Sequence shots

Since there were some requests for a how-to for the sequence shots, here’s a step-by-step guide for how I put together sequence photos like the one above. This was my first attempt at replicating this effect, so all you Photoshop geniuses out there take it easy on me. It seems there are about 10 different ways to do one thing. I need to experiment with using layer masks next time I make one of these images. Lots to learn in Photoshop!

My first step was to take a sequence of shots holding the camera in one position (i.e. not panning with the rider and making sure I was zoomed out enough to capture the entire section without moving the camera). I used the continuous shooting mode on my Canon S60. A GorillaPod can be useful in some cases.

I used Photoshop CS2 to composite the image.

Here’s the first image in the sequence.

This is the second image. Using the lasso tool, I’ve drawn a selection around the rider with enough background selected to help me line up the selection when I copy and paste it onto the first image.

Here I’ve just pasted the selection on the first image. As you can see, it is not yet in the correct position.

In the Layers menu, reduce the opacity of the recently copied selection (Layer 1) and then nudge it around until it lines up with the background.

Get busy with the eraser tool and remove the areas of Layer 1 that are obscuring the background you want to see. In this screenshot I’ve done the upper part of the rear wheel where it overlaps the front tire of the background.

The first step in the sequence finished. Now just repeat the same steps for each addtional image in the sequence.

Here are some other sequence shots I’ve done.