How to Create a Radical Photo SequenceListThumbs
How to Create a Radical Photo Sequence
On this tutorial I will be showing how to make a radical sequence just like the ones I posted last week. It's very simple and easy and after you read this you can go out and make your own sequence and become inspiration for those who never done it.
Ok guys, so the first two things you will need to make your own radical sequence will be a digital camera and a radical friend or a radical stranger will also work hehe.
In order to make it happen your camera has to have what it's called "Burst Mode" that's the mode that the camera takes sequence shots. In my case I used my old Canon PowerShot S500, it's just a regular hand camera but it has an excellent burst mode that takes 2 frames per second and keep taking shots for as long as you hold the button.
Some cameras don't have this option which sucks, some have a limited amount of shots, but a lot of them do have it so that's the first step for our tutorial, to get a camera that can do what we need.
Here is a preview of my camera and I highlighted the burst mode icon to help you find yours.
Ok, after you have that, do a couple tests to see how everything works and now we are going to need that radical friend of yours, in my case I used my best friend in one of our snowboard trips.
To take a good sequence of photos you have to find the perfect spot where you can get all the action without having to move the camera, if you have a tripod I suggest using it because it will make the post work a lot easier.
We choose a spot where he could make a small jump and i try to place myself where I could get all the action without moving the camera, and I didn't have a tripod to use so what I like doing when holding the camera is to lock my elbows in to my body to get in a steady position to take the shots.
Here are the shots I took.
Now that I have the photo sequence I wanted, my work with the camera is done and it's time to hit the photoshop.
The process is very simple, if you take your photos on a tripod you will have the same exactly scene for every photo so will make everything a lot easier, I didn't do that so you can see the difference on the background if you go through my photos.
First I opened the two first photos on photoshop having the first photo on the bottom layer, this first photo will be my base for all the others, so on the second photo I made a simple rectangular selection, make sure you get the person and the shadow (very important not to forget the shadow)
Now just click on layer mask, so only the part you selected will show as you see here:
Noticed that the second photo is not exactly in place according to the background of the first photo.
To fix that you need to move the top layer so it will fit exactly with the background (notice if you had taken the photos with a tripod that wouldn't be necessary)
Now that the second photo is in the right place we just need to adjust the layer mask to make the both photos look like one, to do that you need to go on layer mask and paint the edges black so it will disappear.
I highlighted on red the area that you should paint black on your layer mask
and here is the result done after doing it on the layer mask, as you can see it looks pretty good.
Now we will continue to do the same process with all the other photos, put your 3rd photo on top of the second one, select the person and the shadow and follow all the others steps, when you done doing it all you will have your radical sequence, here is mine final sequence, feel free to use my photos to try it out.
Here is what you final layer should look like.
Download the Photoshop file
After you got everything done you can work on the photo itself, to make it look even better, I hope that explained very well how to create your sequence, if you have any questions or need any help just ask on the comments, and I will be glad to help.
About the author
Hi! I'm Paulo Canabarro and I'm here to post some really cool stuff for you, if you have any ideas or any requests please get @ me - pvpcanabarro@gmail.com you can also Follow me on twitter!
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26 Comments
Fairly simple processing, but great potential. You've just inspired me to stop by the local skatepark soon to see if I can snap a cool action sequence.
That is so awesome Paulo! I always thought this sequence effect was created by some masterful extracting techniques. I guess I never really thought of doing it this way. Thanks!
Brilliant tutorial! Thanks!
this so easy
thanks for this tutorial
:)
Thanks a lot for the tutorial.
Sorry, but you don't need a tripod. If ur using Photoshop you can easily align layers from Edit - > Auto-align layers ;)
Cheers+
Thank you very much for this tips. Easy and neat.
Hi its even easyer if you use a tripod in that way you photo's are all same alined and you can just put them over each other and brush in the mask!
cheers
pkv has got it spot on, get yourself a DSRL that can shoot 3-5fps and you get great results!
Thanks for your time in putting this tut together.
You can make the same thing with the erase tool...
hey guys, if anybody makes an attempt shoot me an email paul0v2@yahoo.com I would like to see the results we get.
thank you.
thanks for the post
Paulo antes de ver este tutotial eu já estava tentando tirar fotos assim na minha Sony W110, ela tem o modo Burst, só que parece que demora mais do que o normal para tirar as fotos, a 1ª e a 2ª fotos são rápidas, a partir da 3ª demora mais para captar a imagem, será que é alguma configuração da camera?
Obrigado
Wow! Fantastic tutorial. Thanks.
here what i have!!! taken some time back
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienscream/374007959/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienscream/471916194/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienscream/2224787857/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienscream/2401664635/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alienscream/2403985057/
Nice tutorial:) Good Job!
Nice tutorial. I was also wondering if there is a way to do this but with video instead. I've seen it and i want to know how to do it. Does anyone know where i can find good video tutorials?
the only other thing which i'd like to add to this for DSLR users, some newer dslrs can shoot very high frame rates, depending on how fast the subject is moving i found for most sequences that anything over 4 frames per second tends to get your subjects too close together when you do merge them in photoshop, i did some sequence shots the other day with my d700 at 8frames per second and there were just too many, brought it down to 4 and it was way better,,
anyway thats all!
Matt
www.themattimage.com
this is very nice tutorial this is good. plz keep going.
thanks
CS3 has a easyer way to do this:
1. make a sequence on a tripod
2. file> scripts> load file into a stack
3. choose the folder that has all photos
4. oselect the imagen
5. ok
6. on photoshop select all layers
7. go to menu: edit > auto align layers
8.ok
9: with all layers still selected
10. go to menu > edit >auto blend layer
tada!!!
eaih fabio..vc pod me dizer qual é o photoshop q vc usa e outros programas. pois peguei alguns tutorials e nao consegui fazer, por mew photoshop nao ter as mesmas funçoes...
aguardo
Actually an easier way, although it may not always work, is to make sure that you take a picture of the background first, then the person snowboarding. That way you can pretty much crop out the person without having to worry about cloning out the repetition.
But, like I said, it won't always work. That's why we've got your tutorial for that. :)
Pretty cool how-to! Thanks for this!
There is a group "Extreme Sport Sequences":
http://www.flickr.com/groups/extremesportsequences/
Who dont you post your pictures there?
There is also a discussion about best practices. I added this great totorial to the thread:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/extremesportsequences/discuss/7215761606633...
Does anybody know how one could fully automate this process? Is there a special tool out there?
Cheers
Jan
The Easiest way is not ALWAYS the best way. Indeed, you could make Photoshop do the work for you, however, it is not THAT smart to know exactly what you want. The tutorial above seem like a quick and effective way to achieve this effect, HOWEVER, for best results, you may spend more time with the pen-tool and really get down to details, and apply a layer mask for better control. The methods, ultimately, will come to you as an individual. You will begin to make your workflow the way YOU feel it's right. Knowledge is Power, ONLY when applied with practice and determination.
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