aligning layers?

J
Posted By
JCW
Aug 2, 2008
Views
289
Replies
5
Status
Closed
I shot an image of a building bracketing with the idea that I would blend the different exposures of the windows & sky. I have no problem doing this manually and am not asking an hdr question.

My question is that I must of either left the auto focus on or bumped the tripod ever so slightly. I thought there was a way in PS cs 3 to snap layers or align layers. I have tried to use the align layers under the layers menu and auto align into photomerge from the edit menu with no luck. The clouds in the four different exposures change position, I don’t care about them only the building in the foreground.

Can anyone offer advice or insights how to align layers to snap my building in line with the other exposures? Please. Thanks jeff

p.s. I did read through the archives and have tried ideas still don’t seem to make this work
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WG
Welles_Goodrich
Aug 3, 2008
Jeff,

Just to clarify. Did you put all the different images on different layers of a single image, select them all and then use Edit > Auto-Align Layers (with Auto selected)? You can choose a reference layer by locking prior to the Auto-Align command.
J
JCW
Aug 3, 2008
Yes I put all the images onto their own layers to start with, i’ve also tried the photomerge from Bridge.

How do I choose a reference layer & have it locked prior? Under the layers menu it only allows me to lock a group of layers. thanks jeff
WG
Welles_Goodrich
Aug 3, 2008
Wait a minute, you can highlight one layer and lock it using the Lock button in the Layer’s palette. Then just hold down the shift key and select all your layers. Am I missing something?
J
JCW
Aug 3, 2008
First let me thank you for your help in this matter I truly appreciate it!!! I don’t seem to see the lock button in the Layers palette, My buttons start with a link layers and end with a trash can.

In any case I created one of the layers as a background layer (locking it) but to no avail! UGH Selecting all the layers & going edit menu auto align it is still trying to align the whole images and the clouds that have moved seem to be making the building become distorted.
WG
Welles_Goodrich
Aug 3, 2008
Try locking all. If it doesn’t work most likely you have too much variation among the various images I suspect. The Auto Align layer is normally used between layers so you keep one as the reference and then mask elements of all the others so you end up with a single image composited from elements of each of the different layers. I’m not sure your intended use to end up with an HDRI would work.

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Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

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