Hey guys, Hugh here again from CreatorUp! Today I have some great news for 360 degree Panoramic Photographers – with the new Adobe camera RAW update, we have a new 360 photo editing workflow using Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom. This new workflow has some great new features, like the fact that it doesn’t create any stitch lines in your 360 photos, even when adjusting HDR like highlights, shadows, clarity or haze. So let’s get right into my workflow!
With the new update, you no longer need to edit the stitch line out when you add the Offset plugin. First, I take my DNG file and drop it into Photoshop, which will open up Adobe Camera RAW, or you can also use Lightroom for this. Make sure you update to the latest Adobe Camera RAW to make this work. This is when I would make changes to exposure, highlights and shadows. Another must at this time, and an advantage of using DNG RAW, is under Lens Corrections, check ‘Remove Chromatic Aberration.” This removes purple edges commonly found in fisheye lenses. You can also reduce the noise under the detail tab – I would suggest zooming in 100% to the image to decide how much noise reduction and sharpening you need. And that’s it!
One important thing you need to take note of here is to hold down shift on your keyboard, and click Open Object instead of Open Image before you close Adobe Camera RAW. This will turn your image into a smart object. The reason we do this is that the 360-aware workflow doesn’t work on Camera RAW as a filter, it has to be connected directly with Adobe Camera RAW.
The true power of this workflow is the ability to use Profile or Preset in Lightroom. Any profile or preset you’ve purchased or built will be available inside of Adobe Camera RAW. If you open up Camera RAW again, on top of your color correction, click browse profile, and you can save presets to favorites to easily choose from later.
Here’s a bonus tip for you on how to level your 360 photos. Usually, the only way to level photos is using PTGui, but you can also use a plugin called Flexify 2. In order to use any plugin, you need to flatten your smart object first. Then just apply flexify! Make sure your input and output are equirectangular – then you can adjust the latitude and spin to level your photo. This step will save you time, since you won’t have to leave Photoshop to go to PTGui!
Now, you can check the quality stitch line by turning the equirectangular photo into a 360 photo. Under 3D, pick New Panorama Layer from Selected Layers.
After we are in 360 mode, pan down to the nadir. This is when I would remove the tripod. I usually don’t directly edit the 360 photo itself, because this will slow down the machine. The trick is to copy and paste the tripod onto a new layer. Then, click the healing brush and brush out the tripod legs. Another tip is to use the Clone Stamp tool as well on the ground for a more precise look. When you’re finished, merge down the layer, and the tripod leg will be gone!
Next, move back to the horizon line with the Move tool. Choose 3D – Spherical Panorama – Export Panorama, and export your final image for wherever it’s final destination might be. This workflow also works with j16-bit TIFF files, and even PNG.
Thank you so much for checking out my workflow with the new Adobe update. Stay tuned, because in the future I’m going to be sharing more tips on 360 photos and things like Virtual Tour creation. Check out our YouTube page for all of my tutorials, and subscribe to our newsletter to get posts in your email inbox!
