So, how do I make the sky look more even? I mean, it's obvious the exposure isn't perfect, but I always have this problem when taking panoramas. The color of the sky never looks even across the whole photo. This one just happens to be one of the worst. What can be done, either when taking the picture, or in PP, that can prevent this?

you can't if your pano goes across different exposures...
IE on the right it looks like you're shooting into the sun and on the left it looks like the dark blue that is from the "north sky"... The grass looks fairly uniform which is odd.

Make sure when you shoot you set a manual exposure for the whole series that is the "best fit" for all shots. But when shooting into the sun for some shots and with it at your back in others this is very hard...

try to think about this when you setup your panos so you don't have extreme exposure variances in the scene you're shooting.

So, you are saying I should find an average setting that would be a good compromise for the whole panorama and stick with it? I believe on this one I changed the shutter speed to keep the meter the same on both exposures.(which is probably why the grass looks okay. It's most likely what was being metered.) I'll have to check the exifs on both original photos I used when I get home.

Using a grad ND probably wouldn't help either, would it? It would just make the sky darker, correct?

Is this a stitched image? What focal length and what body was it shot on? Was a polarizer used?

Yes, stitched using CS2 Photomerge. I think focal length was 18mm on a D50. I can't remember if I used a polarizer. I am thinking I didn't because their effect changes depending on your angle from the sun.

Yeah, use the same exposure for all frames.
Also the same WB for all frames...
Then use a program that blends frames to match exposure and that will help a lot.
I use smoke city panorama factory.

You could also try and match the sky colors in each image before stitching. You will probably have to cheat with some layer masks but it depends on how bad you want the end result.

Also, try different stitching programs. There are some excellent freebies out there that might help. I've got a good one somewhere that I used a long time ago for a full moon stitch with 27 different exposures, but the name escapes me. If I come across it I'll be sure to let you know.

pano factory was *cough* free to me...

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

pano factory was *cough* free to me...

hmm... I'll look for a "sale" on that program.