Rather than just post a recent photo, I wanted to share a tip that I used to produce this last photo. A couple weeks ago, I attended an event known as, River Rock, which had lots of freestyle biking, kayaking, along with other action sports. I took this opportunity to shoot some sequence shots, only problem is, I had no idea about how I was going to combine these photos together. So after hours of playing around, I came up with a method that works for me, this is a labor intensive photo to produce, but the final results are way worth it. Keep in mind that I mention, this was my first attempt, I’m not claiming to be a sequence photo master, but if you want to experiment with these types of photos, this is a good starting point.
First of all, to shoot a sequence shot, I highly recommend a camera that shoots faster frames per second, preferable 5-6. I was using a Canon MK III, which shoots around 9 frames per second, but honestly, I used every other frame for this sequence, so shooting that fast really wasn’t necessary. Personally, I didn’t want to use all the photos, when I originally stitched them, I tried with every frame, for me it was just too busy. I prefer to have some spacing between the different parts of the maneuver. To make matters much easier, its in your best interest to use a tripod for this. No shifting of the camera means a much easier time stitching the final image together.
Obviously the first step is to bring the photographs into Adobe Photoshop. Rather than pasting the different images straight in, I mask them before pasting, so I only grab the information I need, which will save you looks of time. To do this, I use a quick mask, which you can use by pressing “Q” in photoshop. The advantage to using the quick mask, is that you can see what you’re masking, while you paint, it shows up as a transparent red. When doing this, I start with a bigger brush to cover the majority of the subject, then size it down to grab the finer details. I also use a harder brush edge, so I go really close to the edges, I usually grab this roughly, then go back and touch up the edges. When you’re masking for a sequence, make sure you grab something that will allow you to line the subject up consistently. In my example, I used the ramp they’re jumping off, it has a hard edge, which makes it easy for me to line the different photos up in the sequence. Once they are lined up, you can mask out the ramp. The rest of the work will be fine tuning the mask around your subject, making sure to drop out any parts of the background that may change, move, etc. My sample photo isn’t a great example of masking, these are merely showing you how the stitching is done. Once you’ve gotten your first photo masked out, and aligned where you need it, you can move onto the next one, and the next one. I realize this isn’t the most in depth tutorial, but I hope this steers you in the right direction when you attempt to create a sequence shot. Please share your results when you’re finished!
