Separate gaps from cropping
A crop trims the outside of the image. A coverage gap is a direction that none of the source photographs recorded. Look at the preview and export frame: if the desired sky lies outside the frame, adjust the composition or frame. If it lies inside the frame but shows through as an empty area, the capture did not cover it.
Coverage is especially easy to miss above a drone or when a handheld sequence only turns around the horizon. Inspect the upper and lower edges before choosing a full-sphere output. A complete-looking rectangle does not prove that every direction is covered.
Changing the projection can make a gap easier or harder to see, but projections reuse the existing alignment. They do not synthesize sky, extend a source, or repair missing coverage.
What Full sphere changes
Full sphere selects an equirectangular 2:1 frame spanning the complete sphere. It sets the output bounds, while image coverage still depends on what the photographs recorded. If the camera never recorded the zenith or nadir, those parts remain uncovered within the frame.
When you only need a conventional photograph, choose a projection and crop that fit the photographed area. Crop to filled area can position a frame around available coverage. Check the rectangle that will be exported; the canvas around it is not necessarily part of the saved image.
Inspection controls help you look around without changing framing. Fit canvas and 100% detail are for inspection. Composition Pan and zoom affect the exported view, so use the persistent export outline to judge the result.
Choose how gaps are stored
PNG and TIFF can preserve transparent holes where no source covers the output. This is useful if you plan to add a sky or background in another editor. The alpha channel describes coverage; the stitcher does not invent pixels in transparent areas.
JPEG cannot store transparency, so uncovered areas are black. DNG panorama output also uses black for uncovered directions. A black patch may mark an uncovered direction rather than a dark sky captured by the camera. Inspect a PNG or TIFF with transparency if you need to distinguish the boundary from a black background.
Format choice does not change captured coverage. A larger bit depth or a 2:1 canvas cannot restore image data that is absent from every source.
Improve coverage on the next capture
Plan the capture to include the sky and ground you intend to show. For a full sphere, photograph enough rows above and below the horizon and check for overlap between neighboring frames. A camera pointed level around the horizon usually leaves the top and bottom uncovered.
For drone panoramas, the camera's upward angle and the drone body may limit what can be recorded. Check the actual source frames rather than relying on the final panorama preview. If the missing area is small, a crop may be the cleanest presentation; if a full sphere is required, preserve the gap or fill it manually in a separate editor.
Read the multirow capture guide for a practical overlap starting point, and the projection guide for ways to frame the same alignment.