Is there a way to use the auto align command based on a portion of the image only?

[lorleo]

I am trying to get an image based on an average of 30+ raw shots where only one portion of the image is fixed while the rest is moving.

Is there a simple way to get the images aligned base only on a tile?

It would be even better if I could have photoshop aligning only a cropped version (it would be very fast) and then retrieve somehow the translations vectors calculated for every cropped version and apply back to each entire image. 

Thanks

[JJMack]

If the images all have the same background where everything else is moving where the may be a little camera movement,    Sort of like a video with a little camera panning. Load files into a Stack with its try align option may work. If it can not align them they will still be stacked you would need to use the move tool to align the stacked layers the way you want them aligned.

[lorleo]

I tried that but, the problem is that I really need a specific part of the image. The auto align based on all layers tries to improve the autocorrelation function (I guess) of the entire image so you end up having something that is not pixel perfect in the portion I need. Just as example you can image the classical problem of aligning stars (that are moving) in a landascape and not caring of the foreground that is actually fixed in this case. You might need sevaral shots to get a decent noise reduction, but meanwhile the stars turns a little bit. Now I am aware of some tedious techniques based on cutting the part of the desired image, aligning it and than stick it back on the whole image...just too long. It would be just so easy to force photoshop to work on a "selected" area only.

[JJMack]

The only suggestion I can think of is in the layer stack that did not align. Target layer that the object is nearly aligned with other layers. With  these layer targeted see if autoalign layer will do those. If that  woks create groups of aligned layers. the manually align the groups

[lorleo]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The image example is this (not the most exciting one but ok...)  I'd like to only align the roof while the clouds are moving and the plants are being shaken by the wind.Whatever I try doesn't really work and still get the roof not perfectly aligned. I must say that the images aren't taken with a tripod so the roof slightly change perspective from one shot to another. But I guess that's all the point of trying the auto-align

[D Fosse]

lorleo  wrote

I must say that the images aren't taken with a tripod so the roof slightly change perspective from one shot to another.

That's a show-stopper right there. I'm not saying this example would work with a tripod, but the chances would be a whole lot better. If you pan the camera, a mounting rail is also essential, so that the camera can be shifted to rotate around the precise optical centre of the lens.

In general, this isn't magic. You have to give the algorithm something to work with. A solid overlap of about 40% is required, excluding pretty much anything sky or water.

[Chuck Uebele]

Not really. the align moves all the images, even locking one of the layers doesn't work.

[Chuck Uebele]

if you have objects or images that have moved, you can pretty much forget about using auto align. As JJ Mack, said, you can try and align parts of the image, then align those groups. I had to do that with an image I recently did. I had attached a digital camera to the back of a 4X5 camera to use the 4X5 camera's movements. It required 72 exposures. I tried to align them in rows, sometimes it worked, other times, it didn't. There were a lot of OOF exposures that had to be aligned manually.

Here are the files

Here is the final image:

[lorleo]

thanks for your suggestion and nice job too! Still I believe there must be a simpler way to constrain the auto align command to work only on a portion of the picture since all the information is there. Might be other people will have similar needs and this functions will be implemented in the future. I am thinking to all those who might want to play with the concept of Super Resolution or simply do some Starry landscapes.

[Chuck Uebele]

Only way that I can think of is to mask and remove the areas that are moving. Try and align the different parts of the image separately, then maybe do a manual alignment for the bigger parts, or attempt to auto align them.

[wyf51999 · Accepted solution]

I have an answer..... just tested fine with a simple example pic including a large object and a small objest. A usual auto align will keep the large object most likely still, moving around the small object.

My method, which needs 2 simple temporary one-time actions, is as following. Say in your example the house is the small object:

1, load all your photos as layers

2, go to top layer, use marquee tool to include house, certainly not too tight considering all the house jittering in all other layers.

3, save selection as a tunnel, give it a name "house"

4, record action1:

load selection from tunnel "house"   (this is why this action is temporary - in other document you can't see and use this tunnel)

ALT_[

5, run this action1 say 100 times till all layers got this rectangle mask.

6, select all layers and auto align.......wala, you'll see all layers are aligned based on the small object, that is, house.

7, go to top layer, record action2:

delete mask

ALT_[

8, run action2 100 times......all masks deleted.

Hope this helps to all insterested people.

[lorleo]

Thanks wyf51999 I'll give it a try when I'll be in front of my pc, but I don't understand what do you mean at point 3) save selection as "tunnel", I suppose you mean "mask"

[wyf51999]

Yeah, sometimes I don't remember exactly the words, especially my ps is not english interface. Anyway, after saving, when you load it, it's as a tunnel......Oh, sorry, by "tunnel" I mean channel.

[Rastamel]

Lorleo, I have the exact same problem.  I have been searching for a solution and was very excited to find this response.  Have you been able to duplicate wyf51999's method?  Could you post a video showing the steps?

wyf51999, thank you for your response to this question.  I am having some difficulty following your response, likely due to the language differences and my ignorance.  If you could post a short video showing your steps, it would be greatly helpful to me.

Thanks in advance.