How to Take a Panoramic Photo on iOS 7

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but a panoramic photo is even more valuable. Everyone loves panoramas because there is really nothing to hate about them; they capture more detail in a single photo than you would normally see in a normal photo, and can accurately provide an excellent perspective for those looking at them.

iOS 7 comes with a panoramic photo mode that lets you easily take panoramic photos in a snap, and it’s much easier than messing up your point-and-shoot camera and taking a bunch of photos and combining them in Photoshop. Apple’s solution is extremely user-friendly and we’ll show you how it works and how you can take the best panoramic photo out of all your friends.

Taking Panoramic Photographs

To take a panoramic photo in iOS 7, open the Camera app and swipe left twice until you see Clipboard over the big, white shutter button at the bottom right. When you look at the screen, you will see a bar running across the screen with an arrow pointing right on the far left and a picture-in-picture display next to the arrow.

Tap the shutter button to start the panoramic photo capture process. Now, slowly swipe your phone to the right to start capturing your surroundings. If you prefer to swipe your phone left, simply tap the arrow to switch sides. You can make your panoramic photo as large as you want, but the Camera app puts a limit on how far you can pan. To finish capturing your panorama, you can tap the shutter button again to go all the way or cut it at any point in between.

How to Take a Good Panoramic Photo

With all that said, taking a panoramic photo in the Camera app in iOS 7 is pretty easy, but you need to know a few tricks and tips to take good panoramic photos. Here are a few basic tips you can use to improve the quality of your panoramas.

alternatives

Obviously, there are limitations to the panorama mode in the Camera app; There is a maximum distance you can scroll and you cannot scroll up or down (side-to-side only). This can be a problem if the subject you’re capturing is taller than your camera’s frame.

If you want to take a panoramic photo that can take both side-by-side and up and down, we recommend trying Microsoft’s Photosynth app. This is a Free download from iTunes App Storeand it has the same basic concept as iOS’s panorama mode. We found that it doesn’t combine photos as well as the iOS version, but it gives you a lot more flexibility in capturing the perfect panorama.