Auto Align Layers and Auto Blend Layers

Colin Smith - photoshopCAFE

Two incredibly powerful tools are best used together in tandem. In a way these tools do what Photo-merge used to do but they do a lot more and do it a lot better. (Photomerge still exists in an improved format thanks to these amazing tools). If you have a series of images that you need stitched together in a panorama or grid, this is your solution. In this tutorial we will create a panorama.

Step 1

Open all the images into Photoshop CS3. Drag each image onto a separate layer in the same document (hold the shift key to center each image). You could use a script to open the images and place them into a single layered document.

Select all the layers by clicking on the bottom layer in the layers palette, holding Shift and clicking the top layer. (Note: For this to work, you cannot have any locked or linked layers except for the background)

 

Step 2

Choose Edit>Auto-Align Layers

 

You will now see a dialog box that offers 4 options. For the majority of panoramas, the auto option will work the best.

Click OK

 

 

Step 3

After a little thinking and a progress bar, you will see your images arranged in such a way as they overlap each other nicely. Don’t worry about the seams and color differences. The important thing is the arrangement. In this case, I have 8 images arranged. Notice that the canvas size has automatically changed to accommodate all the images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4

Choose Edit>Auto-Blend Layers

Very quickly Photoshop adjusts the exposure and white balance of each image and prepares a layer mask with gradients between images.  You can see a close up to examine what a good job Auto-Blend has made to these images. Also click the thumbnail to see a comparison with Photo Merge from Photoshop CS2. What a difference!

 

 

 

 

 

Click to see larger version

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The same image in Photomerge in CS2 (Below). You can see a huge improvement with Align and Blend.

 

 

 

Step 5

Finally crop and display. The hardest part of all this, is trying to find a printer large enough to print out these massive files.Click for larger view

 

 

 

 

 

Keep your eye on PhotoshopCAFE.com for CS3 training videos and resources!

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