USE AUTO-ALIGN AND AUTO-BLEND LAYERS to combine photos

You can easily combine two or more separate photographs of the same subject and let Photoshop blend these to achieve a better image. You can combine images that do not have identical alignments and Photoshop can automatically align them. You can combine images photographed with different exposures, making some too light and others too dark, and Photoshop blends these to achieve better color and tone. 

The Auto-Align Layers command aligns layers based on similar content in different layers, such as corners and edges, and automatically generates the required masks. 

The Auto-Blend Layers command helps you create composites of a scene from multiple images with over- or underexposed areas or even content differences. Auto-Blend Layers creates masks on each layer and to hide or show different areas from each image to create a better and seamless composite image. 

Using the Auto-Align and Auto-Blend Layers commands is not the same as creating an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image shown in task #78. 

1 Open multiple images to combine. 

2 Click Window ➪ Arrange and select a window layout, such as 2-up Horizontal, so you can see all the images. 

Note: Only two images are shown in this task; however, you can use multiple images. 

3 Shift+click and drag each image onto one image to make multiple layers on one document. 

4 Close all the other open images. 

5 Shift+click all the layers in the Layers panel. 

6 Click Edit. 

7 Click Auto-Align Layers. 

8 Click an alignment option ( changes to ) in the dialog box that appears. 

9 Click OK.

Photoshop automatically aligns the layers based on the content. 

10 Shift+click all the layers in the Layers panel. 

11 Click Edit. 

12 Click Auto-Blend Layers. 

13 Click Stack Images in the dialog box ( changes to ). 

14 Click Seamless Tones and Colors in the dialog box ( changes to ). 

15 Click OK. 

Photoshop automatically blends the layers. 

16 Click the Crop tool. 

17 Click and drag in the image to select the finished composite. 

18 Click the Commit button to apply the crop.

Note: You can optionally click Layer ➪ Flatten Image to combine all the layers into one composite image. 

TIPS 

Did You Know? 

The Auto-Align command automatically changes the locked Background layer into a regular layer and changes the name to Layer 0. 

More Options! 

After applying the Auto-Align command, you can click Edit ➪ Free Transform and then use the anchor points to fine-tune the alignment, or even to make tonal adjustments by changing exposure differences between layers. 

Try This! 

Ô+click (Ctrl+click) directly on one of the layer masks in the Layers panel to see what areas were added or removed from one layer.