michaelmistretta.com

Digital photography is quickly becoming one of my favourite hobbies. I enjoy learning about techniques, and practicing different styles in different settings. However, one type of photography that I had never thought of using was Panoramic Photography. In my mind, panoramas needed a precise, level tripod, and pictures on a calculated horizontal axis. Then, they required hours of post-processing in order for them to look somewhat decent. I was so wrong.

While I was at Niagara Falls earlier this week taking a much needed vacation and some photographs, I decided to snap some photos from behind the falls. Not really thinking about it, I took 6 photos, moving my camera from left to right after each one. I didn’t use a tripod. I wasn’t precise. I didn’t even plan it out. After returning to the hotel, my good friend Chad Ohman recommended DoubleTake, a $25 application that makes creating panoramas as easy as dragging and dropping your photos. No Photoshop. No manually stitching of photos together. Just drag and drop.

I was amazed by the results. DoubleTake makes panoramas possible for everyday people. Almost no setup is required, yet you can produce simply stunning results. Say you are at a party, and forgot to bring your wide-angle lens. All you have to do is take two or three pictures that are horizontally adjacent to each other. When you get back to your Mac, simply drop the photos into DoubleTake, and it will automatically make them into a panorama. Of course, you can tweak the panorama to your liking, as well as apply basic edits to the exposure, contrast and gamma.

Another very interesting use of DoubleTake that I have been experimenting with, is the iPhoto Slideshow Ken Burns effect. Usually, a panorama would look pretty boring in a slideshow, being letterboxed by two black rectangles. However, a panorama paired with the Ken Burns effect can lead to some pretty powerful results. For example, you can zoom in, and pan across your wide image from left to right for 15 seconds. It really helps the viewers understand the depth and size of the locations you photographed.

DoubleTake really makes panoramas as simple as possible, and can add an additional layer of creativity to your photos. Now, when I take photos, panoramas are now another option for me. I don’t need plan ahead, or have any special equipment or software, and it doesn’t require a lot of post-processing time. DoubleTake is great for the amateur or the professional photographer, and can really introduce you into a whole different realm of creative photography.

Update: One very dedicated reader has decided to compare how DoubleTake panoramas compare to Photoshop panoramas in a very in-depth blog post. Thanks!