Egret Flight-series

[Nat]

This is all the same bird, I am thinking that the ones in just the sky don't quite make it alone, was wondering if somehow I can merge all these to make the image a "series in one photo". Anyone done that ? any advice as to how to approach it? Just thinking out loud. I used the 18-200 mm lens, panned standing on my boat...


f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 200, focal length 200

[Bobobird]

Great series. Excellent job there.

[Geoff F]

Yes, Nat it is possible to extract the egret from each shot then paste them all together, if that is what you were thinking.

But not that easy to do and end up with a good result.

Basically it needs some skillful use of a selection tool then careful adjustment of the colour/brightness of the pasted images.

But if you have good software and quite a bit of skill, plus a lot of patience it is possible.

Would be a good learning experience even if the finished product isn't absolutely perfect.

[jprzybyla]

Wonderful sequence Nat. I think this is what you are lookin for, I read it recently in Digital Photo magazine.

http://www.dpmag.com/how-to/shooting/sequence-it.html

[Nat]

Thanks Bobo, Geoff and Joe I'm gonna give it a try!!

[Nat]

Well, photomerge is out......only two of the images had similar backgrounds....the other 3 only had blue sky....photomerge needs some overlap to work.....will have to consider that when taking the shots next time, although when they go into the sky, can't always have trees to overlap.

[Nat]

Okay, I merged it..but not using the photomerge, but layering, and erasing and blending.....Oh, my.....it's not 100%....I see more color noise than I want to see(don't look too close!!) Let me know what you think and any advice? It was hard to get the skies to be similar and not get the birds overexposed. To make this one, I did a cut and paste of each bird, with some sky, and then tried to erase the sky around each bird, but it was difficult, and the birds were of different exposures and just don't look right.

[Geoff F]

As I said, Nat, it is tricky to get a natural looking result.

That seems to look OK from this distance although the first two flying birds seem a touch on the bright side compared with the sitting bird.

The 'correct' approach (with expensive software like CS5) would be to carefully draw a selection around the birds to be moved and extract them from their backgrounds then paste onto the new image.

To work well, this method really does need good software, or a great deal of skill. Some experts can extract a person with flowing hair from a background then replace it onto a new background with no loss of detail.

When working with more mundane software I tended to draw a rough freehand selection around the outside of the required object, but not exactly touching.

Then copy the selected area for more work with some erasing tools (auto erase and brushes) to gradually work closer to the object edges.

If your backgrounds are sufficiently similar you may be able to avoid this last stage and blend the little bit of background which surrounds the object with the new background using a Healing Brush or similar.

After pasting, as a layer, you may need to feather the edges a little to merge with a more natural look.

Certainly an interesting project; and with a rather steep learning curve for most people.

[Nat]

Thanks, Geoff for taking the time to comment....I have gone over the tutorial for CS5 selections three times now, and still get lost somewhere along the line.....I can't quite get it perfect.....LOL.....practice practice practice!!! I see them select those hairs and remove the background colors....but mine just doesn't quite work as easy as they show!

[Nat]

Okay, I went into CS5 and made selections with each of the birds in flight and added them to the scene of the sitting bird...done by selections, as opposed to what I did in the first one....I did the tutorials for the selections tools, a bit better in CS5 than what I had with CS3....still had to copy and paste a few things into the birds that I just couldn't get the selection to pick up. As each selection was in it's own layer, I could then edit each bird according to exposure, levels, colors, to try to match them all for the exposure of the first bird. Would appreciate comments and advice.....Thanks!

[Donald]

Okay, I went into CS5 and made selections with each of the birds in flight and added them to the scene of the sitting bird... ....... Would appreciate comments and advice.

Way beyond my knowledge and skill level.

A very competent bit of post-processing.

[Nat]

Way beyond my knowledge and skill level.

I doubt that! I've seen your images! Thank you, Donald.
I also expanded the canvas to the left and cloned in the foilage so that the flight spread out more than the first try did. I am rather pleased with it, although I still see some more I have to work on....I think I may send this to print to see how it works....I'd like to see it printed on gallery canvas.....

[jprzybyla]

That looks fantastic Nat, good work.

[Geoff F]

Yes, that does look natural now.

[woty87]

Nat, those are great shots! When I look at the merge shot, I can't help but wonder whether it would look more seamless if you switched the second and the third images in the sequence? Does anyone else think so? Just something you may want to try if you feel like playing with it more.

Regards, John

[Nat]

Thanks for the nice comments. John, that thought also crossed my mind.....although the natural way I shot the sequence is how I have it now....but, yes, I may just give it a try. As I saved it as a "work in progress", it will be a snap to just switch the birds, as each one is in its own layer....I ran into Walmart and printed out an 8x10, just to see what it would look like and if I needed to make any adjustments before I sent it off to Adorama, yikes! It came out super light, washed out blues....hmmm ....but the editing was not noticeable....I was afraid I would see the cloning or would have spots around the birds....doesn't look too bad.....if I say so myself.....a few more tweaks, and I will see how it looks 16 x 20 on gallery canvas!! Does it look washed out on anybody elses monitor? Below, I changed out the birds, converted to B&W and warped the top left bird to appear more gone....comments?





Whoooops!! So when I tried to increase the saturation or vibrance in the jpg that I saved of this photo, here is what I am seeing (this is an exageration, but I wanted you to see what I see in the sky, but more subtle) What caused this? How can I avoid it so that a large print won't have this?

[Geoff F]

If you look at the first of the successful multi bird images, Nat you will see a slight lightening of the sky towards the top. Possibly what you are seeing here is just a natural boundary but increasing the adjustments, particularly saturation etc has over emphasised this boundary. Which becomes more apparent after an enlargement.

Also, if you are 'messing about' with Jpeg, as opposed to Tiff or Psd etc you may well be encountering a bit of image degradation which can happen with that format.

[Nat]

AH! I opened a RAW file, messed about with it and saved as JPG to try printing. When it was too light in the printing, I opened the JPG and messed about with the saturation. This might explain why I am seeing this. SO.....I should go back, open the PSD I saved and re-edit the saturation there before saving as JPG again? Thanks Geoff, I will try to see if that helps....aprreciate it!