Shoot straight toward the horizon: Point the camera level and parallel to the ground. To avoid a distorted final photograph it's important to shoot directly toward the horizon. If you don't want all that sky in your photograph, you can always crop it out of the final panoramic image.

Download images to your computer and stitch: Usually you will need to download the pictures to your computer to "stitch" the photos together. Stitching is the process of combining all the individual images into one complete panoramic photograph. You will need stitching software, hopefully included when you bought your digital camera. There are also multiple programs available on the web for photo stitching. A web search on "stitching software" will give you a good starting point. Some sites offer free software trial periods. I suggest you try them before you buy them; some programs are very versatile but not user friendly. You can also combine the photographs together and give it a collage look using Adobe Photoshop.

Printing: Printing these images has its limitations. You can send these to an ink jet printer but the images will be limited to the paper size. There are a couple print service web sites that will print panoramic images. One web site uses photographic paper and will print images 6" or 12" tall. The image will be as long as it takes to print the whole image. Wide format printers also lend themselves to panoramic images and are available at some specialty print service stores.

Really interested in shooting panoramic images? If you want to perfect your panoramic picture taking, I would suggest a tripod and panhead. There are commercial panheads available. If you are handy in the shop you can be make one out of wood. Mount a bubble level to make sure the camera is parallel to the horizon. It should have angle markings so you can rotate the camera the same for each shot. The rotating mount is designed so the camera rotates around its nodal point. If you have items in the foreground and background, rotating about the nodal point is important to prevent parallax errors.

Panoramic images are great for capturing the full spirit of your surroundings. Digital cameras enable everyone to create panoramic images. With these hints, you should now be well prepared for creating your own breathtaking panoramic images.