How to Photomerge to Create a Panoramic Image

The panoramic photograph can be majestic, but creating this style of sweeping scenic takes some know-how. In this video, professional photographer and editor Tony Sweet travels to Battery Park in old-town Charleston, South Carolina to assemble a dramatic, panoramic image through a process called photo merge. You will learn how to make a series of overlapping infrared images for stitching to a pan and later how to employ editing tools to merge them together in post-production.

Tony carefully levels his tripod and composes a wooded park scene, then shoots a sequence of seven right-to-left images that overlap by a third to a half. He shoots only in the vertical format because he feels it’s easier to merge these files in post-production. He takes you into his editing suite and opens the image files in Photoshop. Using the Photomerge software, he aligns the seven selected layers until the software stitches the layers together in a single panoramic composition. He makes cropping adjustments to create the corrected image he can work on with various software tools.

With the targeted adjustment tool, Tony shows you how to darken the bright, grassy areas. Opening Nik Software, he demonstrates the techniques of the infrared filter, Color Efex Pro. Using the Glamour Glow tool, he shows you how to add a soft, blooming effect to the overall image and then layer the photograph with a sepia tone to create the historical effect. In the last step of the editing process, he shows you how to employ the clone tool for spot adjustments that include filling in the highlights and shadows. The finished image shows a panorama of walking paths, trees, and lawn with a central gazebo. A beautiful infrared panorama.

Follow along with pro shooter Tony Sweet as he shows you the complete photo merge process in panoramic photography.

See all of the videos in our Visual Artistry Course:

Visual Artistry – Course Preview
Using Long Exposure to Photograph Water
HDR Photography: Capturing a Water Scene
Close-Up Photography: Capturing the Details of Shells
Photographing Scenery with Multiple Exposures
Black and White Conversion
Capturing the Beauty of Downtown Charleston
Infrared Photography: Tips on Shooting and Editing
How to Mirror an Image Using Photoshop
This video: How to Photomerge to Create a Panoramic Image
Creating a Digital Sandwich
Capturing Unique Shots in Drayton Cellar
Capturing HDR Images at Drayton
Capturing and Editing Infrared Images
Mirroring Images at Magnolia Garden
Photographing Charleston Gallery
Stitching and Merging Photos from Drayton Hall
Assembling a Digital Sandwich at Magnolia Garden
Photographing Trees with Multiple Exposure