Creating a handheld vertorama photo

This may not be new news to you. But being lazy does not necessarily get you the best images. This is an example of me being a bit lazy and leaving the tripod behind. I was still able to get a result for my vertorama, but had to work a bit more in post production.

Vertorama

Let’s start with what I call a vertorama. Think of a panorama but it does up and down, or vertical, versus horizontal. When creating a panorama it is wise to turn the camera on its vertical axis when capturing your sequence. This gives you the most real estate when you stitch your images. Conversely, when making a vertorama, I suggest keeping your camera in the horizontal position for the same reason.

Final vertorama containing the towering canyon walls above Oak Creek in Sedona, Arizona

Capture

Ideally, when making your image sequence, your camera should be on a tripod. This helps keep you in line. For best results, it’s also wise to pivot around the light entry point of the ball head. I’ll link to some other articles I’ve written detailing the why’s and how to accomplish the light entry point pivot.

Notice that the stitch was a bit wonky because I didn’t use the light entry point rotation and lacked a tripod.

In the case of this capture, while not having a tripod, I was able to make a capture of this canyon rising over the creek. You’ll notice that I wasn’t exactly straight up in my subsequent captures. Tripods really do help!

Process

Using Photo Merge in Photoshop, I stitched the frames. Since I missed my vertical by a bit, I used the “Content Aware Fill” under the “Edit” menu to reproduce some of the pixels. There are lots of ways to clean up empty areas of an image, from Cloning, Content Aware Fill to Generative Fill and more. I always try to note when an image has been manipulated this way versis putting it forward as a straight photographic capture.

Photoshop Layers palette after invoking the PhotoMerge Tool. Photoshop creates the masks and blends the images.

Thoughts

While I didn’t have the proper equipment to make the image, I didn’t let that stop me from trying the capture and seeing what would come of it. Learning about this photography stuff means to keep trying and experimenting. I call this failing forward. If you don’t make mistakes, you aren’t pushing forward to become a better photographer. Lesson learned here? Don’t leave the tripod behind. The side lesson? If you don’t have exactly the correct tools, don’t give up making the image.

Additional reading on panorama/vertorama articles:

• Make your panoramas/vertoramas better with a few inexpensive tools.
• How to create a panorama in Photoshop with Richard Harrington
• Photographing and processing a Grand Canyon Panorama – Part One

Yours in Creative Photography,

Bob

• Posted on January 9, 2025