thought with creative framing I might be able to create a "window view" of the storms.

Step 2: Stitched Photograph

With digital photography creating a stitched photograph has become a lot easier. With the printed photographs laid out on a flat surface I was able to pick the photographs that matched the best to decide which photographs to use. Then I used all of these photographs to create the large stitched image. Your results are better if you have the long line of photographs, and some that are above and below the image. I used ArcSoft Panorama Maker, but there are several programs available.

The program will have you select your images then place them in order. Once you have them placed the program analyzes and matches pixels to create a unified single larger image. With your photographs in order and "stitched" you can select how to crop the very ends, top and bottom edges until you are satisfied with the results.

For the price of the software, which is only slightly higher than the SD card you use in your camera, you now can have panoramic shots without the cost of a large panoramic camera.