Unbelievable Madagascar September 14–October 1, 2007
				India Wildlife: On the Trail of the Tiger November 7–24, 2007
				Angkor Wat & Bagan—Temples of Cambodia and Myanmar January 17–31, 2008

Unwanted elements often stray into your picture at inopportune times. Tourists bumble in front of you, your subjects squint, or you notice some garbage in an otherwise perfect and irreplaceable shot. It has always been possible in Photoshop to take several pictures, stack them as layers, align the background, and erase the unwanted elements, albeit with plenty of sweat and time. With Auto Align and Auto Blend, CS3 eliminates the hassle. Here’s how to do it.

 
Open two similar shots. These were handheld so the backgrounds are lined up exactly.

	After running Auto-Align and opening a Layer Mask on the top layer, brush the top layer away as needed.

Select two nearly identical images in Bridge and open them in Photoshop by clicking on one shot. Drag one image over the other while depressing the V and Shift keys. (The shift key keeps them in perfect register.) Close the second image. You now have a two-layered file.

Select both layers in the Layers Palette by Command clicking them. Go to the Edit menu and choose Auto-Align Layers. The Auto-Align Layers dialog appears with four options. Try Reposition first because it causes the least distortion, but if the results look funky, use Auto. After hitting OK, the backgrounds align, a feat of computer magic.

If you shot with an immobile camera on a tripod, you can skip those steps and select the image components you want.

There are now two sets of foreground subjects. To select the best of both layers, open a Layer Mask on the top Layer (not the Background) by clicking on the square icon with the while circle at the bottom of the Layers Palette. Make sure you have a Black Foreground Color.

	The Layers and History Palettes.

Select the Brush tool, and make it large enough to have a significant effect. Anywhere you paint will reveal the underlying image and erase the upper layer. Start by painting over the worst part of the image, thus exposing to good stuff underneath. You can un-erase and un-paint by switching the foreground color to white and painting over your error, returning that area to its original condition.

If your original images are well-aligned from the start, Auto-Blend creates the same effect as long as the main subjects are separated sufficiently.

As before, open two similar shots and drag one over the other as described above. You now see two layers in the Layer Palette.

First, Add Canvas to either side of the image to give yourself room to work. Go to Adjustments-Canvas Size and increase each side by at least 20%.

Let’s say you want to keep the right side of the top layer and everything on the left side of the Background Layer. The following steps erase the flawed image. Take care to leave a 10 to 20% overlap so the program can stitch the image together.

Use the Marquee Tool to select the area you wish to discard on the left side. Hit the Delete key. Only the right half remains.

	After running Auto-Align and opening a Layer Mask on the top layer, brush the top layer away as needed.

Turn off Layer 1 and double click on the Background Layer and click OK when the New Layer dialog appears. This makes the Background Layer into a standard layer with transparency, required for the next steps. Use the Marquee tool to define the area to discard on the right side of the bottom layer and hit Delete.

Confirm that there is sufficient overlap by clicking the “eye” to the left of the layers in the Layers Palette off and on. Activate both layer so they both appear blue in the palette. Go the the Edit pulldown menu, select Auto-Blend Layers, and click OK. Photoshop blends the two halves with no seams.

This is as close to magic as I’ve seen on a computer.

Be sure to check out James' latest book, DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY OUTDOORS: A Field Guide for Adventure & Travel Photographers, published by The Mountaineers Press.

All images Copyright © James Martin