panorama - How do I create a panoramic picture?

I saw a nice panoramic image online. How do I go about creating my own (say, of my yard at home)?

Answer

The easiest way to produce a high quality panorama is to take multiple shots and stitch them together using AutoStitch (Windows only). AutoStitch is free and there is almost nothing to do except to chose your images and save the results.

The basic principle is to take multiple shots with overlap between them (20%-30% is recommended) while keeping everything constant (exposure, aperture, focus and white-balance).

If your camera has a Stitch or Panorama Assist mode, that is exactly what it does: It locks all the settings and shows you an overlay of the last photo you took so that you can line them up.