(In the illustration we hid the bottom layer-click on its Eye icon-to clearly show what areas were deleted.) Deselect. Make sure that the middle layer-Train Middle-is active and press Delete (PC: Backspace) to delete the selected pixels. The right side of this selection should be placed in the distance through the new train cars (see illustration). Use the Lasso tool with the Feather set to 0 px and make a selection of the part of the Train Middle layer that overlaps onto the Left side layer. It’s better to choose a less-complicated seam: on the far side of this car in the background of the image, where the newer RAIL RUNNER cars can be seen in the distance. Creating a seam through the back of this older train car makes no sense. Now let’s inspect the left side of the image. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.
Make a lasso selection around the letter “A” in RAIL and press Delete (PC: Backspace) to delete this chunk of pixels. Make sure the top layer (Train Right) is active, choose the Lasso tool (L), and set the Feather value in the Options Bar to 0 px. The letter “A,” which we just aligned, could conceivably still cause some problems, so let’s fix that. This will also align the top of the train. Select the Move tool (V) and use the Up and Left Arrow keys on the keyboard to nudge this layer up and left until the “A” in the word RAIL aligns with the same letter on the middle layer. Double-click the Zoom tool to zoom to 100%. To nudge these features in the right direction, we’ll manually align the layers. In the Layers panel, rearrange the stacking order of the layers so that Train Right is the top layer, Train Middle is in the middle, and Train Left in on the bottom.Įven though we turned off the blending in the Photomerge dialog, there are still a couple of automated features left for us to try. Hopefully, this will address the problem of the alignment error on the roof of the locomotive. But one obvious way to try and fix the problem is to simply rearrange the layers so that Train Right is above Train Middle. Click OK.įor this image, Photomerge has definite ideas about how the layers should be arranged.
In the Photomerge dialog, leave the Layout set to Auto but uncheck the Blend Images Together option. With the three thumbnails selected, choose Tools>Photoshop>Photomerge. Close the first image without saving it and return to Bridge. The tonal variation in this area is in the exact shape of the same area of the layer masks for the Train Middle and Train Right layers.īefore we try any complicated patching or cloning repair jobs, let’s see if we can coax a better result from Photomerge. You can see an obvious variation in the sky tones just above the cab of the locomotive (in this illustration, the image was darkened with a curve to make these tonal changes more visible). To see the potential problems created by the auto blending, Shift-click on each of the layer masks to temporarily disable them. Editing these masks will reveal this tonal mismatch and create additional problems. Although it’s not immediately apparent in the blended result, there’s also a problem created by the auto blending, which has changed tonal values in the sky to match the layer masks. The problem with this approach, however, is that there are three layer masks and each one is precisely aligned with the other two. Click OK.Īt first glance it might seem that the most straightforward way to tackle the problem would be to edit the layer masks that Photomerge has created. In the Photomerge dialog, leave the Layout set to Auto and make sure that Blend Images Together is checked. In this tutorial, we’ll launch it from Adobe Bridge by selecting the three thumbnails and choosing Tools>Photoshop>Photomerge. To experience the steps from the beginning, launch the Photomerge process. In this section of the article, we’ll create the initial panorama-glitch and all-and then explore a few different ways to try and fix the problem. And no matter how many times I’ve tried to get Photomerge to blend these images, it always creates an alignment glitch at the top of the locomotive, just above the windshield. In most cases, the seams created by Photomerge are very successful, but sometimes it may have “issues.” This panorama was made from three horizontal images taken in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
PHOTOSHOP CC PANORAMIC LAYER EDGE BLENDING HOW TO
We’ll finish with a look at how to get great-looking moving water in high-dynamic range (HDR) shots. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at panorama alignment problems and explore various strategies for fixing them. Photomerge in Photoshop CS4 does an amazing job of aligning and blending panoramas, but occasionally you run into an image where there’s a glitch that has to be fixed manually.