How to Take a 16:9 Aspect Ratio Widescreen Photo with a Normal Camera

Widescreen is the new standard in the TV, computer, and portable media player market - TV shows and movies are filmed in widescreen, monitors are designed short and wide, and mp3 and pmp players are designed with widescreen to properly render videos.

The only piece of technology that is behind in the widescreen standard are cameras - your average digital camera cannot take widescreen, 16:9 aspect ration shots, meaning they can't be natively used as fullscreen wallpapers for most laptop monitors and such.

If you want to shoot your own 16:9 widescreen photos for wallpapers or prints, but you don't want to invest in one of the few digital cameras that can do this, then read on to find out create a widescreen photo with a normal digital camera.

Items Needed:

Digital Camera

Tripod (optional)

Computer

Hugin

Photo editing software

Step 1: The thing about a 16:9 aspect ratio photo is that it's generally taken with a wide angle lens. This means more of the subject will be in the photo than a normal 38mm shot, so you can't just crop the top and bottom of a normal photo.

To get the full wide angle lens, you will need to stitch two (or more) photos together. This isn't very hard, but you will need software to do this. Download and install a program called Hugin - it is free, and works wonderfully.

Step 2: Once Hugin is installed, get two photos of a subject so that they overlap by about 30%. So, for example, place your tripod in one spot and take a photo. Now, turn it to one side about 70%, and take another photo. Now you have the two photos you need for stitching.

Tip: If your camera has a stitch mode, using it. This will lock the white balance so that the color of the two photos are uniform, and you won't be able to tell that the panorama is two photos stitched together.

Step 3: After you have your photos, upload them onto your computer. Start up Hugin and on the first tab, click the 'load photos' button. Load the two (or more) photos and wait for them to load. Once they do, click the Align button under the Load button.

A box will appear and begin loading them. This could take a little while, depending on how large and complex the photos are, so be patient. The box will disappear when the photos are done aligning and a box will appear with the new panorama. Don't worry if there's a spot or two slightly off - it will be automatically corrected in the final rendered photo.

Choose a lens effect for your photo if you want one, then close the box by clicking the X button.

Choose the Stitcher tab and leave all the settings the way they are. Choose the 'Stitch Now' button and wait for it to make the panorama. This may take a little while - don't mess with anything until it is finished.

Step 4: Once it is finished, close Hugin down and locate the saved panorama photo. It may have uneven, jagged edges. To fix this, we are going to crop them down. Open the photo in any photo editing program you have. If you need to download one, you can download GIMP easily, and it is free.

Step 5: Open the photo to edit. Using the crop tool, crop the edges just enough so that they are all smooth. Most likely, the photo will be in widescreen format. In the event that the photo is not, you can crop the top and/or bottom until it is.

Step 6: Save the photo. You now have a widescreen 16:9 photo created from a normal digital camera.