# Panorama creation problem



## ColMac9090 (Jun 21, 2015)

Posted this in the Adobe feedback forums, as it sounded wrong, but got no response!



Just had an interesting problem creating a panorama in Lightroom.

I have a total of 20 Canon Raw files each about 22Mb in size. I selected all 20, and used the panorama facility inside LR to create a pano.

The net result took a while (my PC only has 8gb of RAM). However it managed to create a new file approx. 460Mb in size. It did however have a major flaw in the sky (presumably) at one of the joins. (incidentally, Photoshop did not create this flaw when I tried it later)

While I could have edited this flaw inside LR (or in PS), I decided to try and create 3 smaller panos from parts of the original 20 files, then merge the 3 panos together. Stage 1 of this process worked fine. I selected 7 images to create the first, then another 7, and finally the last 6 images. All this was done within LR.

I then selected the three small panos and tried to merge them inside LR. I get an error message in the Pano preview window saying Unable to merge the photos. Please cancel and review your selection.

If however I select the same 3 (small) panos and use the Photomerge in Photoshop, they happily create a merged image.

As far as I can see, the only differences between doing all 20 or just 3, is that the three intermediate panos are 16bit DNG’s, and the individual file sizes are greater

I cannot see any reference to the LR pano facility not doing 16bit DNG’s. Indeed, There is a Kost Tutorial showing merge to HDR (16 bit DNG) before merging to pano.

The same Kost tutorial mentions size limits of 64000 pixels or 512Mp (although they are not mentioned in the help file). The three intermediate panos are approx. 15,ooo pix els on the long edge and approx. 50 megapixels

Any suggestions why LR can’t complete this merge would be welcome.

Thanks

Colin


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## clee01l (Jun 21, 2015)

I've tried the same experiment to pano merge three panos, with the same error message. I'm wondering out loud whether the DNG could be in layers and the LR Pano can not handle layered images Or perhaps the intermediate panos have transparent pixels (where you see white) and the transparency is causing LR Pano to choke.


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## Ian.B (Jun 22, 2015)

I have need to ask do you need such a big pano file. I don't have LR6 but this how I do panos so sizes are not so big

All files edited together [auto sync] in Lightroom so I have the best files possible. Then shock horrors I export JPGs files to a folder outside LR>>files are then merged in Microsoft ICE >> and saved as a TIFF or a JPG. I have no need for big files/prints but I would have no dramas printing up to 40" long; or longer

Maybe that work flow or similar could be used in LR pano ....... you send the edited jpg files in LR pano [no idea how that is done

20 raw files is a lot IMO but it does depend on the amount overlap. Honestly that's sort of bill board size or or 4 mt board room photo size. Pretty easy to get a little carried away with file sizes these days IMO; but maybe you do have a need for a big file.

Hope that helps in some way.


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## someothername (Jun 22, 2015)

I have seen this and similar anomalies. I had one with 8 images that PS handled fine, but LR only merged 5 of them, and in fact merged 2 and 4, skipping 3!  (At a quick glance it looked ok; trees and shrubs)

On the other hand, the last 20 or so, including several with 24 images, were handled fine by LR.  I checked, making panos both in LR and exported to PS and for the most part the LR version does a better job of exposure merging than did PS.  

On the third hand, sometimes LR will tell me it doesn't have enough information to merge, but restarting LR seems to fix that.

The PS created panos tend to have somewhat bigger file sizes than the same LR generated .dng file.  However, since my workflow requires adding text and other layers, I end up editing the .dng in PS and having to store my finished result as a TIF. PS by default will save it as a large document, which LR won't see.  It will not save it as a .dng.


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## Jim Wilde (Jun 23, 2015)

For sure PS will merge some panos that LR will struggle with, I've had a few misfires as well. I just hope it's a case of "early days" and that LR will get better over time. But when it works, I thinks it's great!


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## ColMac9090 (Jun 24, 2015)

Jim Wilde said:


> For sure PS will merge some panos that LR will struggle with, I've had a few misfires as well. I just hope it's a case of "early days" and that LR will get better over time. But when it works, I thinks it's great!



That seems the optimum answer. 

Thanks for the comments.


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## ColMac9090 (Jun 24, 2015)

Ian.B said:


> I have need to ask do you need such a big pano file.



The answer is I don't. But that is the size LR creates. Until you have done the merge, you should not throw away any data. Once the pano is complete, then by all means resize the image, but not before!


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## Paul_DS256 (Oct 19, 2020)

Thanks for this post. I just ran into the error " Unable to merge the photos " in Panorama merge even though it was able to create the preview.

I found the the "Edit in" option of "Merge to Panorama in Photoshop", which is extremely useful for someone unfamiliar with PS. It created the Panorama but when I went to SAVE the image, and return to LR,  PS gave me an error that the TIF exceed the 4GB limit for TIF files. I tried a SAVE AS and unclicked the save LAYERS option and it worked. However, I then had to manually import the COPY TIFF, add it to the STACK with the original images then move it to the top of the STACK.

My question is there someway to change PS not to try and save LAYERS for a TIFF so it doesn't exceed the 4GB limit and prevent an automatic return to LR?

Thanks


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## clee01l (Oct 19, 2020)

In Photoshop "Save" Dialog you can uncheck the "Layers" checkbox instead of going to the "Save As" option


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## Paul_DS256 (Oct 19, 2020)

clee01l said:


> In Photoshop "Save" Dialog you can uncheck the "Layers" checkbox


I would if the Save dialog box appeared Cletus.  It doesn't and the next message I get is the 4GB limit exceeded.


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## clee01l (Oct 19, 2020)

Paul_DS256 said:


> I would if the Save dialog box appeared Cletus.  It doesn't and the next message I get is the 4GB limit exceeded.


I think you selected an option to hide the dialog when saving.  I'm not sure how to get it back in PS , but I always get the dialog.    Perhaps some one can figure out how to "unhide" the dialog.

Perhaps "reset all warning dialogs" on the General tab?


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## Paul_DS256 (Oct 19, 2020)

clee01l said:


> I think you selected an option to hide the dialog when saving


Thanks for the suggestion Cletus. This is not the first time I've had this problem so I wanted to figure out a solution.

I went into PS and selected 'Reset all warning dialogs'. Further searching the options, I found this one for TIF files. I left it on for prompting when layers






I did a quick test with 3 images. When I SAVE in PS, the dialogue box did not appear (yes I restarted PS). Checking the metadata in EXIFTOOLGUI it shows under, Photoshop, "LayerCount | 3".  I found a TIFF metadata file reader but couldn't see any layer information there. When I reopen the TIF in PS, the 3 layers appear.

It was hard Googling for SAVE dialoque box. The returns were about SAVE AS. Googling "photoshop TIFF support" I found this page with the note "_ To have Photoshop prompt you before saving an image with multiple layers, select Ask Before Saving Layered TIFF Files in the File Handling area of the Preferences dialog box_ "

So, still at a loss in how to force the dialogue box. Could the invocation from LR being setting anything since it does load the saved TIF into LR on return.


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