combining two panorama pictures together to remove the light sources in both

Question

So I have these two panorama shots:

They were taken with a GoPro max on a tripod. The tripod was in the same place for both shots - the only difference between the two shot is the direction that the light is coming from.

My thought had been when I took them that I turn both images into layers in Photoshop and then adjust the blending options of the top layer to remove the light sources all together.

It works great if I use the "Darken" blend mode but I'd rather make the whole area brighter - not darker. To wit I was thinking maybe I could use Gradient Fills as clipping masks to make the image more transparent the closer it gets to the light source.

Here's my attempt at that:

I have a Gradient layer mask for each of those pictures. Here's a picture showing what I mean and what the gradient looks like for the first layer:

Here's what the gradient for the second layer looks like:

Here's the original PSD:

https://terrafrost.sfo2.digitaloceanspaces.com/tunnel.psd

The problem is the circle that appears. It's barely noticeable on the right hand side but on the left hand side it's quite noticeable. I'd like the two images to blur seemlessly.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

One possible method to do this would be to use Photoshop's Image Statistics script to stack the images.

Before you start, make sure both images are separate files, located in the same folder.

Click File > Scripts > Statistics, hit Browse, navigate to the images' location, and add the two images, set the Stack Mode to "Mean", and click OK. You can also experiment with other stack modes if you want.

The result will be rather low contrast, but can be fixed easily by adding a curves adjustment layer.

If you want both sides to kind of be the same brightness, since the left side is brighter, then you could edit the layer mask on the curves adjustment using a large soft edged low-opacity brush.

To remove the light sources, you could double click the Smart Object, and edit the layers by painting in black over the bright lights with a soft-edged brush, make sure both layers are set back to visible (or it will mess up everything), then save and close the Smart Object.

Here's the final stacked result with the light sources painted over.

Edit: a slight error here, I should have also probably painted over the reflections of the bright light on the floor, but I'm sure you get the general idea.

Answer 2

In addition to Billy Kerr's method, you can also combine the two layers in a smart object and select Layer > Smart Objects > Stack Mode > Minimum. No painting is necessary this way and you don't have to worry about random spectral highlights.

Again you lose some contrast, but adjusting the levels was enough to take care of it.

If you do this again, I'd take a 3rd and 4th picture with lights in alternate locations to fill in any shadows and use Median instead of Minimum.

I've done this when shooting curved reflective objects, taking half a dozen images with the lights at the same angle, but different positions and blending them. Then stacking the final images for each "light" and using screen as the blend mode so I can freely adjust each light's intensity entirely in post.