LEVEL-HEADED LANDSCAPES

Adam Waring shows you how to ensure that the horizons in your panoramas are perfectly horizontal by using a levelling base

- Adam Waring

1 HOUR - When you’re photographing landscapes, it’s desirable to have a perfectly level horizon. Most tripods have a number of bubble levels to help you level your shooting platform, and cameras that have a built-in virtual horizon display in Live View mode make it easier than ever – at least for shooting a single frame.

However, when you’re shooting a panorama, you’ll inevitably find that what was level in one orientation becomes increasingly off-kilter as you pan the tripod head to shoot the individual segments for stitching. It’s a problem that’s exacerbated if you’re shooting on an uneven surface, as getting the tripod even close to being level becomes a real juggling act of adjusting the length of all three tripod legs.

This is the issue we were faced with when shooting the picturesque pier above. We wanted to capture the pier at sunset, but getting both the structure and setting sun in a single image demanded a panoramic composition, and shooting from the rocky foreshore meant that it was impossible to easily level our tripod. While a ball head does allow you to compensate for an uneven tripod, getting it level in all orientations is very fiddly.