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Photoshop Elements: Create a Panorama

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Adobe^® Photoshop^® Elements 6

June 10, 2008

When you can't fit all of that spectacular view in your camera's viewfinder, you can recreate it by combining a series of photos to create a panorama. Stitch the photos together using the Photomerge™ Panorama feature in Photoshop Elements. In this lesson, we have combined three photos to create a panorama of AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Tip: When you shoot the panorama, hold the camera steady and move it on a horizontal plane to capture the sweep of the scene. Overlap each photo by at least 25%.

Automatic Photomerge

To create a panorama automatically:

1. Open the photos you want to include in the panorama. In this lesson, we are using three photos:

   

2. From the File menu, select New, then select Photomerge™ Panorama. The Photomerge window is displayed:

   

3. In the Photomerge window, do the following:

   1. Select the Auto layout.
   2. Click Add Open Files to select the files to include in the merge.
   3. Click OK. Photoshop Elements automatically places the files in a new panoramic file as separate layers, aligns the layers based on content, and blends the layers.

4. Crop the finished panorama to remove ragged edges.

   
5. Optionally, merge all layers or press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to create a new layer that combines all the visible layers in the file. Your panorama is complete!

Manual Photomerge

Sometimes your photos may not line up neatly and the automatic process may not work as expected. You can use the Interactive Layout mode of Photomerge to place your photos exactly where you want them.

To create a panorama interactively:

1. Open the photos you want to include in the panorama.

2. From the File menu, select New, then select Photomerge™ Panorama. The Photomerge window is displayed.

3. In the Photomerge window, do the following:

   1. Select the Interactive Layout layout.
   2. Click Add Open Files to select the files to include in the merge.
   3. Click OK. Photoshop Elements displays an interactive layout window. The selected images will be aligned in the work space of this window. You can drag-and-drop the images to reposition them in the panorama.
   

4. In the interactive layout window, do the following:

   1. Select Reposition Only.
   2. Select Snap to Image. This will align the images based on content.
   3. Select the Selection tool, then drag-and-drop images within the workspace or remove them from the panorama by moving them to the image bin above. When you release the image, Photoshop Elements automatically aligns overlapping images.
   4. When you are finished, click OK.
5. Crop the finished panorama to remove ragged edges.
6. Optionally, merge all layers or press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to create a new layer that combines all the visible layers in the file. Your panorama is complete!

Updated on November 9, 2009