How to make Panoramic or Super Wide Angle Images in Photoshop

Camera gear is expensive right? I wish I had enough money to purchase all of the cool lenses and gear out there, but in all reality there is no way that is an option for me. And if you are a photographer on a budget like myself you sometimes feel held back by what gear you have at your disposal. Shooting panoramic or super wide angle images for me was one of the road blocks I was constantly running into. While I love panoramic images, the cost of the lens needed to do this doesn't make sense for how much I would actually use it. Good thing Photoshop is here for you. Although it is not the cheapest software available, the cost of photoshop vs. a decent super wide angle lens vs. how much use you will get out of each, Photoshop wins every time.

This is probably the EASIEST photoshop tool you can use. As long as you have the images, the software pretty much does everything for you.

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There are two ways you can create a panoramic image in Photoshop. One, with photoshop open and running go to File > Automate > Photomerge

The other way you can start your panoramic image is through Adobe Bridge. I use this way because you can choose the photos first then start Photomerge. While both steps take you to the same place, using Bridge you choose the photos and run the program vs. the first way in which you run the program and then choose your images.

USING PHOTOSHOP ONLY:

USING ADOBE BRIDGE FIRST:

No matter which way you use, both lead to the same Photomerge screen. If you chose the path of using Photoshop only, then this is where you will add your images. If you went through Bridge, simply select "Ok" to start the merge process.

After selecting Ok, you will see Photoshop start to go to work on blending the images together. When it is finished (depending on how many images you used and the difficulty of the image...this may take a few minutes) you will see your images blended together into one file and should look something like this:

If you look at your layers window, you will see how Photoshop merged your images and each image is on it's own separate layer.

And that is about it....If you look close to the final image at the top you will see some mistakes that Photoshop made in merging the images together. I chose this image on purpose knowing it was very hard to really make a perfect match up of such a busy image. With that being said, here are some tips to get you started.

Here is another image I shot at a friends daughters birthday. Again, a busy image, but you can see how well Photomerge works. This image is constructed of only 4 images instead of the 6 used above.

• Try using just 2 or 3 photos at first. 
• Groups of people in an image makes for a difficult merge. As you can see in the image I used. At first try a landscape. 
• When shooting the images you want to use don't change any settings on your camera. Take the first image, slightly pan to the side, stop and then take the next image and so on. You will want all of the images you use to sharp and have the same focal point. 

If you want to check out something REALLY cool you can do with Photomerge and taking portraits...check out the link on a technique called "The Brenizer Method" 

If you want to share your Photomerge results, I would love to see them. And of course if you have any questions or need any help, hit me up on the comments below, Facebook, or shoot me an email!