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Foregrounds and panoramas

Many cameras have a ‘panoramic’ option, which – usually – allows you to ‘stitch’ several frames together to produce a wider view than the lens can achieve in a single shot.

A good panorama can create a great sense of space. However, we still see a lot of ‘panoramas’ which apparently do no more than chop off the top and bottom of the picture. This normally cuts out the sky and the foreground, just leaving the middle to far distance. This may satisfy those deluded souls who think you can see it all from a car window, but the active outdoor person is aware of, and cares about, more than just ‘the view’. When shooting panoramas, it’s usually best to pre-focus on the area you want in sharpest focus, then switch the focus to manual as auto-focus may find alternative points of focus in successive shots.

Cabo Calheta, Porto Santo, Madeira Islands (Jon) Perspective changes with position, but changing the focal length is often the next step

‘Foreground’ is not just another bit of photographic jargon, or a goody-bag you can mine to improve your framing. The foreground is where you are. It’s where you walk or climb or bike. The foreground is grit under your boot soles, the icy stream you’ve just crossed, the crystal glinting on the corner of a rock, a bright mound of moss campion. The foreground is what says ‘I was there’.