Ngaroto Milky Way

[MandieS]

I'm not happy with the auto photomerge on this one The horizon is good, a couple might need just a bit of moving, but the milky way is straight not arched. I also tried with the Geometric Distortion Correction ticked but then the milky way was good but the horizon was arched!
There are probably a couple of pics I can hide but thought I'd wait til I'd checked in here.
Any suggestions please?

[Damien Symonds]

Oh boy.

I think you should do the blending for now.  Once that is done, you can warp it all together as desired.

[MandieS]

Ok thanks - never done warping?

 

[Damien Symonds]

We'll worry about that later.  Go ahead and purge the layers you don't need; then blend.

[MandieS]

[Damien Symonds]

May I also see a screenshot of your layers panel?  (Sorry, I should have thought to ask earlier.)

[MandieS]

[Damien Symonds]

Great.  So delete any of the layers you haven't used, then select all the layers, and Layer>Convert to Smart Object.  This will, as the name says, combine all the layers into one smart object.

Then you can Edit>Transform>Warp (or any other kind of transformation, maybe perspective might be good too?) and go nuts.

[MandieS]

Thanks

Hmm this could be interesting

 

[MandieS]

This is where I'm at?! What are your thoughts please?

What would be the best way to fill the edges?

Really need to buy an ultra wide lens

 

[Damien Symonds]

Hmmm ... it's revealed some flaws in your blending, hasn't it?

That's ok, just go to Layer>Smart Object>Edit Contents, and it will open up the original layers in a separate view, so you can fix the masking a bit.

[MandieS]

Yeah at the top of the milky way? Any where else that you can see?

What's the best way to fill the gaps around the edges - I don't really want to crop it down much if I can help it because of the composition?

Thanks

[Damien Symonds]

  On 9/25/2017 at 9:33 AM, MandieS said:

Yeah at the top of the milky way?

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Yep.

  On 9/25/2017 at 9:33 AM, MandieS said:

Any where else that you can see?

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I don't think so, but there are two ways I'd check.  First, I'd look at each channel.  Second, I'd add a Levels layer and slowly drag the white slider in aggressively.  Between those two methods, you should be able to spot any hard edges.

  On 9/25/2017 at 9:33 AM, MandieS said:

What's the best way to fill the gaps around the edges - I don't really want to crop it down much if I can help it because of the composition?

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Well, I guess try Content Aware Fill first.  If that fails, then it's just careful cloning, sorry.

[MandieS]

Oh gosh what a nightmare! Cloning it was - what do you think?

[Damien Symonds]

Looks great.

Can you post this in Levels briefly?  There's something I want to ask you.

[MandieS]

Posted in levels.

This merge didn't work as well as my first with the milky way pretty much end up a straight diagonal line! Would this be because I only used shots from the high/mid point and not any from the left side of the milky way, so the merge couldn't read the overall shape?

[Damien Symonds]

  On 9/29/2017 at 12:53 AM, MandieS said:

Posted in levels.

This merge didn't work as well as my first with the milky way pretty much end up a straight diagonal line! Would this be because I only used shots from the high/mid point and not any from the left side of the milky way, so the merge couldn't read the overall shape?

Expand  

Yeah, maybe you're right.  I don't know, to be honest.

[MandieS]

Ok thanks - will make sure on next merge I get all the milky way and see what happens. Can always delete whichever end I don't want if necessary!