Widescreen Expansive

The sideways panorama is the most popular kind, but it requires discipline

By far the most popular direction to extend the image is sideways, and the technique of pan-and-stitch makes it extremely easy. In fact, most smartphone cameras can do it. The word ‘pan’, which comes from the motion picture industry, is a contraction of panorama and these have a near-universal appeal and an interesting history, both worth exploring. Not only the way we see, but also the physical way that landscapes and cityscapes are laid out, naturally encourage a panoramic view; one of the most basic appeals is it immerses the viewer. In painting, panoramas go back at least as far as Roman murals, while 360-degree panoramas viewed on a cylinder from inside became wildly popular in the late 18th century in Europe.