1
To create a good merged panorama, it’s vital to start with
a suitable sequence of images. First, to avoid distortion
don’t use extremely wide angle lenses. It’s better to use a focal
length of around 25-50mm. Second, use a tripod to help you
to pan around smoothly. Finally, make sure that there is some
overlap between successive frames.3
Still in the Library module, with the sequence highlighted,
go to the menus at the top of the screen and click on
Photo. Move down to Photo Merge (about half-way down the
list) and a fly-out sub-menu will appear: select Panorama.
Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+M to go
straight to the Panorama Merge preview.2 Once you’ve imported your sequence of frames into
Lightroom, locate them in your library and highlight all the
shots that you want to merge, by holding down the CTRL (CMD
on a Mac) key and clicking on each one. Note that the sequence
doesn’t have to be in the right order, the photo merging process
will match them up automatically.4 The Photo Merge feature in Lightroom is very similar
to the one found in Photoshop but works much more
quickly and efficiently. Once you have activated the menu
option (or used the keyboard shortcut), it creates a preview of
the merged panorama in a process that, for sequences of four
or five shots, will only take a few seconds.Create Panoramas
with Photo Merge
Even with a wide-angle lens, you sometimes find panoramic scenes
that just won’t fit into a single frame. With Lightroom’s Photo Merge
feature, you can stitch together a sequence of frames into a single
ultra-wide panoramic image that captures the whole scene.
This tutorial
content is
available for
download82
GOING DEEPER: ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING
BDM’s Made Easy Series | Volume 22