Let’s talk about panoramas in the Camera app. This is probably a feature you’re used to already, but there are a couple of really cool little tricks that you can use to make your panorama better than ever. So, when I toggle panorama mode on in the Camera, I get the horizontal preview in the middle. When I press that shutter button, I’m going to gently pan my phone sideways across the whole scene to capture the full photograph. One thing you might not realize, however, is that you don’t have to actually use the whole of that progress bar. Your panorama could only be a couple of moments long, and it will still take a rectangular photo that’s a little bit different from normal. That means you can get more of your scene in the picture without having to do an extremely wide and long panorama. This is great if you’ve got tall buildings you want to do a vertical picture or perhaps you’ve got a really nice view in front of you that doesn’t quite fit into a normal photograph.

Another trick that people don’t often realize about panorama is that you can tap on the other side of your screen to begin from the other end of the picture. If I tap on the right-hand side of that preview, I can then pan the other way to get my photograph in the shot. This can offer new possibilities, such as focusing on a particular object in the foreground and then panning to capture the background behind it.

But my favorite trick with panoramas is to change the camera lens that you’re using. Use the ultra-wide-angle to get even more information in your pictures or zoom right in with your 2x or 5x lens. Then you get a really interesting perspective. Of course, you need to hold your phone fairly steady to do this, but it will automatically crop it out for you at the end, leaving you with a beautiful panorama just like this.