CS3 Photomerge Scores again

Nikolai

I was shooting Race for The Cure in Pasadena, CA today.

There was many photoops, including a challenge to take a group shot of the groups consisting of several hundred people.

I decided to use panoramic approach and stitch the individual shots later.

Timing was very tight, so I simply took 7 handheld shots for each group in a rather quick sequence hoping that people would not move too much.

At home I decided to use two tools and compare the results:
improved CS3 Photomerge and my old trusted copy of the Panorama Factory.

To my huge surprise CS3 won 4:0 (I shot each group twice).
PF produced some ugly ghostly faces in mass amounts (I'm not even posting them).
CS3 results were much cleaner, as you can see for yourself

Group one:



Group two:



While thus far my experience with Landscapes tells me to use PF more often, CS3 is becoming an invaluable tool for creating super hires large group shots.

Cheers!

Andy

wellman

I try to keep things in Lightroom as much as possible, but I've been evaluating PSE6 for the occasional Pano, etc. This week I happened to get a request from the mother-of-the-groom of the first wedding I got about compositing two formal images. I told her I'd take a crack, but that I wouldn't expect too much. Frankly, I was shocked by how well the result turned out. I know gurus have been able to do this for ages, but for a 5-minute rookie job, this is amazing.

(Oh, and I know the source images aren't cropped well. I wanted to give Photomerge the max available image for it's auto-alignment. )

Source 1:


Source 2:


Composite:


The new Photomerge is teh win!