Playing Around With My Phone's Panorama Camera Function...Shooting Up

It took a me a long time to figure out that the panorama camera function on my phone wasn't just for shooting a wide landscape shot.

It can also shoot up....

Or, I suppose, down, if needs be.

Of course, you have to turn your camera horizontal to take a vertical panorama shot, which, is weird because you have to turn your camera horizontal to take a horizontal shot in normal mode.

Tonight's sunset didn't have much color near the western horizon, but higher up, it was gorgeous. Taking a normal vertical shot would not have done it justice, so I utilized the panorama function and I think it turned out well.

Here's a few examples.

I use my phone everyday (like most of us...) and a majoritty of my Pics Of The Day are from my phone. It's an old phone, too--ancient in technological years--but I'll keep using it. It keeps taking pictures I'm glad to share.

Not All Panos Are Created Equal...

I am in the process of switching phones. I've had my iPhone 4 for several years and one of the things I've liked most about having a smartphone is not the games or the internet, but the camera. That little camera is a photographer's dream! When I think of how advanced my DSLR is over my SLR, it blows my mind, but when I think about how much the cameras on smartphones can do, it's even more impressive.

Before I got my iPhone I carried around with me a 10 mp Kodak. It was a great camera and I liked it a lot, but the smartphone cameras can do more and are smaller than my point-and-shoot. There was one feature on the Kodak, however, that was great--the Panoramic feature. Unfortunately, the iPhone 4 does not have a panoramic setting. You have to download apps and the apps are, in a word, lacking.

Here's an example of a pano shot with the iPhone 4 + app...

And a pano shot from the iPhone 4s from the same vantage point.

It's not even close.

I had fun taking pano pictures with the iPhone 4s while at my summer gig (the first pano picture I took was at work--it's my cubicle...). I got pictures of beautiful elk, nice scenery, my show's stage manager, and our dressing room. What a great way to expand my perspective!