Every so often, when visiting many of the iconic vistas across America, I’d struggle to capture the overwhelming awesomeness of the landscape around me.

Framing the image through my viewfinder frequently posed a tremendous challenge to adequately represent the expansive angle of the surrounding landscape.

That’s when I knew it was time to put down my Lumix and pick up my phone.

By turning to the panorama feature of my Samsung Galaxy S8,

I found a tool that brought me closer to recording longer distances.

By instantly and seamlessly stitching successive shots with integrated photo-manipulation software,

I found another way to express the world around me.

Panoramas provide an opportunity to share multiple perspectives simultaneously,

gathering as wide an angle as the scene allows–

–eliminating the frame lines and expanding the aspect ratio to maximum effect.

When used appropriately,

whether in color…

or black and white…

there is no better way to establish a field of infinite view without sacrificing the integrity of the image.

Conversely,

a case can be made for showcasing the apparent aberrations and distortions that can arise from difficulty interpolating the multiple parallax points across a scene,

thus creating something unique and/or imaginary.

For instance, flattening a circular garden path…

or warping a linear edifice.

Additionally,

by stepping away from the camera,

and freeing oneself from the single-mindedness of staring,

focusing,

composing through a viewfinder,

a feeling of liberation arises,

which can also deliver a moment of greater clarity of vision…

and kinetic connectedness to the photograph,

as the body slowly rotates to encapsulate the scene.

What follows is a retrospective of panoramic images of some of my favorite places,

in an attempt to convey the diversity,

and beauty of wide-open spaces across America,

albeit,

with a word of advice:

Although this post can be enjoyed on a mobile device,

many of the images are rich in detail,

and are best viewed on a larger screen…

to better take advantage of the breadth,

the scope,

the scale,

and enormity of the subjects.

Also,

my apologies in advance to those who are downloading on slow networks,

for the generous number of photographs with large data files…

may make it seem like an eternity before everything eventually loads.

But such is the case when shooting a photograph.

The virtue of patience…

is ultimately rewarded…

by the satisfaction of knowing that the final image can finally be appreciated.

Nice site, nice and easy on the eyes and great content too 🙂
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Stunning photos Neal!
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Thanks, Cindy.
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Wow, wonderful pictures! What a gorgeous country we live in! And thanks for your photography tips. 🙂
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So true, Susanne. This country rocks with incredible beauty. We should pray that the National Park Service can effectively manage with budget cuts and future threats of economic development across protected lands.
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Yes, totally agree! Our national parks are a treasure that deserve protection.
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👍!
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Wow, your phone does a great job. It is dizzying.
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I know. It’s absolutely “scan”dalous!
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🙂
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Goodness, what an amazing collection of panoramas! I find that I actually prefer to take multiple shots and then stitch them together later. Whenever I used the panorama program on my camera it is less good than if I just do it myself.
Your phone is doing a brilliant job though!
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Thanks. I’ve tried capturing images multiple ways, and I’ve found that over-thinking the imaging can easily detach the photographer from the reason for taking the photograph. While important, it’s easy to get lost in all the technique. I guess that explains why it’s always possible to take a great photo with a point-and-shoot camera. And the post-processing for multi-image panoramas can also be hit or miss–stacking images and working to match different perspectives. To me, the built-in processing software takes the pain out of the picture-taking. It’s not perfect, but what is?
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