by Chris Guld, Geeks on Tour
Trinidad de Cuba, Photo by Jim Guld with a Nexus 6 Android phone.
Lake Santa Fe, Florida: Photo by Chris Guld with an iPhone 7+
When you travel, you get so many opportunities for beautiful photos and, if you have a smartphone, you have one of the best cameras ever made. Taking panoramas, like the photos above, is just a simple setting. To learn the basics of taking pictures with your smartphone, see Episode 110 of What Does This Button Do? Smartphone Camera Essentials.
iPhone Pano Setting
When you open the Camera app on an iPhone, you will see words just above the shutter button: Time-Lapse, Slo-Mo, Video, Photo, Square, Pano. You may need to swipe left on the screen until you see Pano, then tap on it. It means Panorama.
- Tap Pano.
- You need to hold the phone vertically to take a wide panorama picture. (If you hold it horizontally, you can take a vertical panorama.)
- You will see an arrow and a line telling you to pan the phone from left to right, keeping the arrow on the line. If you want to pan from right to left, just tap the arrow and it will turn around.
- Tap the shutter button (white circle) to begin panning, tap it again to stop.
- That’s it, you can view the panorama in Google Photos (or Apple Photos).
Android Panorama
Unless you have a very off-brand Android phone, you have a panorama setting somewhere! Be aware that every model of Android phone or tablet may be a bit different. First open the camera app. The panorama mode might be under a settings button, or a 3-line menu with choices, or a 3-dot menu with choices. When I open the camera app on my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone, I see a button called Mode. I tap that and Panorama is one of the choices.
- Tap Panorama.
- You need to hold the phone vertically to take a wide panorama picture. (If you hold it horizontally, you can take a vertical panorama.)
- You will see a horizontal bar where the panorama appears as you pan the phone. Some models don’t show this until after you start panning.
- Tap the shutter button and start panning; tap it again to stop.
- That’s it – you can view the panorama in Google Photos (or Gallery).
Watch these 1 minute videos to see Panorama in action.
Chris Guld is President and Teacher-in-Chief at GeeksOnTour.com. She is the author of Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos. She and her husband, Jim, produce a free weekly online show called What Does This Button Do? They have been Fulltime RVers, popular seminar presenters at RV Rallies, computer clubs, and senior centers, for many years.
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