Guerilla Panorama of Westermarkt, Amsterdam

Normally you do the following when shooting a panorama:

1. find a good spot to place your tripod
2. place your panorama head on the tripod
3. level the tripod so you will get a straight panorama
4. mount your camera on the panorama head
5. shoot the panorama pictures

Sometimes you cannot do all those steps. It takes too much time or the people around you will start asking questions.
I experienced this first hand when taking this panorama of Westermarkt, Amsterdam

During the panorama course the teacher explained it is also possible to take the pictures without the tripod and panorama head. During postprocessing you correct for not holding your camera horizontal.

So he gave us an assignment to take pictures for a panorama free-style in the neighbourhood of the Westerkerk.

I found a good spot on the corner of the Westermarkt (note the 'V' on the panorama) and started to take pictures. One of the guys from the benches came to me. He asked me to stop taking pictures because they did not want to be recognizable on the photo. Before I could say something the teacher helped me out: he said we were learning to take pictures so chances are very slim that anything recognizable would be seen on the picture. Besides, persons would be about 5 millimeters tall on a computer screen, because we were learning to take 360 degree panoramas. So they should not expect any problems...

The guy left us alone, and I could finish this panorama - 'guerilla style': take the pictures and go away before more persons start asking questions.

So: don't tell anyone that you can click on the thumbnail to see a larger panorama where you can identify the guys on the bench and you can see that the other students have not even begun to take pictures!