Load Photos in layers

In this lesson we will look at how several adjacent photographs taken make a panorama picture. Those of you who have the professional equipment for this, the lesson is just for what it is, but I think this is not the point.The first thing we do is, open the photos in Photoshop.

As an example I will use Bridge program, but you can do equally well in Photoshop.

Those who choose to do this using Photoshop click “File” in the menu bar, choose “Automatic” in the drop-down menu and click “Photomerge”.

Those who opt for the Bridge, select the photos in the folder that should be included in the panorama, choose “Tools” in the menu bar, select Photoshop from the drop-down menu and click “Photomerge”.

 

How you do it does not matter. In both cases, this opens the “Photomerge” dialog.

If you have chosen the Bridge, then the files are already included in the list (1). If you have chosen to do it through Photoshop, then select it by clicking the “Browse” button.  If you have selected a photo in the Bridge too, you can put it into this list and select the “Delete” button.

On the left side of the dialog, we find several “Layouts”.  All give a different picture of the panorama photo. So try all these out quietly and compare the differences.

As an example I choose the Layout “Automatic”.

At the bottom of the dialog we have three options.

We should certainly chose the first option, we want to get the photos together.

You can select the “Vignette remove” when the brightness between the different images is not equal. For example, one is slightly darker than the other.

You can select the “correct geometric distortion” where your pictures were taken with special lenses. So leave it unchecked unless you really need it.

Click the OK button when you’re done.

Once you have clicked the OK button, Photoshop will begin its work. This can take sometime depending on your computer and the size of the images.

When it is finished you will see that Photoshop has added a separate layer for each image and that each of these layers has a layer mask (1). You obviously have the ability to edit the layer masks like any other layer mask.

May be another tip.
Make all these layers into Smart Objects. This gives you more flexibility if you want to edit later. For this, select all layers, right click and choose “Convert to Smart Object”.

As you notice in the above image, Photoshop has a beautiful panoramic picture of it, but there are still a number of transparent particles in it (2).

Here, we work with the “Crop” tool.
Select the “Crop” tool in the tool bar and click and drag in the image on the section you want to hold. You can do this by dragging the drag blocks on the edge and corners of the cropping frame (1).

Click the Enter key on your keyboard when you’re done and save the panoramic photo.

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