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In this tutorial we will use some of the techniques learnt in the

   Photoshop - Blending Faces - Tutorial

 

 

 

 

 

Our goal is to attach two different landscape photos in order to create a panoramic effect:

 

 

If you want to use the same pictures we used in this tutorial you can click on them to see the higher resolution ones (to save them on your hard disk right click on them then Save Image As...)

These two pictures were taken one after the other during the sunset, they simply have a shifted view of the landscape. The shifting was obtained by just turning few degrees before shooting the second.

Notice the partial overlapping of the two pictures. This allows us to attach and blend them easier. It is also possible to so something similar using non-overlapping photos, it's just longer and more annoying.

If you shoot having in mind to blend them once you're are at home here are some advices:

 

- Configure your camera once for all the shots. Use the same settings: shutter speed, aperture size, white balance etc for all the pictures.

- When you shoot look carefully what's in your frame. Take some reference point near the side edges, they'll help you choosing what to frame next.

- Let a small portion of the new picture overlap with the previous. The bigger overlapping the best result is achieved. Usually a 20% overlap will do the trick.

- Don't wait too long between two shots. Things can change rapidly: light conditions, clouds, sun position, people position... But don't worry, even if you have major difference between the pictures everything can be adjusted, it'll simply take longer time. Anyway, shoot all the pictures in a row if you can.

- Try to keep the horizon at the same height. 

 

PREPARING THE WORK BENCH: 

 

Here we are then, ready to start our work.

We'll create an empty long blank image and copy all the pictures inside it. 

Open the pictures you want to attach each other in Adobe Photoshop.

If they are not the same size in pixel and/or resolution you make them all the same.

To do that click on Image ->Image Size and apply the same settings to all of them.

 

Take the first one of the series and select the whole picture (Ctrl-A or Select -> All)

Copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl-C or Edit-Copy) and create a new image file (Ctrl-N or File -> New):

 

 

 

Make sure you have selected "Clipboard" as Preset. This way Photoshop reads your clipboard (in which we have copied our first pic) and use the same settings for the new one we are going to create.
Before hitting "OK" modify the "Width" parameter. The new image must contain all the images so in our case use 1600 pixels width.

In the newly created image paste the clipboard (Ctrl-v or Edit -> Paste).

The first image will appear as a new level. Drag it to the leftmost part of the image with the Move Tool (keyboard shortcut is "v" otherwise you find it in your Tools bar, Windows -> Tools). Now you should have something like this:

 

 

Now we just copy and paste the second photo in the new image and drag it to the rightmost part of it.

Here's what we have:

 

The two images are on two different Layers, above the background. The right one is on the top layer, the left one is in the bottom layer.

 

 

To make the blend we start by reducing the opacity of the second photo to 50% (you can choose the most comfortable value to you).

 

 

This step allows us to drag the second image (ie the one in the top layer) on the first one and to find the correct point of overlapping:

 

 

 

Always use as reference point something that you're sure it didn't move between the two shots.

In our example the small trees on the horizon are a good point. If you use them as reference you'll notice that the clouds are not exactly in the same position. This is due to the amount of time required to make 2 shots. It's just a small amount of time, but enough to produce subtle changes in the landscape. These difference are not a problem anyway, we'll get rid of them easily.

 

Now that the overlapping is satisfying we can restore the opacity to 100% for the right pic.

 

To blend the two pictures we are going to create a Layer Mask on the right picture:

 

 

A deep Layer Mask explaination can be found in our

 

   Blending Faces Tutorial

 

 

 

 

 

If you're not sure how a Layer Mask works we suggest you to read that tutorial first.

 

Now we are going to fill the Layer Mask with a Black to White gradient.

Select the Gradient tool (keep pressed left mouse button on the Paint Bucket Tool in the Tools bar to make it pop up):

 

 

Make sure the gradient color fades from black to white:

 

 

If it's not, click on its color (the rectangle showed in the above image) and choose the correct gradient.

Now make sure you have selected your Layer Mask in the Layer Panel (the Layer must be highlighted in darker gray - the mask should have a thicker frame around its thumbnail, if it doesn't click on it)

 

 

 

And then click and drag on the image like it's shown above.

This way we create a soft transaction between the two images.

Here's the result:

 

 

Now you can be satisfied with your result like it is or you can play around optimizing the final blend.

Say for example you had a person that changed in position and stands in the transaction space. You can make a gradient blend to start, then painting with a soft black of white brush will let you delete one of the two overlapping poses.

If the colors of the image are not the same and you notice the seam between the two photos you can adjust colors/levels and everything you want after the blend to make it more convincing.

 

In our case we are already pretty satisfied, we can just crop the image and save it as a jpg.

We did also cut out some of the black to make it more balanced and enhancing the panoramic effect:

 

 

And we are done!

 

Check our Photoshop Tutorial Section to get more!