Issue with Photomerge in CS5

[Sheiky]

Have you used any Lens correction before transferring to CS5? In my opinion this looks a lot like a vignetting problem on the individual photos. Also I assume that you used manual focus on all of the shots. No changes in between?

I don't know your exact method, but try this:

- All equal white balance.
- No lens corrections in Lightroom, apply them during the photomerge in CS5 if necessary
- Do not use the Auto layout in photomerge, use the cylindrical instead.
- Play with the photomerge settings. Try the 3 options separately from each other and see what the differences are. Then apply multiple settings to your liking.

You might also have quite some trouble with distortion. You could try avoiding the widest end of your lens and just zooming in a few mm's. That will help enormously with the distortion.

As far as scratch disk and memory. Your pc gives an error when trying the 6-shot panorama? Or does it just deliver bad results. If the panorama is too big, photoshop will mention that it doesn't have enough recourses to make the shot. Using JPEG instead of RAW could help. Using smaller photos could help as well. I've had TIFF-files up to 2GB in size. Panorama's up till 24 full size 21MP RAW files. It takes a while(15 minutes or so) but it worked for me.

Good luck,
Jan

PS: using auto WB never posed a problem in my shots. Just make sure you apply the same WB to all shots afterwards. Of course you're free to use manual WB