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Sequence photography - first attempt*

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Alexis

Alexis

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Hi all,

I had my first attempt at stitching a sequence of images. This is my very first attempt and would therefore welcome comments, critique etc etc.
regards
alexis

 
Cool sequence but hard to see details in small file. I find it works best in manual exposure set at about the middle range for the scene. What program did you use? PS?
 
That's very ambitious for a first attempt!!

Two problems I think:

One is the basic panorama stitiching which isn't quite right - there are some obvious exposure variations, and bad joins which are visible even at the small size you have posted. I would strongly recommend that you work on the technique using a static subject - the same scene without the boarder would be fine. Some panorama stitching tools attempt to disguise exposure differences, but the most basic technique is to use a manual exposure so this ceases to be an issue. Work on pano stitching until even you can't see where your own joins were!

The other problem is that the action overlaps - or rather it should - you can't just cut off the spray, it looks all wrong. It's possible to merge two adjacent frames and retain all the white water but it takes good Photoshop skills.

That's a great start - just a bit more work to do :)
 
Steve Balcombe said:
That's very ambitious for a first attempt!!

Two problems I think:

One is the basic panorama stitiching which isn't quite right -
there are some obvious exposure variations, and bad joins which are
visible even at the small size you have posted. I would strongly
recommend that you work on the technique using a static subject -
the same scene without the boarder would be fine.
Click to expand...
Thanx for the input Steve - let me clarify something; this was not intended to be a Panorama - I think I am OK at those - see Quicktime example at
http://www.goldenseaside.com/nicki2b/nicki2b_qtvr/nicki2b.html

This was meant to concentrate more on the sequence of what the boarder is doing - the "panorama" came afterwards.

As in panoramas, you are absolutely right that I should have stuck to the same exposure setting - in this instance I did not - I used the "sport" mode on the 30D.
Steve Balcombe said:
The other problem is that the action overlaps - or rather it should
  • you can't just cut off the spray, it looks all wrong. It's
possible to merge two adjacent frames and retain all the white
water but it takes good Photoshop skills.
Click to expand...
ABSOLUTELY (re spray). The unprocessed version of this photo is at:

http://www.pbase.com/alexis/image/64575864 where the spray was simply HORRIBLE. It was 3am when I did this but the 2nd version BEGINS to address this issue:
http://www.pbase.com/alexis/image/64576261

Thanx again. I will apply these tips and report back.
Steve Balcombe said:
That's a great start - just a bit more work to do :)
Click to expand...
 
Alexis said:
This was meant to concentrate more on the sequence of what the
boarder is doing - the "panorama" came afterwards.
Click to expand...
Oh, yes, I understood that. But like it or not it is a panorama - with an extra ingredient! - and it has to be just as carefully executed as any other pano.
 
Well, the subject has more action than mine :) I guess it's pretty hard to get close in on a shot like yours, so all in all, it's good. I wouldn't mind seeing the original for more detail..

I took this one hand held, so putting it together was a bit of a chore, but she is happy with it anyhow..
The splashes of water are tough to work with, so be happy with what you got..



--
Save your memories in case you go senile
Dave
My meager gallery : http://www.pbase.com/time2play
 
Time2Play said:
Well, the subject has more action than mine :) I guess it's pretty
hard to get close in on a shot like yours, so all in all, it's
good. I wouldn't mind seeing the original for more detail..
Click to expand...
Lovely shot Dave and thanx for the feedback.

The originals (well, bigger than the ones shown) are at http://www.pbase.com/alexis/sequence

regards
alexis
 
Hello Alexis. Welcome to the exciting world of sequence photography! An excellent capture and stitch. I've only done a few myself. I find the manual exposure is important. Also try to avoid overlapping details like splashes of water/sand. This seems to take away from the effect somewhat. I can see already that it is only a matter of time and you'll be flying through sequences. Sport clients love this!

I use PS and place my frames together manually. This gives me the greatest control. I limit the amount of sequences to avoid some "cluter" and overlapping. Follow the link to see my buddy jumping in the Oregon Dunes!
Cheers!

http://www.pbase.com/digital_zoomba/image/64598637
 
Excellent sequence of the climber
All the overlaps must have made this a nightmare to put together.

thanx for the feedback
Alexis
 
Hehe you've discovered just how important it is (and how difficult!) to keep your panning absolutely horizontal ;-)

Just one tip regarding the Photoshop cloning. Do everything you can to avoid repeating patterns, they scream out PHOTOSHOP!!! All these tricks (and more) can help:
  • look for things that obviously appear twice and clone out one of them, just as you would with any blemish. The Healing Brush tool can be good for this as it removes bold detail that catches the eye, but leaves enough realistic texture.
  • avoid brushes which are either too hard (edges are obvious) or too soft (destroys detail).
  • if you don't have enough material to work with, make some more by slightly enlarging/reducing, rotating and/or mirroring bits of your picture. That way it will be much less obvious that you've used the same bit of tree a dozen times.
  • take another photograph, or find one in your archive, to use as a source for cloning. If necessary, use the Match Color dialog (Photoshop CS onwards I think) to get a good colour match before you start. Cut out the trees (or whatever) from both the new source and the target, and match those - that way, you avoid the effect of other elements in the images.
Also, you can use a slightly wider angle to allow for cropping - after all, you will not be short of resolution.

Steve B.
 
Steve Balcombe said:
Just one tip regarding the Photoshop cloning. Do everything you can
to avoid repeating patterns, they scream out PHOTOSHOP!!! All these
tricks (and more) can help:
Click to expand...
Hi Steve,

Thanx again for the input; by the way the photo was made up of 13 individual images (look at the left arm for the movement and also the positioning of the skis) - NO CLONING done except in one case :-) the 4th and 5th images from the right are identical because the original 4th was, for some reason, blurred.

The only difficulties I encountered with this sequence were:

a) The mens' jumps were so long (over 60m) that there were obstacles in the way near their landing point; fortunately, this lady landed just short of one of these obstacles (at 43m) so was perfect for this sequence.

b) There were 4 "Mastercrafts" towards the end of the sequence (i.e. on the left) and none of them whole; using 2 halves and using my knowledge of these beautiful boats (I drove one for 6 ski seasons) I made the whole one that you see - people in the know will notice that it looks a ltlle longer than the real thing.

c) I had a dilema whether to remove the towline from EACH shot or not; in the end I left it in in just one of them (4th from the left I think!)

As always, the original (larger) image gives you a better view http://www.pbase.com/alexis/image/64732428/original

Once again thank you - your comments are always very valuable.

regards
alexis
 
Alexis said:
Steve Balcombe said:
Just one tip regarding the Photoshop cloning. Do everything you can
to avoid repeating patterns, they scream out PHOTOSHOP!!! All these
tricks (and more) can help:
Click to expand...
Thanx again for the input; by the way the photo was made up of 13
individual images (look at the left arm for the movement and also
the positioning of the skis) - NO CLONING done except in one case
:-) the 4th and 5th images from the right are identical because the
original 4th was, for some reason, blurred.
Click to expand...
Then what's happening in the trees on the far left? Looks cloned to me. And I can see cloning in the water.
Alexis said:
c) I had a dilema whether to remove the towline from EACH shot or
not; in the end I left it in in just one of them (4th from the left
I think!)
Click to expand...
I think you made the right decision.
 
Steve Balcombe said:
Then what's happening in the trees on the far left? Looks cloned to
me. And I can see cloning in the water.
Click to expand...
I must admit the trees look a little odd but look at all the other details like the reflection of the boat, the general reflections, the wak of the boat etc etc. Not sure what you mean about cloning in the water though.

Don't forget that most of the work here is done by Canon's Photostitch so not sure if the stitching "logic" has lead to the rather odd tree at the far left; I'll post all 13 component images in Pbase tonight - it would be interesting to compare them against the final result.

Once again a huge thank you for taking the time to comment and assist.

regards
alexis
 
Alexis said:
Steve Balcombe said:
Then what's happening in the trees on the far left? Looks cloned to
me. And I can see cloning in the water.
Click to expand...
I must admit the trees look a little odd but look at all the other
details like the reflection of the boat, the general reflections,
the wak of the boat etc etc. Not sure what you mean about cloning
in the water though.
Click to expand...
I can see places where the same pattern appears more than once. Obviously I understand that water quite naturally includes repeating patterns, but what I'm seeing is identical groups of pixels. I do a lot of this kind of work (for customers - nothing I can show you) so maybe my eye is especially attuned to these things. Still, if you aim for perfection your audience will have less to find fault with.

Understandably, you may be concentrating your efforts on the subject. But that's often the easy bit - the background is where the joins happen, and background accounts for over 90% of the panorama. And it's the background that causes 90% of the problems! Creativity makes for an interesting subject (and you have that in spades), but craftsmanship makes for a well-executed result.
Alexis said:
Don't forget that most of the work here is done by Canon's
Photostitch so not sure if the stitching "logic" has lead to the
rather odd tree at the far left;
Click to expand...
Yes, I'd assumed you had done at least some of this by hand. You could be right.
Alexis said:
I'll post all 13 component images
in Pbase tonight - it would be interesting to compare them against
the final result.
Click to expand...
Ok, I'll try to take a look later.
 
Alexis said:
... Yes, I
DID clone a few trees in the far left
Click to expand...
I know ;-)

Biggest mistake you made was not tracking horizontally. Even if the action moves up/down like that, each frame must be level with the next. Your instinct is to follow the subject, it's like something is tugging at your arm.

These are really good for first attempts. As your Photoshop skills develop your 'invisible mending' will get better - but it's best to avoid the need to do any!
 
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