new menber

hello to all.  i was curious about the possibility of finding a photo
stitching freeware that would work on my mac.  so i did a google
search, zeroed in on panotools, which eventually led me here.  i've
never done a pano, and it already seems clear to me there's a whole
subculture with it's own jargon, frames of reference, etc. most of
which as a newbie is over my head.  and then there's the added
dimension of the software and its complications (technically savvy i
am *not*) as well as the whole open source thing--which i think is
fantastic but also hard to get a grip on with all the different
threads, parallel developments, etc.  it's a lot to wrap your brain
around.  so please go easy on me. . . .anyway, thanks for having me
and hopefully i'll be doing some stitching before long.