# PhotoshopElements

# Creating Photomerge panoramas

The Photomerge Panorama command combines several photographs into one continuous image. For example, you can take five overlapping photographs of a city skyline, and assemble them into a panorama. The Photomerge Panorama command can tile photos horizontally as well as vertically.

When you set up a Photomerge panorama composition, you identify the files you want to merge (called your source files ), and then Photoshop Elements automatically assembles them into a single panorama. After the panorama is complete, you can still make changes to the placement of the individual photos, if necessary.

Creating a Photomerge panorama

Your source photographs play a large role in panoramic compositions. To avoid problems, follow these guidelines when taking pictures for use with Photomerge Panorama:

Overlap images sufficiently
  Images should overlap approximately 15% to 40%. If the overlap is less, Photomerge Panorama may not be able to automatically assemble the panorama. If images overlap by 50% or more, it can be difficult to work with them, and blending may not be as effective.

Use a consistent focal length
  Avoid using the zoom feature of your camera while taking your pictures.

Keep the camera level
  Although Photomerge Panorama can process slight rotations between pictures, a tilt of more than a few degrees can result in errors when automatically assembling the panorama. Using a tripod with a rotating head helps maintain camera alignment and viewpoint.
  When photographing a panoramic scene from a high place, the natural inclination is to keep the horizon level in the viewfinder. However, this actually produces a noticeable rotation between images. Try using a tripod to keep the camera level when taking photographs in this situation.

Stay in the same position
  Try not to change your location as you take a series of photographs, so that the pictures are from the same viewpoint. Using the optical viewfinder with the camera held close to the eye helps keep the viewpoint consistent. Or try using a tripod to keep the camera in the same place.

Avoid using distortion lenses
  Lenses, such as fish-eye lenses, that noticeably distort the image can interfere with Photomerge Panorama.

Maintain the same exposure
  Avoid using the flash in some pictures and not in others. The advanced blending feature in Photomerge Panorama helps smooth out different exposures, but extreme differences make alignment difficult. Some digital cameras change exposure settings automatically as you take pictures, so you may need to check your camera settings to be sure that all the images have the same exposure.

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