Panoramic views from Glen coe

Post by: Hamish

• tutorial
• 3 Comments
• August 3rd

On a recent camping trip to glencoe and down to the start of loch Etive i took these panoramic photographs inbetween the rain showers. These are some of my first attempts at the format, so im going to share with you the method i used.

Having tried multiple stiching progams with varying results, Ive found the “Auto-align” feature in photoshop cs3 to be the most succesul and easiest to use.
To achieve this effect in photoshop, open up a new document wide enough to contain all the photos. Insert each image in as a seperate layer and align them up roughly as best you can. Select all the layers, either by holding down the command or ctrl key and selecting each layer or by holding the shift key and selecting the top then the bottom layer.With all the layer selected go to edit/auto-align layers. In most cases just select the auto function, however there are other choices you can make depending if you want a collage or perspective view. Select ok (this process may need a fair amount of memory so other software may need to be closed).

when its done all the layers should be aligned horizontally. The next step is to select edit/auto-blend layers. select panorama and make sure the box marked “seamless tones and colours” is ticked. Press ok.

Your panoramic image is now complete. Each layer remains seperate and all blending is achieved by masking, thefore each can be fine tuned in the adjustments menu for colours, levels etc.

There will be slight distortions at the edges due to the curvature of the camera lens and you will need to use the crop tool to tidy up the image. If the image hasnt worked out as well as you hoped you may need to go back to the start and reposition the layers better, perhaps tweeking the size or perspective of certain layers.

Having just started attempting panaormaic photos, these examples are only stiched together from 5 or so seperate photos, and i will have to try out some more ambitious efforts in the future.Panormas can make ordinary subject matter alot more interesting and you are by no means just limited to horizontal landscapes.