Photomerge: One-step Panoramas

In June, I shared a method of easily stitching together multiple photos to generate a panorama using two new features in Adobe Photoshop CS3; Auto-Align and Auto-Blend.

There is a much more simpler way to do this thanks to Morris Ginberg who commented on the post and suggested using the updated Photomerge feature. It seems using Photomerge in Photoshop CS3 does the exact same thing as using Auto-Align and Auto-Blend, but does it all for you in one step (ok, maybe two steps if you count opening the Photomerge window).

So how do you use Photomerge?

Open up Photoshop CS3, then go File > Automate > Photomerge

The Photomerge window will open.

As shown in the image, Browse for your photos, then hit OK.
That’s all to it! You’ll end up with pretty much the same result* as if you were to use Auto-Align and Auto-Blend.

* = Using Photomerge over Auto-Align and Auto-Blend results in a flattened document (that’s one layer). By using Auto-Align and Auto-Blend, it leaves all the layers intact, as well as the layer masks. For advanced users who prefer a non-destructive editing approach, Auto-Align and Auto-Blend might be the better option

If you’d like to test Photomerge immediately but have no photos to work with, feel free to try it out with my photos from the Auto-Align and Auto-Blend example:

And the final result…