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STITCHING IMAGES

1) In Elements open the Editor workspace, then click File-New-Photomerge Panorama or in Photoshop click File-Automate-Photomerge - and the Photomerge dialogue box comes up.

2) Choose Auto for the layout (you can experiment with the other layouts)

3) Click Browse to navigate to where the photos are filed. Hold down the control key, click on each picture you want, then click OK. Your chosen pictures will be listed in the Photomerge window. You may find you need to alter the order of the photos. Often choosing them "backwards" works better.

4) Now click OK and wait while the Photomerge algorithm merges and blends the images. The time this takes depends on the number of images, file sizes and the processing power of your PC.

5) After the stitching has been applied you are presented with the result - the picture on a checkerboard background. In the Layers palette you can see which part of each image has been used and each part is on a separate layer. Click the layers on and off to see where the edges are.

6) Zoom in to check for errors on the edges. If errors are too obvious you may need to start again and reload images in a different order. Errors can be cloned out later.

7) When you are satisfied with the stitching go to Layer-Flatten Image and the layers will be crunched down to make a single layer image and the checkerboard turns to white space.

8) You can now crop the image and clone into the white space or the other way around - it's personal preference.

9) Make any alterations to levels, saturation etc.

10) Save the image.

11) Landscapes in particular can lose some sense of height so go to Layer-Duplicate Layer and click on OK in the Duplicate Layer window.

12) Now take the Crop tool and make a crop line around the edge of the image. Now pull out the corners to make the crop line larger than the image and click on the tick symbol. Doing this has created more canvas space for the whole image to move into.

13) Now Click Control+T which will bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Pull out the image from the top or side as appropriate. Click the green tick symbol when satisfied. If you had not made the extra canvas then you would have lost some of the top or side of the image as it was pulled out.

14) Go the Layer-Flatten Image. Re-crop any unused white canvas. Save image.

TIPS FOR TAKING PANORAMAS

1) Avoid using a tripod because as you swing round the picture will angle down eg the horizon will bend. A monopod makes a better support. There are special panorama brackets but they are pricey.

2) Decide whether you prefer to move from left to right or vice versa or down to up or vice versa. It's personal preference.

3) Make several sweeps with the camera so you know you will get in everything you want into the picture.

4) The guidelines for composition apply to panoramas - especially important is a definite beginning and end and foreground interest.

5) Before and after taking the sequence take a picture of your thumb or hand. This means you know which images belong to each set. If you don't you will get confused later when sorting the images on the PC especially if you take single images in between.

6) It is recommended that the camera is held in portrait mode rather than landscape. You will need more images but will have greater depth in the final stitched image.

7) When taking the images you are attempting to rotate the camera around the centre of the lens (the nodal point) so rotate your body keeping the camera in one spot - don't stand in one spot and move your arms around.

8) Work in Manual mode having taken test shots to work out aperture and shutter speed. You can still use autofocus.

9) Be careful that the focus point remains at the same place in each image.

10) Some cameras have a panorama mode with a ghosted overlap area but this area can be difficult to see in strong light and the exposure might change - you may not be able to over ride auto exposure.

11) Overlap each image by at least a third and not more than half. Note in the viewfinder where the end of each image is and therefore where you will move the camera to next.

12) You can take just two images to join.

 

Here is a video which illustrates some of the above points

This article can be downloaded HERE as a Printable Word Document.