Photomerge-Panorama Question

[TonyK]

I took some pictures of a lake in the High Sierra with the intentions of doing a Panorama someday. I started trying to follow along with the 'help' section and it came out ok, but it didn't blend the color of the skies very well and I'm stumped on how to change/adjust that. I used the adjustments offered in that mode but its still not enough. How do you make the lighting blend better? Maybe part of my problem is I was turning into the lighting as I made all my images.
Tony

[Chuck S.]

Tony, this won't help you with your current dilemma, but the best way to ensure a good blending of images for a panorama is to shoot all of them with a constant aperture and shutter speed. For DLSR's, that means shooting in Manual mode. For some digital Point & Shoot cameras (for instance, many Canon models) there's a Panorama mode that takes successive photos at constant aperture and shutter speed.

With respect to the photos you're trying to merge, I might try to balance the photos using Levels adjustments prior to merging. If you can get them closer in tone, perhaps Photomerge can take them the rest of the way toward a seamless combination.

Another possibility is to complete the merge, then replace the sky. That would work well if it was cloudless, a little more work if clouds are involved.

[TonyK]

Chuck, Thanks for your reply, I'll use the excuse I was gasping for much needed air at somewhere around 10,000 feet when I took the pictures not thinking much about exposure. I'll sure keep that in mind next time when thiking of a Panorama . I'll see if I can adjust them before I load into the Panorama.
Tony

[ljameso1]

Tony, If your sky doesn't have clouds, could try selecting and doing a gaussian blue to smooth the gradations. Another tip at the capture stage for panoramics is not to use a polarizer as that will drastically affect the color of the sky at the different angles to the sun.