Classic step 3 – Correct problems with the stitched image
Now examine the stitched image carefully. If The Panorama Factory did its job well, all the overlap regions are properly aligned, there are no ghosts and the brightness of your picture is satisfactory. In this case, you can go directly to “Classic step 4 – Crop the stitched image”.
You don’t need to be concerned about whether you will be able to
correct all of the problems at this time. You can make the corrections
described in this step at any time. If you discover problems later after
cropping, resizing or sharpening, you can return to this step. As you make your
corrections, The Panorama Factory will automatically update your cropped,
resized and sharpened images accordingly.
This section describes a suggested work-flow for correcting problems in your stitched image, but does not go into detail on the steps. Please refer to the “Troubleshooting guide” in Chapter 6, “Correcting stitching problems” for step-by-step instructions on correcting problems.
Correcting these problems can be tedious or lots of fun, depending on your mindset. In any case, however, it can involve a significant investment of time and mental energy. We suggest saving your project occasionally as you work on the overlap regions.
Open the first overlap region
Work flow in the overlap regions
Adjust blending region boundaries
Open the first overlap region
When correcting problems in your stitched image, it is probably best to open each overlap region and correct its problems in turn.
To open the first overlap region, click the handle (red dot) at the
the top or bottom edge of an overlap outline or double-click anywhere on the
outline. Opening the overlap region causes the Overlap
region dialog box to be displayed. You use this dialog box to navigate
from one overlap region to the next and to make adjustments.
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Work flow in the overlap regions
Once the overlap region is open, the normal sequence of operations is
Correct the overall alignment — You should begin by adjusting the image-to-image alignment if it is incorrect because the remaining steps in this work flow assume that the overall alignment is correct. Refer to “Manually aligning images” in Chapter 6, “Correcting stitching problems.”
Check focal length and barrel correction — Refer to “Adjusting focal length and barrel correction” in Chapter 6, “Correcting stitching problems.” Note that same focal length value and barrel correction value apply to all images in your panorama. After adjusting the value, you should check the other overlap regions to be sure the value works well for your entire panorama.
Fine tune the alignment — Refer to “Fine tuning the image alignment” in Chapter 6, “Correcting stitching problems.”
Check brightness falloff correction — Refer to “Adjusting focal length and barrel correction” in Chapter 6, “Correcting stitching problems.” Note that same focal length value and barrel correction value apply to all images in your panorama. After adjusting the value, you should check the other overlap regions to be sure the value works well for your entire panorama.
You can use the <--- Prev and Next ---> buttons on the Overlap region dialog box to move from one overlap region to another. You can also move from one seam to another by holding the ALT key (Windows) or OPTION key (Mac) and pressing the left or right arrow key.
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Adjust blending region boundaries
Sometimes an overlap region will have a ghost you just can’t eliminate with fine tuning. If an object (e.g. car or person) moved between the times you made the two photographs, its position and/or size will differ in the two images. There’s really no way to adjust the images so that features like this will align sharply. You can sometimes eliminate these ghosts by adjusting the boundaries of the blend region.
You make these adjustments when you are looking at the entire stitched image. The overlap regions are displayed as irregular outlines. There are two ways to adjust the boundaries of the blend region. You can use the mouse to move the entire left or right edge to change the width of the region without chaging its shape or you can edit the shape of the edge using a freehand drawing tool.
To change the width of the region without changing its shape, move
the cursor over the handle (red dot) on the side of the overlap region that has
the ghost. The cursor changes to indicate that dragging will change the width
of the outline.
The edit the shape of the region, move the cursor
over the left or right border of an overlap outline. Dragging the mouse up or
down edits the shape of the outline.
You can include or exclude portions of the lefthand image from the blending region by changing the left edge of the outline. You can include or exclude portions of the righthand image by moving the other edge. You cannot, however, enlarge the outline beyond the boundaries of the image overlap. If you try, the edges will snap back.
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