Taking pictures for use with Photomerge

Your source photographs play a large role in the success of your panoramic composition. To avoid problems, follow these guidelines when taking pictures for use with Photomerge:

Image overlap Images should have an overlap of approximately 30% to 50% of the image area. If the overlap is less, Photomerge may not be able to automatically assemble the panorama. However, keep in mind that the images shouldn't overlap too much. If images overlap by 70% or more, it can be difficult to work with them, and blending may not be as effective. Try to keep the individual photos at least somewhat distinct from each other.

Focal length Use a consistent focal length. Avoid using the zoom feature of your camera while taking a series of images for use with Photomerge.

Alignment Keep the camera level. Although slight rotations between images are tolerated, a tilt of more than a few degrees can result in errors when automatically assembling the panorama.

A typical situation where rotation comes into play is when photographing a panoramic scene from a high place. The natural inclination is to keep the horizon level in the viewfinder. However, if you're photographing the horizon from an elevated position, this actually produces a noticeable rotation between images. Keep the camera level when taking photographs in this situation.

Using a tripod with a rotating head helps maintain camera alignment and viewpoint.

Viewpoint Take pictures from the same viewpoint. Don't change your position as you take a series of photographs. Small changes in viewpoint are tolerated, but if you walk to a new position while taking photographs, you'll likely disrupt the continuity of your images. Using the optical viewfinder with the camera held close to the eye helps keep the viewpoint consistent.

Image Size Don't try to merge images that are larger than 2 megapixels. Larger file sizes will take longer for Photoshop Elements to process, and too many large files could generate memory errors. Use the Image Size Reduction option in the Photomerge Setup dialog box to keep the output panorama to a reasonable size.

Lens Avoid using lenses, such as fish-eye lenses, that cause noticeable distortion to the image. Small amounts of barrel distortion (found in many cameras at the wide-angle setting) are tolerated, but strong distortions interfere with the automatic registration process.

Exposure The advanced blending feature in Photomerge helps smooth out different exposures, but extreme differences make alignment difficult. Some cameras have an "AE Lock" feature for fixing the exposure just for this purpose. Avoid using the flash in some pictures and not in others.

Transforming and Retouching > Creating panoramic images using Photomerge > Taking pictures for use with Photomerge