Photomerge - Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 for Photographers - page 365

Overlapping images by more than 50% may seem like a good idea, but this can cause the
image blending process to be less effective.

Pivot around the lens
Photomerge Panorama uses sophisticated perspective calcula-
tions to help reconstruct the scene you photographed. Chang-
ing your position, even by a few inches, will alter the perspective
of all the images taken from that point on. Even the way that
you hold and rotate the camera can alter the picture's vanish-
ing point. To get the best results always try to pivot the camera
around the axis of its lens; this will ensure that all the images in
your sequence will have a similar perspective.

It is important to overlap
source images by between
15% and 30%. (1) Overlap
between successive photo-
graphs.

1

Automatic bracketing for Photomerge
Exposure
The Photomerge Exposure option stitches together a series of
images of the one scene that have been captured with differ-
ent exposures to form a single photo with more detail in both
highlights and shadows. Capturing the source images to be
used with this feature requires the photographer to change
the camera's exposure between each successive shot. Ideally
you should aim for difference of 1-2 stops between photos in a
sequence of 3 to 7 images.

1

Change shutter speed not aperture
The variation in exposure is best achieved by altering the shutter speed up or down while
keeping the aperture or f-stop setting constant. Altering the aperture and keeping the
shutter speed constant would also result in a change of exposure, but this approach has the
unwanted effect of altering the depth of sharpness between source photos.

PANO CAPTURE

Some compact digital
cameras contain a spe-
cial panorama capture
mode design to help
maintain overlap. A
ghosted third of the
previous capture is
shown on the back of
the camera screen to
help align the next im-
age to ensure accurate
positioning and over-
lap.
Often this special
shooting feature also
locks the white bal-
ance, focus and expo-
sure settings and titles
the source photos with
a special number or let-
ter sequence making
their identification lat-
er easier.

To capture your sequence, either set the camera to manual exposure and adjust the shutter
speed between successive photos, or make use of the Automatic Bracketing feature now in-
cluded in most DSLR cameras. This control effectively changes the shutter speed or aperture
(make sure you pick shutter speed) used to capture individual images over a series of photos.
Most cameras allow changes between images of up to 2 f-stops in a bracketing sequence of 3
to 7 photos. Once activated from the menu system, pressing and holding the shutter button
down will capture the sequence of frames with different exposure settings.

Background matching for Group Shot and Scene Cleaner
Both Photomerge Group Shot and Photomerge Scene Cleaner features use a series of images
with a common background to help build a composite photo. For best results, you should
endeavor to capture the source photos without moving the camera as any changes in posi-