Skip to main content
M
mhump
Known Participant
July 29, 2023
Answered

Remove seam on composite photo

  • July 29, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 2153 views

I took two pictures of the night sky and I am trying to stich them together to make like a sort of mosaic/vertical panorama.

 

I'm pretty new to Photoshop, and wondering if there is a way to remove the seam accross the middle of the photo.  There is some vignetting, but mainly i'm trying to get rid of the harsh horizonal line.  So far everything i've tried makes it look worse.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Trevor.Dennis

    Are the two layers part of a photomerge, or are they unrelated?

    Even if the latter, I'd be inclined to try selecting the two layers, and going Edit > Auto Blend Layers

    I have no idea if this will work if the layers are not part of a photo merge.  The problem, as you are finding, is that the difference is not consistent, which makes masking really difficult.

    I'd be inclined to try the dodge and burn tools, but make sure you have the right tonal range selected, as the results look muddy and nasty if you have it wrong./

    Ctrl click the layer to load it as a selection before using dodge and burn.  That restricts changes to where you want them.

     

    I'll be interested to hear if Auto Blend does anything?

    3 replies

    George_F
    Community Expert
    George_FCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2023

    @mhump Also, feel free to post the files for others to attempt if you are interested.  It's not uncommon for us to edit examples and show layer panels.  From what you describe, I do this sort of edit often.

    George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
    M
    mhumpAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 29, 2023

    Hi @George_F - I would be curious what someone who knows what they are doing could do with these.  I am learning this as I go, and trying to figure out how to improve the image acquistion as well as the processing.   Sometimes I'm not sure if it's as good as I can get with the photos I took, or if better processing technique would yield significantly better results.  

     

    For these photos, I took 150 images of each frame, and used Sequator to stack them.  These are from a Canon R with a 50mm 1.8 lens (Shot at 7 seconds, f 2.0).  Using a tripod of course, I took the bottom frames (with the barn), then tried my best to tilt straight up to capture more of the sky/Milky Way.

     

    The original files are too large to attach to this post, so I've made them available on OneDrive.  I've uploaded the two un-processed/un-editited images that were produced by Sequator.  If you (or anyone) would like to give it a go, I would find that interesting.  

    Original Image Files

     

    George_F
    Community Expert
    George_FCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 30, 2023

    Perfect!  I'll take a stab at it when I get a chance.

     

    Cheers

    George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
    Trevor.Dennis
    Community Expert
    Trevor.DennisCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2023

    Are the two layers part of a photomerge, or are they unrelated?

    Even if the latter, I'd be inclined to try selecting the two layers, and going Edit > Auto Blend Layers

    I have no idea if this will work if the layers are not part of a photo merge.  The problem, as you are finding, is that the difference is not consistent, which makes masking really difficult.

    I'd be inclined to try the dodge and burn tools, but make sure you have the right tonal range selected, as the results look muddy and nasty if you have it wrong./

    Ctrl click the layer to load it as a selection before using dodge and burn.  That restricts changes to where you want them.

     

    I'll be interested to hear if Auto Blend does anything?

    M
    mhumpAuthor
    Known Participant
    July 29, 2023

    I'm not totally clear on what you mean by "photo merge".  Basically, I took the picture that is the bottom half, then tilted my camera up a bit and took the picture that is the top half.   I was doing this by estimate in the dark.  The top edge of the bottom photo is at about the middle of the top photo.  It took me many tries just to get the colors to be remotely close.  I guess this is because the lights from the barn?  not sure.  But the top half (which was stars/sky only) was much darker and grayer.  The other thing is the vignetting... The top edge and corners of the bottom picture is dark from the vignetting.  Then I'm trying to match this with the middle of the top photo, wich is the brightest portion.

     

    Anyway, I appreciate everyone's suggestions and I will give them a try.

    George_F
    Community Expert
    George_FCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 29, 2023

    Ideally there would be some overlap between the first two layers (layers 3+4).  Then use a layer mask with the brush set to 1%-5% flow to paint black along the seam to feather it, and you should be good to go.  Let me know if any of that doesn't make sense!

    Cheers

    George F, Photographer & Forum Volunteer
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices