Time collapse photo - how do you do it?

[Woody]

Hi guys,
Wanting to do something similar to this:



Can get the series of images from my gopro or can set up my camera and do a burst of shots, but not sure what to do afterwards.

How's the best way to do it in photoshop (Elements 11)?

I assume you put each photo on a separate layer - but how do you get the images to show through? Is it a case of erasing areas to expose the image underneath?

Thanks

[FunkyNige]

Woody said:

I assume you put each photo on a separate layer - but how do you get the images to show through? Is it a case of erasing areas to expose the image underneath?

Yes, the tool you'll be wanting to use is called the 'layer mask', this masks out a bit of the top layer so what's underneath shows through without actually erasing anything of the upper layer.
I'm at work so can't do much digging, but this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pxycUid-Fg
Looks like it explains the principle simply (I hope!), then you can expand that to use on your layers.

[Woody]

Thanks for the reply - will have a look and see what I can come up with.

[troc]

Have a quick look here:

http://photoextremist.com/how-to-clone-yourself-us...

[Simpo Two]

You don't even need a layer mask, just pile the images up on top of each other and erase through. You can set the opacity of the top layer to, say, 50% if you need to see where you're going (but Ctrl/Z is easy enough if you erase too much).

The tricky bit might be people moving in the background, which might need some care.


ETA: 'Trajectory algorithm'?

[DIW35]

I would go the layer mask route as well, but as I placed a new layer on top of previous ones, I would add a layer mask filled with black. Then just fill the layer mask with white where there are parts of the new layer that you want to include.

Where there is only a small piece required from each image, a bike in the example used in the OP's post, I find it easier to paint to include that part, rather than paint to erase everything I don't want.

Edited by DIW35 on Wednesday 23 December 09:04

[RobDickinson]

I'd go layer mask as it allows you to go back and fix stuff once saved etc.

Load shots into PS, auto align layers if hand shot, add masks to all of them bar the base frame, invert the masks, paint in the relevant bits.