Edges in Panorama using CS5 Photomerge

<p>Hi<br>

I stiched 5 pics using Photomerge in CS5. The final pic has jagged edges and I did some cropping. The pic is attached here.<br>

Not sure why Photomerge produces the jagged edges and is there any way to control that in the options?<br>

I did not use a tripod while shooting in RAW and later while converting from RAW to JPEG, I kept the parameters (for White balance, contrast, blacks,etc) almost identical for all 5 pics.<br>

Is it absolutely necessary to use a tripod while shooting with a panorama in mind?<br>

Thanks</p>

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<p>This happens because of the perspective corrections PS needs to do to merge your individual shots into a pano. Some bits of your single shots just don't cover the areas outside the jagged composite and are thus blank. Different choices in rendering e.g perspective/cylindrical will return different outlines but you will still need to perform a crop from within the "picture" area to get a finished photo. </p>

<p>Photomerge should offer to fill in the blank areas using content aware for you if you don't mind it being made up for you. Using a tripod will give you more control over the individual shots and more consistent overlaps and help keep the horizon level which should make PS's job easier but you'll still get uneven edges. It's a good idea to frame your individual shots to allow for the cropping that will be needed thus ensuring all wanted image content remains in the finished photo and doesn't have to be invented by content aware.</p>

<p>(PS you have dust on the sensor)</p>

<p>This is a nice panorama, well worth some hours of diligent post-processing. As has been said, content-aware fill could get rid of those empty spaces. But before you use it I would suggest to try the Edit/Transform/Warp Command to get rid of some of the empty space. </p>

<p>Remember that you will always get some empty space, even with tripod use, so don't worry about having taken those pictures w/o it. I have done hundreds of panoramas with handheld camera. Sometimes, Photoshop Merge does not do the trick and you have to do it manually. But in a large majority of cases, you will eventually get a beautiful panorama, unless you made major mistakes in the picture taking phase.</p>

<p>Keep on the good work!</p>

<p>Following up with the "(PS you have dust on the sensor)", and your question of using a tripod... When you look at the sensor dust bunnies, they are not in a straight line. If they were in a straight line, the missing content (blank areas) would be minimized. The easiest way to accomplish this would be a tripod.</p>

<p>This from the guy who always sees the panorama when the tripod is left behind.</p>

<p>Use the "reposition only" option when setting up PS to create the pano. That will eliminate the strange edges you see but leave you with a different edge, which you can crop off after flattening the image.</p>

<p>Use the "reposition only" option when setting up PS to create the pano. That will eliminate the strange edges you see but leave you with a different edge, which you can crop off after flattening the image.</p>

<p>I get this effect in the pano stitching program (PanaramaStudio) I use if I don't keep the camera level between shots.<br>

As mentioned the effect can be reduced by post image work but to help in the future take the shots in portrait mode and keep the camera level or at least at the same angle between shots.<br>

Good photo, where was it taken?</p>

<p>Thanks, all.<br>

I used the content aware feature in CS5 and it works well.The edges were filled up but it left smudges where I cleaned up the remaining edges (lines) using the spot healing brush tool.<br>

The stiched pic with the smudged lines at the bottom is attached with this post. How do I get rid of these post using the content aware feature? I used the magic wand tool / quick selection tool to select the white spaces around the picture before filling these up using content aware.<br>

Jeff, Emil: Thanks, this pic was taken in the north Indian Himalayas.</p>

<p>Mac: Yes, I seriously need to clean my sensor !</p>

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<p>A few thoughts, in your original pic attachment we can see the sun in the right hand side. You've cropped this out in the later attachment, which is fine, but if you didn't particularly want it in the picture your initial single shot pics if taken without the sun getting in the lens view would be taken at exposure settings more in line with each other and this would give the stitching program an easier task.</p>

<p>The top left patch of content aware sky could benefit from a bit of light healing brush work to get rid of the edge and uneven blending. The smudgy bits in the foreground might be improved with judicious use of the stamp tool from nearby random areas of similar detail. You could clone across from the originals or the uncropped pano if you process them to the same appearance which may give a slightly more realistic result.</p>

<p>There is an alternative to having to think about jagged edges at all or even having to bother with stitching software. The Sony SLT/Nex cameras have a sweep panorama feature that stitches panoramas in camera for you while you hold the shutter button down and as the name suggests sweep across the view you want. It works for horizontal and vertical panoramas.</p>

<p>It works remarkably well and presents you with a file ready to post process as you would any other single shot photo, no cropping or filling in needed. They are only taken in jpeg (no RAW) but depending on your needs that needn't be a drawback. For someone preferring to get a finished picture in their hand it is a useful feature. For anyone who likes the stitching process and wants to be hands on it may appear less than desirable. If a new camera is in the offing it could be a feature to bear in mind in the decision making process.</p>