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Making time-panoramas

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jkottke  Pro User  says:

This technique is similar to making panoramas except that you're stitching together several views of the same scene...it's a panorama in time rather than in space.

Here's one I made the other day:

flip guy

This is a composite of 4 different photos shot with a Nikon D70. I got pretty lucky in capturing the jumper in those positions...I had it set for continuous shooting and held down the shutter release button until he landed. Didn't bother with locking the exposure or anything since it was all the same scene and it only took a second or two. No tripod...just got the shutter as fast as I could for the light levels and held the camera in the same spot while I shot.

In Photoshop (you could use any similar program), I stacked the four images in layers and temporarily adjusted the layer opacities to 40-60% so that I could see all the images overlapping at once and looked for the "simplest" image to use for the background. The crowd and traffic behind the crowd were moving (even during the 1-2 seconds the jump took) so I needed to find an image where the background immediately surrounding each instance of the jumping guy in the final composite was almost identical to the guy's immediate background in each individual photo. As an example, I couldn't use the fourth photo's background as the composite image's background because there was a bright yellow taxi behind the first and second guy's positions which would have been really hard to get rid of. This sounds a bit confusing, but if you play around with this technique, you'll see what I mean in short order.

Once I had a background image for the composite (I used the background from the second guy's photo), I used the lasso tool to select and copy each of the three remaining guys from their respective photos and pasted them on top of the composite background. When copying the guys, you'll want to take a healthy chunk of their immediate background with them...it's useful in lining them up against the composite background (the lines in the sidewalk in this photo were great for this purpose). To line them up, position them in the general area, toggle the guy's layer on and off to compare with the background, and nudge as needed. When it looks as though the guy appears out of nowhere when the layer is flipped on, he's in the right spot. (You can also temporarily adjust the opacity of the guy's layer to 50-60% and nudge until the backgrounds line up, but I find that the layer toggling works better.)

After getting each guy in the right position, you may need to delete a bit of background around each of them to make things look right. For instance, the man in the white cap to the right of guy #4 moved between the taking of the second and fourth photos so when I pasted guy #4 in, there were two instances of the guy with the white cap. To remove the second guy, I carefully deleted him from the background of guy #4 with the eraser...luckily everyone in that area was wearing black so it was pretty easy to do. I then touched up each pasted guy, correcting a bit for brightness/contrast on one of them. Then I flattened the image and used the levels and brightness/contrast to brighten up the final image.

Clear as mud, I'm sure. Let me know if you need clarification on anything. (And bonus points to anyone who can pick out copy/pasting errors in the image...there are a couple small ones that you'd only notice if you're looking for them.)

[tags: manipulation]
Posted at 8:55AM, 16 November 2004 PDT (permalink)

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Kidsturk  Pro User  says:

Awe-inspiring. And elegantly done.
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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bengebre says:

Ahhh, I see! Thanks a lot for the description - such a cool shot(s).
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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tornatore  Pro User  says:

you can use the clone tool in photoshop to paint on one layer using another layer as the source. this might've been easier than cutting/pasting the flying fellow.
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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Domoni says:

I did something similar with this photo, but didn't have the audience to work around.

And your flipper looks like a guy I saw last summer in Montreal. Did he have a big guy doing patter and working the crowd? I seem to remember 2-3 others break dancing also.
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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Jeff Wheeler  Pro User  says:

Is there a copy paste error on the third guy's back? What about the 1st guy's butt, that hump thing? And my last guess, unlikely I know, is the first person he's jumping's back.
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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cinahazegh says:

A more automated way of doing this would be to use Christian Nold's software called, Crowd Compiler.

I haven't tried it myself, but it might be a lot less painstaking and a little more verite.
Posted 92 months ago. (permalink)

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ydeologi says:

I happened to take photos in a similar setting about a year ago using continuous shooting on my Canon S30. Here's the result of my attempt at stitching them together.
Posted 90 months ago. (permalink)

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TarikB  Pro User  says:

I posted one of these i did in the thread for composites the other day. Composties being basically time panoramas with a static background. Here is the one I posted in that discussion.


bigger version can be found in my photos but it's too wide and tends to break peoples page layout.

I actually got into the technique after seeing some snowboard shots, the techniques is widely used for illustrating complex moves, I did try a similar thing with a sequence of a friend bodyboading but only three frames since a the back ground i.e. the wave is obviously moving.



One note i tend to avoid actually clipping and pasting prefering to use a soft eraser and get rid bits of the respective layers i don't need. I think it makes getting seamless joins somewhat easier but it's probably a matter of personal preference and even then each image may demand different techniques.

Hope you like em and I do agree a great way to make fascinating images.
Originally posted 90 months ago. (permalink)
chadmiller (a group admin) edited this topic 80 months ago.

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geørg  Pro User  says:

I see this technique every day in a snowboard magazine, but I never thought of using it this way. That's just amazing. I made one of these myself last winter. A not moving background makes cutting out the snowboarder much easyer. You did a great job!
One of my first sequences
Posted 89 months ago. (permalink)

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purplezebra says:

This is one of the coolest uses of composites. Thanks for the post!
Posted 89 months ago. (permalink)

Ivan Shaw [deleted] says:

dave jump

Damm i love this technique, heading to the snow soon, gonna go nuts with it over there
Originally posted 85 months ago. (permalink)
chadmiller (a group admin) edited this topic 80 months ago.

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cisley  Pro User  says:

weeee

Back Flip Sequence
Posted 82 months ago. (permalink)

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clickykbd  Pro User  says:

yeah these are all great, its multiple exposure without the ghosting!

I think they warrant a group of their own, anyone made one yet?

[edit] there doesn't appear to be one, suggest "Time Stitchings"
Originally posted 82 months ago. (permalink)
clickykbd edited this topic 82 months ago.

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davidtan says:

Here's my attempt. Might even have been the same street performers as in the first post...


Originally posted 82 months ago. (permalink)
chadmiller (a group admin) edited this topic 80 months ago.

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grebo guru  Pro User  says:

This is a sterling example:

9 Steps
Posted 82 months ago. (permalink)

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mclgreenville / memorymotel  Pro User  says:

very interesting.
Posted 82 months ago. (permalink)

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kuriakonz says:

woohoo my first attempt!



Posted 81 months ago. (permalink)

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NikiSublime  Pro User  says:

I tried this once.
Mirror test.
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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Philgarlic says:

Always fun for breaking down sports action:

147_47572
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

Tarzen [deleted] says:

Excelent and helpfull! I made my first try and I will keep working!
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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Schemie Radge says:

It's good fun... I tried one of these with a kite surfer.
Catching air

While stitching these together I discovered through my pain the importance of exposure lock when doing this sort of thing.
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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jhcloud8 says:

partialColorJump

I started with one image and pasted each succesive image to a new layer and justed masked out that parts I didn't like.
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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RBerteig  Pro User  says:

I did this to help a local restaurant celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day this year:

GeorgieStormsTheDiner2005

The PhotoShop work went very smoothly because the background was so constant. This series took about 10 minutes to capture since the Sony I used doesn't burst at all and takes a significant amount of time to write to CD between shots.

Now that I have a D70s, I look forward to finding an excuse to do something like this again.
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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geørg  Pro User  says:

I was at the Pleasure Jam, a Snowboard contest yesterday, to use my new Rebel XT:
3,5pics per second are fun
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

Simon Nicolas Rey [deleted] says:

Great Leap

I was with my brother and a friend of his at some kind of national reserve and industrial area (simultaneously, really weird...). I had my brothers friend jump and shot with burst. I had no tripod with me, so i had to nudge, transform and rotate them a bit in PS and then crop a little too.
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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mightymis says:

this is a fantastic technique, can't wait to try it out!
Posted 80 months ago. (permalink)

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geørg  Pro User  says:

Another one...
Sequence 3
With more "frames" it looks so much better than the 4 pictures my old camera could make in a row.
Posted 79 months ago. (permalink)

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coryandfarah says:

Thanks a lot. Here's my attempt.

Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

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getthebubbles says:

thanks for sharing this technique. It took me some trial and error, and my first attempt is a bit rusty, but here it is:
Romie Jumping Through Time
Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

brodi [deleted] says:

backside air sequence

straight sequence
Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

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getthebubbles says:

here's my newest attempt:
bouncing bouncy balls
any critiques or suggestions?
Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

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somebear  Pro User  says:

@getthebubbles,

Would probably look better if you take the photo from the side so you have a greater sense of the movement (and how far it moves), and also to break up the bland background.
Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

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getthebubbles says:

@ somebear- thanks for the suggestions! I have been trying to get some good shots of bouncing balls, I will keep at it! Alas, the bland background is my counter, I will try it on the white tile or the hardwood floor next time!
Posted 77 months ago. (permalink)

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JnL  Pro User  says:

This is one I did earlier this year at the Toronto Air Show:



It really has to be seen large to get the feel for it, though.

This one was my practice run beforehand:



The Canon 20D has a really nice burst mode.
Originally posted 76 months ago. (permalink)
JnL edited this topic 76 months ago.

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DWinton  Pro User  says:

This was fun.

A Romp in the Park
Posted 76 months ago. (permalink)

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Szmytke  Pro User  says:

Simple one to begin with:

Triplets
Posted 76 months ago. (permalink)

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Drift Words  Pro User  says:

Has anyone tried any cubist/joiner type things to do with time, rather than all these super-realist types. I'm thinking along the lines of the Lomo super-sampler but with more control.
Posted 76 months ago. (permalink)

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*saxon* says:

Wow there's some super shots on here, it inspired me to get out there with my camera and have a go!

Kevy's Composite

Stu's Composite
Posted 76 months ago. (permalink)

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MooseDog Studio says:

A Number

This was created from photos I had taken at an archival photo shoot. The show was about clones...thought they'd look good in one shot.

This is a composite done with cut and paste of different sections of the photos onto a basic background, but I'm looking forward to trying the time panorama technique that brought me to this site.
Posted 76 months ago. (permalink)

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Prozac74  Pro User  says:

I made this one (among many others):
Intrusion
Posted 75 months ago. (permalink)

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GWCumbria  Pro User  says:

follow me
Posted 75 months ago. (permalink)

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zach kowalczyk says:

balloon boy

my nephew carrying balloons across the hall.
Posted 74 months ago. (permalink)

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Auntie Clara  Pro User  says:

Mine:

A minute with the kid...
Posted 73 months ago. (permalink)

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djwudi  Pro User  says:

Kitesurfing Action Panoramic
Posted 73 months ago. (permalink)

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troycochrane  Pro User  says:

I've wanted to do one of these images for a long time. Thanks to this group for teaching me how.


Posted 72 months ago. (permalink)

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Ozone71  Pro User  says:

Its interesting looking at all of these examples and comparing cloning exampes against the original idea of a timed panorama. The way the images are made are identical; multiple exposures with the same background, merged in photoshop (or similar) with successive positions kept and the background discarded.

I think, that as an image type, there is a difference between the two styles.

This is cloning
Say When

This is a time panorama
Triplets

IMNSHO, straight cloning is the same subject(s) in the image several times, with potentially differnet expressions, actions and outfits. A time panorama is a subset of this that shows motion of the same subject across exposures.

Same techincial process, different artisitic style.

PS: I have posted a step by step How To for the "Triplets" image.
Originally posted 72 months ago. (permalink)
Ozone71 edited this topic 72 months ago.

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Lolita Martini  Pro User  says:

@Ozone-- i just wanted to say that the image you use to show an example of cloning is fabulous. i love the concept. it reminds me of one my grandfather did using double exposure. kudos.
Posted 72 months ago. (permalink)

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galilelion says:

piso
Posted 66 months ago. (permalink)

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myplacedk says:

I really hate the word "time-panorama". It only makes sense if "panorama" means "several photoes stitches together", which it doesn't. The stitching is just a way to make panoramas without "real" panorama equipment.

You could make a panorama by taking a wide-angle shot, and cropping top and bottom away. I'm not even sure you'd really need to crop, but it emphasizes the wide angle.

How about "time-lapse photo" or "time-lapse image"? It's like a time-lapse video, but stitched together ina single image.

Compare en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panorama and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-lapse.
Posted 66 months ago. (permalink)

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gadl  Pro User  says:

@myplacedk: Here is a real "time-panorama" for you :)

Even bigger landing
Posted 55 months ago. (permalink)

kokakola_kolakola1 [deleted] says:

Chaise Lounge pro says:

wooooooooooooow the last one is just amazing
Posted 21 months ago. (permalink)

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argusfoto  Pro User  says:

This is a panorama of 42 images and then 11 more of the Southwest jet taking off.
BHM-N503SW-Flkr
Posted 21 months ago. (permalink)

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