This new feature in Photoshop CS3 allows you to automatically align multiple images captured from a single vantage point, even if you shot them without a tripod. For instance, let's say we have these pictures of me and my wife, Elizabeth, from the balcony of our stateroom on the Photoshop Fling cruise, a week-long Geek Cruises event held every February. We each photographed each other separately by setting the camera on a table and taking turns pressing the shutter release. Unfortunately, the camera moved slightly so the images don't exactly align (hey, we were at sea). In the past, I've actually shown people how to align these images manually, which requires some work and patience. Now Photoshop can do it automatically.
The first step is to combine the two images into a single composition. Using the move tool, we can drag the picture of me and Shift-drop it into my wife's photo. (Pressing Shift when releasing the mouse button registers the two identically sized images into place.) If I turn the new layer of me on and off, we can see that the images do not align properly. The difference is slight, but it's enough to completely ruin the effect.
With Layer 1 (me) active, we can Shift-click on the Background layer to select both layers. Then choose Edit→Auto-Align Layers to display a dialog box of alignment options. Selecting the Auto option tells Photoshop to distort the images as it sees fit so that they precisely match, detail for detail. Click the OK button to let the function do its thing.
Next, select Layer 1 in the Layers palette. Add a layer mask by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the palette. Grab the gradient tool. In the options bar, make sure the gradient is set to Foreground to Background. Also set the style to Linear, mode to Normal, Opacity to 100 percent. Leave the foreground and background colors set to their masking defaults (white and black, respectively). Draw a short gradient from right to left to reveal my wife in the background.
Press the X key to make the foreground color black, use the brush tool to paint away the third champagne glass, and there you have it. A festive couple united on board an ocean-going vessel thanks to the amazing automatic alignment capabilities of Photoshop CS3.
For a whole book-load of hands-on Deke tutorials complete with accompanying video, look for his new book Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-on-One coming next month from O'Reilly. (Sneak peek of the new cover here for intrepid blog readers; you saw it here first, folks.) You can also check out Deke's videos at online training center lynda.com.
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