Joining photos together, placing them side by side gives the possibility to create panoramic photos. On another page I had already listed several free programs to make panoramas with photos, in an easy and fast way.
Among them I had also added the photo viewing program of the Windows live Essentials suite, that is Live Photo Gallery.
Thanks to another Microsoft program that also integrates into Photo Gallery, you can create panoramic photos professionally with a lot of advanced features.
If with the basic tool all you do is place the images automatically and without too many options, in this case, with the Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) software you can also give an almost three-dimensional effect to the panorama and generate a photo composed worthy of the work of a professional photo studio.
You can download Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) from the Microsoft Research website and install it normally.
There are two versions, one for 32-bit Windows and one for 64-bit so be careful to take the correct one for your operating system.
Once installed, you can proceed to create impressive panoramas and large image combinations .
Microsoft Image Composite Editor can be used individually but it becomes much simpler if integrated with Live Photo Gallery, to which it adds an item to the menu.
Assuming therefore to have photographs of a single place, such as a stadium, and to have taken them in a panoramic way, to unify and compose them in a single image, you must select the Live Gallery and then click, from the menu at the top, "Extra ", Create a composite image.
If desired, you can also directly select the previews of the image folder in the resource explorer, right-click and notice a new item in the contextual menu that allows you to join the images ( Stitch images ).
A third way of use is the direct start of Microsoft ICE itself.
In this case, just drag the images and photos to be merged into a panorama, inside the program window.
They are automatically analyzed and combined into a single image with a very fast process.
The panorama just created can then be made more realistic, changing the point of view on the image with the " Camera Motion " function and giving an almost 3D effect to the photo .
By cropping, with the crop function, the panorama eliminates the parts above and below that are not needed.
Moreover, you can have an even more real effect if you adjust the projection options and orientation appropriately, using the button on the top menu.
The panorama is covered by a grid and it is thus possible to drag the corners and edges of the image by changing its shape and orientation.
You can practically apply the curvature effect whereby the photo seems to surround a person, even if it is all on the screen.
The button to choose Projection offers cylinder and ball effects.
With the " Apply " button you can set the orientation and projection options on the panoramic photo, otherwise you return to the standard version, without curvatures.
Once finished, you can export the image using the right buttons, then saving the panorama on your computer or publish it online on Photosynth.
Alternatively, if the job was not finished, from the File menu you can choose to save the panorama as a .SPJ file so that you can save the configurations made and be able to edit the image in the future.
The final results obtained by processing the photos of Microsoft ICE are surprising, the objects, buildings and people present in a panoramic photo remain very accurate and it really seems to immerse yourself in the image.
This tool can be useful but also fun so an attempt is definitely recommended, also because Image Composite Editor is free and very light.
Finally, I remember that, if you want, through another software, you can create a 3D movement effect to the panorama.
