What does "vertorama" mean, and how is it different from a panorama?

Asked 1/9/2013

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I’ve seen the term "vertorama" used for tall stitched images and I’m wondering whether it’s an established photography term or just informal slang for a vertical panorama. Is "panorama" traditionally limited to wide horizontal images, or can it also refer to very wide vertical compositions? Are the terms mutually exclusive, and is there any equivalent term like "hororama" for horizontal panoramas?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

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A panorama is, in its original usage, a wide angle horizontal image. In fact, it's a horizontal image painted in a complete circle around a room. That was in the late 1700s, though, and by the time the idea got to photography, it had been watered down to some degree, generally describing any image with a field of view greater than 100º, and then eventually any really wide image at all. Through that same elasticity of language, it's clearly come to encompass vertical images as well, and continuing in that vein, there's not a clear-cut answer to your question.

On the one hand, "vertorama" is clearly a term people use, and it's pretty easy to understand immediately what's meant. It's hard to argue that it's "not a real term" when there's 12,000 pictures in a Vertorama flickr pool; simply pragmatically, it's a real enough term for that.

But, is it a term with a legacy in photography (or the English language!)? For that, I turned to Google Books search, and couldn't find a single use before 2010. And in 2010, there's this:

Vertical subjects are naturals for vertically oriented panorama (some people now refer to such images as "vertoramas" but we prefer simply "vertical panorama"). – Real World Digital Photography, by Eismann, Duggan, and Grey

That's not particularly a ringing endorsement of the term, and what's more, it's the only book I find indexed that uses it. So, I'd say:

  • It's a term people clearly are using and enjoy. It's clearly understandable, and maybe catchy and even clever if you're into that sort of wordplay.
  • But it doesn't have a long history or broad acceptance.

If you are the sort of person who enjoys newly-invented portmanteau words, I'd say feel free to use it, but don't be surprised if others view that as a bit ecccentric.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

13y ago

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"Vertorama" is an informal but understandable term for a vertical panorama, usually a tall stitched image. It isn’t a long-established formal photography term, but it is in real use, so it’s fair to call it a practical piece of photo jargon.

Historically, "panorama" referred to a wide horizontal view, originally even a full circular scene. In photography, though, the term broadened over time and is now commonly used for any image with an unusually wide field of view or panoramic presentation. Because language has loosened, many photographers also use "panorama" for vertical stitched images, while "vertorama" is used when they want to make the vertical orientation explicit.

So the distinction is mostly descriptive, not strict: a vertorama is essentially a type of panorama, not something fundamentally separate. There isn’t a clear formal rule that makes the terms mutually exclusive, and "hororama" is not a standard term.

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