Best PhotoMerge Options For Merging Close Up Sections Of Circuit Board.

[SiúlAmáhain]

Hi all, 

I am using Photomerge to stitch close up images of sections of a circuit board, and it works amazingly well. I use the Auto, and my only complaint is that it slightly skews the image. 

Should I be using Auto, perspective, Cylindrical, Spherical, Collage or Reposition? 

Could any Photoshop veterans let me know which is the best option for doing this sort of thing. I include a couple of images below to show you what I am working with. 

thanks, 

[Jeff Arola]

Try Perspective.

You can use Adobe Camera Raw and see real time results of the different settings for a pano.

https://helpx.adobe.com/camera-raw/using/create-panoramas.html

[Semaphoric]

Are your images shot by panning the camera around a fixed point, or photographing them perpendicularly?

[Conrad_C]

To merge multiple photos of a flat item, always try Collage or Reposition first.

The other options assume it is a scene with objects at different depths, like a room or a landscape, so Spherical, Cylindrical, or Perspective will try to apply a 3D-to-2D projection that could add distortion to a subject that shouldn’t have it. (Auto tries to guess which one to use.)

Collage does not distort, it only moves, rotates, and scales. It may be the best choice if the photos have some variation.

Reposition only moves. It might be the best choice if the photos are consistent in rotation and magnification, and only need to be overlapped.

I tried your two sample images and got different results from Auto, Collage, and Reposition; the irregular edges might be confusing the algorithm. If you must work with these two images then also try Collage and Reposition, and pick the one you think looks best.

If you need to do this a lot, it’s strongly recommended that you photograph them as exactly straight on as you can, like from an overhanging arm on a tripod with everything leveled and aligned, and lit to minimize shadows. Then you could just use Reposition, and it should work every time.

[SiúlAmáhain]

Hi, and thanks for your detailed response. 

"If you need to do this a lot, it’s strongly recommended that you photograph them as exactly straight on as you can"

I have been working with every day this since I posted this thread. And I think the sentence above is the key point. I have built a little light box which keeps all my images straight, and I just slide along a defined path to keep the images straight on. However, while the centre of each image is in focus and straight on, the image starts to lose focus and skews as you move towards the edge of the image. 

So if you take the attached image for example - what I really need is the section of the image in the red box, and to discard the bits outside. 

[SiúlAmáhain]

Okay I've been able to set the iPhone to always take the picture as Square, which basically shaves off the left and right side of the image. I will try with this. It will mean having to take more images, but should give the software a better chance.