How to Stitch images together in Photoshop CC

1 Be consistent

When you shoot for your panorama, use manual mode to make sure each exposure is exactly the same, and make sure the zoom and focus of your lens doesn’t change between shots. Put the files on their own in a folder.

2 Choose a layout option

In Photoshop, go to File > Automate > Photomerge. Set the source to be a folder, then point Photoshop at your images. You’ll almost always get good results from setting the layout option to Auto. Otherwise, try Perspective.

3 Anticipate problems

If you know your lens suffers from dark corners, turn on Vignette Removal. Similarly, if your lens doesn’t produce geometrically neutral images (if you get barrel distortion), turn on Geometric Distortion Correction.

4 Stitch and mask

Photoshop will produce a stitchedtogether image, with each of your original shots placed on a new masked layer to allow the one beneath to show. These masks will be irregular to create the most seamless join.

5 Check the join

To see the magic at work, zoom in and turn off the visibility of the topmost layer. Now toggle it back on and see if you can spot the join. If it’s flawless, you can move on to the next layer down and repeat the process.

6 Fix rough edges

If your image is seamless — and it may be — it’s time to fill out the panorama’s edges. If you picked Content Aware Fill Transparent Areas in step 3, you should not have rough edges, but our example here does.

7 Clone Stamp sample

Add a new, blank layer to work on. For plain areas such as sky, use the Clone Stamp tool (S): Opt-click on an area to sample from, then click or drag in the empty target area. The sample will be used to paint over the target.

8 Lasso transparent areas

To extend more detailed areas, press L for the Lasso tool, then drag around an empty area. This doesn’t need to be a tidy selection — just try not to include too much of your image in the area you demarcate.

9 Adjust the color

Press Shift+F5 to open the Fill dialog. Here, there’s a pop-up menu for choosing the fill for the selection, such as background color; for now, choose Content-Aware. Leave Color Adaptation selected and set Mode to Normal.

10 Fill and check

Click OK and Photoshop performs another of its tricks: sampling nearby detail to fill in the empty areas of your selection. You should still check the filled-in areas, particularly for repeating patterns.