How to fix misaligned layers in Photoshop

This week’s Photoshop tutorial will show you how to align handheld bracketed exposures. This is useful for when we take photos that require multiple exposure because the dynamic range in the scene is just too wide to capture in a single frame.

The technique shown in this tutorial will allow you to line those images up so that you can then blend these photos as if you were using a tripod.

Video: Align those handheld exposures using this technique!!

Here’s a summary of the steps:

(View the video for full details and explanations)

  1. Load an two exposures in Photoshop.
  2. If you simply blend the two images together by using a black foreground colored brush, you will see that the outcome is something that we would not like to have because the images are not lining up properly.
  3. Select both layers by pressing shift on your keyboard and clicking on both images.
  4. Click on the Edit menu, Select Auto-align layer.
  5. Under the Auto-Alighn layers window select Auto , click Okay.
  6. It may take a few seconds to align.
  7. If you toggle on and off the layer you will see that the images had been aligned.
  8. Crop the image to remove unwanted edges.
  9. Select the brush tool with a whit foreground.
  10. Add a layer mask to the top layer.
  11. Invert it by pressing the Command (Mac) or Ctrl+I (Windows) on your keyboard.
  12. Select the brush tool with a white foreground.
  13. Brush the sky and bottom portion of the image to blend the layers together.
  14. Make the necessary layer masking until you have obtained the desired image.

We’re excited for you to try this technique!

Click here now to join Photo Mastery Club and come share your results with this tutorial with your fellow members!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.