This is a sample panorama produced by Microsoft’s Photosynth iPhone application. The application helps photographers make seamless panoramas from their iPhone. The stitching program makes overlaps each new image by approximately 50%, making it easy to assemble a partial or 360 degree panorama. Even though this sample is a partial panorama, I highly recommend making 360 degree views as the viewing experience is much more emotionally involving that a flat photograph and conveys far more information.
My only experience with panoramas prior to Photosynth has been creating flat panoramas of 180 or 240 degrees. Photosynth enables quick, quality immersive 360 degree panorama experiences. It dramatically enhances the creative possibilities with a smartphone camera and gives photographers a new way to express their experience of a place. The Photosynth app makes it easy to scroll and view the resulting image on the phone, or upload it to Photosynth (with a Windows Live account) for online viewing as a scrollable panorama. You can also upload flat images to Facebook.
One last thought – the online collection of partial and 360 panoramas made by Photosynth users is pretty impressive, and a great way to remotely explore travel locations. The panoramas are searchable on Bing Maps. I love the Four Corners region and found some interesting panoramas of Canyon de Chelly simply by drilling into the map. Here’s an example of a good one I found by a user known as mike.lyoung. Mike has 9 Southwestern Photosynths on his page, and they’re all quite good. Worth exploring on Photosynth to find your own favorites.
