A few years ago I purchased a product called Stitcher by Realviz.  This product was sold to Autodesk and updated further (and split into a vr tour application as well.)  While Stitcher still seems to win out over most competitors by any number of factors, new entrants are chipping away at its heels.

A few months ago, I added an unusual lens to my bag, a Sigma 600mm F8 Nikon mirror lens.  It shares the same body conventions as other catadioptric lenses (ones that use a combination of refractive and reflective optics) which 'fold' the light coming into the camera similar to how a satellite dish collects a signal.  By reflecting the light twice (bounced from the rear element to forward one and back to the sensor) it achieves an economy of size that belies its reach ... comparable true glass lenses tend to be multiple times the size (length) of this lens.  Nothing is free however, and this economy of size (and price) comes at the expense of several stops of light.  Stuck at F8, this lens is practically useless in poor lighting conditions or without a camera that has solid ISO performance.

Mine is a fun olive green and was purchased from Columbus Camera Group, one of the many fantastic local camera stores in Columbus Ohio. When you buy your lens, be sure that it comes with the rear filters, or at least the neutral one of them as these are necessary for ensuring the lens captures the image properly.  

The first image below is a quick shot for context, taken of the roof of St Mark's basilica as seen from the Campanile (tower) in the Piazza San Marco.

Content Aware Fill is a truly amazing algorithm that can be found in the new version of Adobe Photoshop. It is useful both for spot fixes, as well as larger 'creative' fills.  In the example below, you can see how the 4 images of a panorama come together and leave borders, edges, and empty space.

This year I had the 'tremendous good fortune' to spend roughly the equivalent of three straight months in a car, driving approximately 25,000 miles.

That is equivalent to one circumnavigation of the globe at the equator.