Hey ZooChatters, here are some tips on how I've found to get really good panoramas of zoo enclosures (or anything in general). The first tutorial includes Photoshop usage and the second doesn't. If you don't have access to Photoshop at home try your local library or school computer lab. They often have the Adobe Creative Suite. As for Android or other smartphone users, I don't know how they work (only use iPhone) so if someone else wants to detail that process in a reply to this thread don't hesitate to add it. Hope this helps! Method 1: If using a regular camera 1) Place the camera at the edge of where you either want your finished panorama to start or end. 2) Take the first photo and stay as still as possible 3) Slowly, gently rotate the camera to get angle #2 while keeping it level and the same height (If you can pivot the camera on a fence or post that helps too) and take your second shot. 4) Repeat step #3 until you get all of the angles you need to complete your panorama. Make sure to keep some of the same view as the last photo in the camera's viewfinder so the next step will be easy. 5) When you've come home and imported your photos to wherever you usually store them, open up Photoshop and go to File > Automate > Photomerge. 6) Click "browse" and find the photos you took of the exhibit. Select them all. 7) Once you have the photos selected click "ok" and then "ok" again. 8) Photoshop will merge the multiple photos together to create a panorama. Select all the layers in the layer box and right click. Select "merge layers". 9) Make sure to straighten and crop the image as best you can. 10) Make sure to add a little color that was lost when taking the photo. I saturate my photos with +15 amount of light to get as close as I can to the original look. 11) Once that's done go to File > Save As and save your panorama as a JPEG 12) Open up the image you just saved and resize it so that its height in pixels is no bigger than 1080. 13) Save that smaller duplicate and then you can upload it to ZooChat! Method 2: If using an iPhone 1) Go to the camera on you iphone and put it on the "Pano" setting. 2) Position the viewfinder at the left edge of where you either want your finished panorama to start. 3) Touch the shutter button and gently move the iphone to the right while keeping it level. 4) When done touch the shutter button to stop the panorama. 5) Your photo was saved to the camera roll. Now import it to your computer. 6) Repeat steps #5-13 from Method 1 (above) and you are done!
