Create Panoramic Photos with Windows Live Photo Gallery
- by Matthew Guay
Have you ever wanted to capture the view from a mountain or the full size of a building? Here’s how you can stitch multiple shots together into the perfect panoramic picture for free with Windows Live Photo Gallery.
Getting Started
First, make sure you have Windows Live Photo Gallery installed (link below). Live Photo Gallery is part of the Windows Live Essentials suite, you can select other programs to install along with it if you want.
Make sure to uncheck setting your home page to MSN and setting your search provider as Bing if you don’t want them changed.
Now, make sure you have pictures that will work good for a panorama. These need to be taken from the same spot, and the edges of the pictures need to overlap so the program can find where the pictures connect. Here we have taken pictures inside a building with a cell phone camera.
Make your Panorama
Open Live Photo Gallery, and find the pictures you want to use in your panorama. It will automatically index and display all of the photos in your Pictures folder or Library if you’re using Windows 7.
If your pictures are saved elsewhere, add that folder to Photo Gallery. Click File, Include a folder in the gallery, and select the correct folder at the prompt.
Now select all of the pictures that you will use in your panorama. You can easily do this by clicking the checkbox on each picture that appears when you hover over it.
Once all of the pictures are selected, click Make in the menu bar and select Create panoramic photo…
Alternately, right-click on any of the pictures you’ve selected, and click Create panoramic photo…
Live Photo Gallery will analyze your photos and compost them together to create a panorama. The amount of time it takes will vary depending on the number of photos, size of the pictures, and computer speed.
When it’s finished making the panorama, you’ll be prompted to enter a file name and save the picture.
Your new panorama picture will open as soon as it’s saved. Depending on your shots, the picture may have quite a bit of black space around the edges where each picture didn’t cover the exact same amount of area.
To correct this, click Fix on the menu bar, and then select Crop Photo in the sidebar that opens.
Select the center of the picture with the crop tool, and click Apply when you’ve got the selection you want.
Live Photo Gallery automatically saves your picture changes, and you can revert back to the original picture if you wish.
Now you’ve got a nice panoramic shot, trimmed and ready to print, share, and more.
Conclusion
Panoramic shots are great ways to capture your whole surroundings, whether it’s a sports stadium, mall, or a scenic mountain view. They can also be a great way to capture more with low-resolution cameras.
Link
Download Windows Live Photo Gallery
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