How can I blend a time-lapse panorama so the sky is smooth but the repeated suns and rays still overlap?
Asked 12/11/2016
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2 answers
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I’m assembling a 24-hour midnight-sun panorama in Photoshop CS6 from images taken about once per hour. I can align the frames, but I’m struggling with blending.
- Using gradients between frames gives me visible darker bands in the sky and cuts off the sun rays between neighboring suns.
- Using Auto-Blend Layers makes the sky and landscape look smoother, but the suns lose the extended overlapping rays I want.
- Using Screen blend mode helps the suns and rays overlap naturally, but it over-brightens the image and doesn’t preserve the landscape well.
What’s a good workflow to keep the sky and foreground clean while allowing each sun and its rays to extend into the neighboring frames?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
1
I suggest blending twice; the first 2 options where you didn't like the sun's treatment really produced a nice landscape (foreground). The screen blend you tried produces the suns overlap nicely; finish screen blending with all the images then use a gradient to place the previously blended landscape.
Originally by user39110. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user39110
9y ago
0
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A practical approach is to build the image in two separate blends, then combine them.
- Create a base panorama for the sky/landscape using your smoother method: gradients or Auto-Blend Layers. Ignore how the suns look for this version.
- Make a second composite just for the suns and rays, using Screen blending so the rays can overlap naturally between frames. Ignore the foreground/background in this version.
- Combine the two composites: place the “sun” version above the “background” version and reveal only the bright sun/ray areas.
In Photoshop, one useful way is with Blend If: put the sun composite on top, then in Layer Style use the “This Layer” dark slider to hide the darker sky/landscape and keep only the brighter sun/rays. Split the slider (Alt/Option-drag) to soften the transition.
If Screen blending gets too bright, reduce it before combining or build the sun composite in smaller groups, then merge and continue. The key idea is: blend the background and the suns separately, because one method rarely works best for both.
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