Pirongia Milky Way

[MandieS]

Hi - 2nd time trying to shoot the milky way last night but lens not wide enough so went for option 2 of taking several pics to try and stitch together into a panorama, never tried this before! Used PS and the Automate>Photomerge option which I think has worked to a degree but not sure what to do next, how to blend edges etc
They were all taken with the same settings and batch edited in RAW.
 

[Damien Symonds]

How well did it do?  Are the stars overlaid perfectly on each layer?

[MandieS]

Looks ok to me, the dark bit through the core look pretty well aligned.

 

[Damien Symonds]

Great.

And are there any of the layers which you don't need?  The fewer layers you have, the less masking you need to do.

[MandieS]

Ah right - yes I could ditch 4 layers - there is a bit of uneveness with the mountain but could probably do a bit of cloning to smooth that out?

[Damien Symonds]

Attagirl.  Now you're catching on.  Yes, cloning will be fine for that.

Ok, so with the layers remaining, add masks to them (except the bottom one, of course) and use a big soft brush to blend them together.

[MandieS]

OMG I've just started blending them together - amazing

Back in a bit!

 

[Damien Symonds]

Can't wait to see!

[MandieS]

What do you think? What next? I haven't dealt with the mountain yet.

[Damien Symonds]

Wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

[MandieS]

[Damien Symonds]

Beautiful.  @Lara, check this out!!

[MandieS]

Thanks for your help

[Damien Symonds]

Are you going to print it?

[MandieS]

Probably at some point - have some holes to cover in a wall

 

[Damien Symonds]

Well, PLEASE don't print it until you've taken the Sharpening Class.  You need to do it justice.

[Lara]

2 hours ago, Damien Symonds said:

Beautiful.  @Lara, check this out!!

Wow, that is stunning! 

[MandieS]

Thank you so much Lara