In 1977 I abandoned the 110 format and bought the Pentax ME camera with its 50mm lens, it had insufficient angle for the panoramas I wanted to photograph, so I bought the Pentax SMC 28mm f 2.8 wide angle thinking that it had solved the problem, but it didn’t, I needed an even greater angle.
Among my hobbies was touring the Pyrenees. The views were exceptional: Hundreds of lakes, immense landscapes, fauna and flora, beautiful villages etc… What to do? The solution was to put together some desperate “collages” to preserve those landscapes in my photo albums.
As a modest photographer, I only had simple means that were also easy to transport. The “collage” of the first panorama was really desperate, it was based on photos processed by a neighborhood laboratory and I had a hard time finding the optimal cut line for the assembly, but in the end I did it. Now it seems so primitive…
From each of the panoramas you can see the scan of the “collage” on paper pasted in an album and the same image mounted and edited with PhotoShop / CorelPhoto using the digital files scanned from the 35mm negatives. My albums contain at least 70 panoramas mounted in “collage” and are part of family memories.
In no panorama did I use a tripod or take additional precautions. I also do not know what were the techniques that the professionals of the time used to mount their panoramas although I can imagine them.
Film Panoramas
Date: 07-26-1980
Place: Ordiceto Lake 2,390 m – Huesca Pyrenees (Spain)
Camera: Pentax ME
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 3 horizontal
Date: 20-10-1984
Place: Finisterre – Costa de Coruña (Spain)
Camera: Pentax ME
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 2 horizontal
Here you can see how I saved all my photos and panoramas as well as the simple tools for “collages”
Date: 20-10-1984
Place: Cregüeña Lake 2,637 m. 45.4 Ha – Pyrenees of Huesca (Spain)
Camera: Pentax ME
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 3 horizontal + 1 vertical + 1 horizontal
Angle: 260º
Date: 06-29-1988
Place: Estany de la Gola 2,250 m. – Lleida Pyrenees (Spain)
Camera: Pentax ME
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 2 horizontal
Date: 06-27-1993
Place: Estanyet de Besiberri 2,160 m. – Lleida Pyrenees (Spain)
Camera: Pentax Z1
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 2 horizontal
Date: 08-21-1997
Place: Tikal (Guatemala)
Camera: Pentax MZ5
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 2 horizontal
Mounted from scanned negatives
Date: 03-21-2002
Location: Al Azhar Mosque – Cairo (Egypt)
Camera: Pentax MZ5
Film: Kodak 200
Shots: 2 vertical
Digital Panoramas
The digital format has changed everything, I keep panning and it’s easier but less exciting. Now there is no waiting for development and I can repeat the photos as many times as I want until they are good, then a simple editing job and it is finished.
In this environment the work is much easier, for the assembly I used the Photomerge tool from PhotoShop but once each panoramic was obtained I cut it and edited it with Corel Photopaint In some case (panoramic from Colón monument) I looked for matches in each shot and linked them directly with Corel Photopaint.
Finally in almost all cases they ended up as paper copies and pasted into my albums. Since 2002 I have added over 70 panoramic photos of digital origin to my collection, it has been difficult to choose the appropriate panoramic for this article.
Over time I used various cameras and did not use a tripod or take any additional precautions for any panorama.
Date: 05-07-2002
Place: Baborte lake 2.350 m. (Tirvia – Pirineu de Lleida – Spain)
Camera: Minota Dimage 7
Shots: 3 Verticals
Date: 05-02-2003
Place: 2nd hand market “Los Encantes” (Barcelona – Spain)
Camera: Minota Dimage 7
Shots: 2 Horizontal
Date: 04-19-2009
Place: Viewpoint from Colón monument (Barcelona – Spain)
Camera: Kodak P880 (Zoom to 24mm. Eq.)
Shots: 16 Verticals
Angle: More than 360º
Size: (4x 3.935 =) 15.340×1639 Px.
Note: I supported the camera in each of the 16 windows with negative inclination of the viewpoint.
Date: 13-12-2008
Place: Railway Museum (Vilanova – Spain)
Camera: Kodak P880
Shots: 5 Horizontal
Date: 12-30-2012
Place: Santa Mª del Mar (The Cathedral of the Sea – Barcelona – Spain)
Camera: Fujifilm HS30
Shots: 2 Vertical + 1 horizontal
Date: 01-12-2013
Place: Old market “Born” (Barcelona – Spain)
Camera: Fujifilm HS30
Shots: 3 Horizontal
Date: 11-09-2017
Place: Sant Pol – S’Agaró (Girona – Spain)
Camera: Sony A37
Shots: 4 Horizontal
Date: 20-03-2016
Place: Cathedral (Barcelona – Spain)
Camera: Sony A37
Shots: 2 Verticals
Thanks for your attention and patience, I hope that the article has been interesting to you, I have enjoyed doing it since it has helped me to remember special moments of my life.
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Comments
Christopher James on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
David Allen on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
Rock on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
Birkin on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
Saludos.
Kate Johnson on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
Jordi Fradera on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
Mike Hannon on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 07/07/2020
I love the pic of your panorama tools. I want that scissors!
John Sullivan on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 08/07/2020
Beautiful photographs! The church is spectacular! I like to do panorama too. I have found that Adobe Lightroom has a merge feature that is much easier than Photoshop, it also seems to be less prone to failure. I also like the iPhone pano feature its great when I don't have my camera with me.
DeeDee on 4 Decades of Panoramas – Analogue & Digital – By Jordi Fradera
Comment posted: 08/07/2020