Managing Digital Photos with Your iPhone: Panoramic Images

A few months ago, I posted a blog about stitching panoramic photos together in Adobe® Photoshop® (read that blog). Although a DSLR and Photoshop are still my preferred tools, I recently found a application (app) that allows me to shoot and stitch my photos on an iPhone with just a couple of clicks. Actually three clicks to be exact: start, stop and save.

I had the opportunity to try out this cool tool while on a recent trip to Chicago. I was creating panoramic photos immediately after installing it.

The app is called 360 Panorama by Occipital and it’s incredibly easy to use. The interface even includes a wireframe grid to help you keep the iPhone aligned as you’re shooting your panorama. Once you click the start/stop button, all you have to do is pan the iPhone and each part of the panorama is captured and aligned with what has already been captured. When you’re done, click the start/stop button – the image is processed in a couple of seconds and then it’s ready to be saved. You can even upload the finished image to your Twitter and Facebook accounts without even leaving the app.

Although I haven’t used them, I’ve also heard about other apps that use the video camera of the iPhone and create panoramas from that. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has had any experience using that type of app.

There are a lot of utilities for the iPhone and a lot of them are available as free downloads. I find that I no longer miss having a laptop with me while I’m on the road.

As more apps are built for the iPhone and other portable devices, more and more will be able to be done from wherever you happen to be. In the coming weeks, Rande Simpson will talk about another app for the iPhone that allows you to send your photos directly to the Merlin digital asset management system.

Posted by James Burke
Photos by James Burke