New Image Opportunities on Capitol Hill

The recent completion of the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on the east side of the building is providing numerous new photographic opportunities for local photographers. The underground Center has been open for several months and the final touches on the main plaza above ground are almost complete. Even though you cannot use a tripod without a permit, you still can find much to capture. And if you want a time without a lot of people in the scene, Sunday is the best day of the week. And if you can be there during a congressional recess period, so much the better.
This image was taken last Sunday, August 30th, around 8:45 AM. It actually is another example of the “photomerge” tool in Photoshop. It is four separate images, captured in quick sequence without a tripod and then combined during post-processing on my computer. Here are the steps I followed to assemble the image in Photoshop CS3:
1. Opened all four images in Adobe’s Camera Raw window.
2. Selected all four images so all four would undergo the same adjustments.
3. Opened all four images in Photoshop.
4. Navigated to File > Automate > Photomerge…
5. The Photomerge dialog box opened (See Figure 1 below).
6. Chose “Use Open Files,” checked “Auto” under Layout, checked “Blend images together” at the bottom, and clicked “OK.”
7. After a minute or so, the results are presented (see Figure 2 below).
8. Clicked on the Layer drop-down menu and chose “Flatten Image” to eliminate the unsed portions of the four files. This significantly cuts the file size.
9. Trimmed the rough edges (Crop tool), straightened the horizon (Ruler tool, then Image>Rotate image> arbitrary) and saved the file.