yea some of these gotta be chopped. theres things thats just not physically possible for human to do.
but with digital photography these days. a lot of professional photographers i know do a lot of post production on the computer to get the exact shot you wanted. things from color corrections to cropping and things like that.
people dont usually merge photos unless its something like panoramic shots

 

get a dslr!

Nikon D40 kits are ~$399 now. one hell of a camera.

I 3> my D50... I would totally rock a D40 if it had a AF motor.