Why is there extra space in the canvas of my images after loading files into a stack?

[RobBuck]

Ugh, so frustrating... I am trying to add a number of images into a stack to create an animated gif. I have done this before without issue. What is different now? Thank you in advance for any insight into this issue!

 

[Conrad_C]

Looking at your Layers panel, one of your images has a filename that ends gif.jpg. Why is that image different than the others? Is that difference causing the extra space, like a GIF with extra transparent area?

[RobBuck]

Thank you, that's a good observation but the other .jpg images have the same issue so not sure if that would be the problem? I have tried searching for anyone who could offer some advice for the optimum size/dimensions of an image to use in gifs but no luck. I didn't know if maybe that was the problem.

[Conrad_C]

What does one of the JPEG images look like when you open just that one in Photoshop, without stacking it with the others? Here is why I ask:

When stacked, there is a lot of transparent area along the right of the canvas. But…JPEG does not support transparency, so it shouldn’t be something in any of the JPEG files. If it was, that space would be solid white, not transparent. That is what drew me to the one with gif in the filename, it became the prime suspect because if that is actually a GIF file, of a different size, it would have the ability to have a transparent area that extends.

Another troubleshooting approach to try:

1. Select the Move tool, then in the options bar, enable Show Transform Controls. This will display the bounding box to visually indicate the full dimensions of every layer. 

2. Select each layer one by one in the Layers panel. Watch the handles.

My guess is that at least one layer will show transform handles extending over the transparent space on the right. Any layers where the handles stop at the right edge of the photo stack are innocent. Any layers where the handles extend all the way over the transparency are causing the unwanted extension, and should be inspected further.

Also, it’s possible that an auto-alignment error has positioned at least one layer outside the canvas; the visible transform bounding box should reveal that too. But so would Image > Reveal All.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Have you aligned the layers?  (Edit > Auto Align layers)

If layer content is similar but the camera moved between shots, then that is going to leave an area of transparency after alignment.  Photoshop has done that for as long as I can remember.

[Stephen Marsh]

What if you use Image > Trim?

Although not an answer as to why, there are alternative scripts for loading a series of images into a single file as layers:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/layers-creating-layers/td-p/13252109

https://morris-photographics.com/photoshop/scripts/import-folder.html

[RobBuck · Accepted solution]

Thank you everyone for your input, after some further trial & error, the issue turned out to be that the images were different dimensions. So I cropped each one so they were all identical to each other and that solved the problem. Plus reducing the files sizes for each image to stay between roughly 350 -1MB max.