How to Take Panoramic Photos With a Holga 120 Camera

You can take amazing landscape photos with a panoramic camera. The trouble is, not everyone has hundreds of dollars to shell out for that kind of equipment. Luckily, there are alternatives. With a little practice, panoramic photos can be taken using a Holga 120 camera. In fact, the "Holgarama" is gaining much popularity among toy camera enthusiasts. These are a few instructions on how to create some "Holgaramas" of your own.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Holga 120 Camera
• 1 Roll 120 film (brand and film speed are optional)

1. Take your first picture, which will essentially be the start of your panoramic photo.

2. Turn the film advance knob, but not entirely to the next frame. To create a film overlap, take notice of the arrow atop the advance knob. Use your thumb to mark the location of the arrow's tail. When advancing the film, stop when the head of the arrow reaches the tail's previous location.

3. Position yourself to take the second shot of the panorama. This can be achieved by stepping sideways or simply standing still and panning the Holga. Either way, it is important to keep the Holga at the same height and distance as the first shot to lessen inconsistencies. The frames must be shot from left to right.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 as necessary.

Tips & Warnings

• One of the tricky aspects of a Holga panoramic photo is the concept of "framing overlap".It might take some practice to prevent an object from showing up more than once in the image.
• It is likely you will have to take your film to a professional lab for processing, as they have the equipment to scan long, larger format negatives.