Learning to combine bird images - Series

[Cantab]

Christina, this is a real accomplishment. It almost tricks the viewer into thinking they're looking at a video of the bird landing.

[Brownbear]

Following is another attempt on a different set of the Guillemots. This is my last attempt because I've learned that this is extraordinarily hard to do. As much as I would love to be able to do this, my PP skills are not there yet, and it is taking up too much of my time. It was easier on the image of the gull because he/she filled up more of the frame and the water background was simpler.

I started out okay with this try but as soon as I realized that the image should reflect the bird moving in an upward direction, I moved each frame to reflect this. Once I did this it required cloning in water to fill the upper and lower parts of the frame and I couldn't manage to do even a fair job of this. So I cropped the blank canvas and move the last image back down.

I can see definitely see my joint lines and attempts at blending the joins in this image (1600 pixels so everyone can also see these with ease) Admittedly once I arrived at this point I was tired of trying.



PS If anyone else with some experience wishes to try this continuing in this thread, or in a new thread I think that would be great.

Thank you to all!

[Brownbear]

Mark and Bruce,

Thank you for your comments on the gull image. Truly appreciated. I think it was easier to do than the Guillemots because of the vertical composition, simpler water and because the gull filled more of the frame.

[Cantab]

Following is another attempt on a different set of the Guillemots. This is my last attempt because I've learned that this is extraordinarily hard to do. As much as I would love to be able to do this, my PP skills are not there yet, and it is taking up too much of my time. It was easier on the image of the gull because he/she filled up more of the frame and the water background was simpler.

I started out okay with this try but as soon as I realized that the image should reflect the bird moving in an upward direction, I moved each frame to reflect this. Once I did this it required cloning in water to fill the upper and lower parts of the frame and I couldn't manage to do even a fair job of this. So I cropped the blank canvas and move the last image back down.

I can see definitely see my joint lines and attempts at blending the joins in this image (1600 pixels so everyone can also see these with ease) Admittedly once I arrived at this point I was tired of trying.



PS If anyone else with some experience wishes to try this continuing in this thread, or in a new thread I think that would be great.

Thank you to all!

Christina, you should look at the photo on an iPad: I could see no joints etc. The only odd thing is the position of the bird after take-off but I think that's only because it ran into horizontal wind shear that blew it sideways. You've attempted something well beyond my pp skills but I'll file it away as something interesting to try perhaps in the future.

[Brownbear]

Hi Bruce,

I don't have an Ipad. However thank you. And just FYI I just finished combining my first panorama's (cityscapes). With these I could use auto merge and while doing so I learned what a stitching line looked like. Happy to say the lines went away when I flattened the image. So the lines I am seeing in these attempts are uneven blending when I merged the images together. Nevertheless, thank you.

With respect to PP skills, the only hard thing about combining these images was blending the colours and ripples. The cityscape merge was easy to do! I know you are working on an image so I thought I should let you know that. First try for me, and it truly was easy. I will post these now.

Horizontal wind shear... I adore that explanation!

Christina, you should look at the photo on an iPad: I could see no joints etc. The only odd thing is the position of the bird after take-off but I think that's only because it ran into horizontal wind shear that blew it sideways. You've attempted something well beyond my pp skills but I'll file it away as something interesting to try perhaps in the future.

[Nicks Pics]

I am not experienced with this type of image, but I think it's a really neat idea, though I'm probably a long way from knowing how to do it. Perhaps when one muddles over a project very long they aren't in a good position to tell whether it looks good or not when finished. But I think they do, with the exception of the position of bird 4 in the last image. In the first one I assume the bird was somewhat stationery, so the bg obviously would not join together as a panorama, but for the situation it was it looks to me like it was done nicely. I didn't see any problem with the way the gull image was done, and as for the third, I wonder if it would work to crop some off the bottom of the first three of the set, and some off the top of the last one and then put them back together.

[Brownbear]

Hi Nick,

And neither am I. Thank you for taking the time to advise and share your thoughts and ideas. I do think the shot of the gull works, but the water ripples in the 1st image are something I need to think about and visit at a later date.

A BIG thank you for your idea on how to make the merge for the last image work. It sounds like a great idea to me that just might work! I will try it later towards the end of next week (when I can view the image with fresh eyes) and if I manage to do it well. I will post the result. Truly appreciated!

I am not experienced with this type of image, but I think it's a really neat idea, though I'm probably a long way from knowing how to do it. Perhaps when one muddles over a project very long they aren't in a good position to tell whether it looks good or not when finished. But I think they do, with the exception of the position of bird 4 in the last image. In the first one I assume the bird was somewhat stationery, so the bg obviously would not join together as a panorama, but for the situation it was it looks to me like it was done nicely. I didn't see any problem with the way the gull image was done, and as for the third, I wonder if it would work to crop some off the bottom of the first three of the set, and some off the top of the last one and then put them back together.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Christina,

Please forgive me, a busy time at home has meant I have hardly set foot in CiC for weeks now, but I kept this thread open as a tab on my browser so I wouldn't forget to eventually post here.

In #1, I have no problem with the ripples since they are not the subject and are sufficiently good that they do not distract attention away from the subject, so personally, I think you're being too hard on yourself (again!).

In #2, I can't see how this could be improved either.

In #3, I support Nick's idea of countering Bruce's wind shear and putting the last exposure in line with the first three.


I do have a shooting technique question for you though (and my apologies if I missed it above despite me thinking I have read the entire thread): when you shoot these, do you pan with the subject, or keep the camera still and rely on a fast shutter speed to 'freeze' the bird with sufficient sharpness?
I just wondered whether the latter technique might help with the foreground/background water 'continuity'.
However, I suspect you do (need to) pan with the subject, especially when the subject distance is altering between shots (#2), in order to maintain AF lock.

As you can tell, this is not something I have tried myself so I cannot help beyond encouragement.
That said, next time I am near suitable water and birds, I may give this a try.

All the best, Dave

[Brownbear]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for taking the time to save this thread for future comment. Your feedback is encouraging to hear and helpful. I have not given up on these (and I do think #2 worked out because of the simpler scene) I've just set them aside to revisit in future, partly out of frustration but also so when I try again it will be with a fresher eye, at a later date when my PP skills are stronger. (when I google the topic for advice I bring up my own thread)

I do intend to try Nick's suggestion which I think is great. The ripples in the water in the 1st image still don't look quite right to me but I will figure it out. I also set them aside so I could try on simpler images. For example a goose that fills the frame more but the light changes as he/she takes off so the combined images look odd. (:

Nevertheless this is something that I've wanted to learn to do for quite some time, and will do, eventually!

Yes, my bird images are panned because they are always traveling (flying, landing or taking off). But for birds in action I do have my camera set to continuous autofocus, single point with the focus release set to go off only when focus is achieved, and the long tracking mode. I always try to use a high shutter speed. I like to use 2500 for the guillemots but I end up using 1600/1200 so I can use a lower iso (early morning light)

I think it would be absolutely wonderful if you would try this with birds over water, including combining the shots, and share with us.

Thank you Dave. Truly appreciated.

[Brownbear]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for taking the time to save this thread for future comment. Your feedback is encouraging to hear and helpful. I have not given up on these (and I do think #2 worked out because of the simpler scene) I've just set them aside to revisit in future, partly out of frustration but also so when I try again it will be with a fresher eye, at a later date when my PP skills are stronger. (when I google the topic for advice I bring up my own thread)

I do intend to try Nick's suggestion at a later date because I think it is a wonderful idea. The ripples in the water in the 1st image still don't look quite right to me (natural) but I will figure it out. I also set these aside so I could practice on simpler images. For example a goose that fills the frame more but the light changes as he/she takes off so just a another problem with the idea, the combined images look odd because of the different water colour. (:

Nevertheless this is something that I've wanted to learn to do for quite some time, and will do, eventually!

Yes, my bird images are panned because they are always traveling (flying, landing or taking off). But for birds in action I do have my camera set to continuous autofocus, single point with the focus release set to go off only when focus is achieved, and the long tracking mode. I always try to use a high shutter speed. I like to use 2500 for the guillemots but I end up using 1600/1200 so I can use a lower iso (early morning light)

I think it would be absolutely wonderful if you would try this with birds over water, including combining the shots, and share with us.

Thank you Dave. Truly appreciated.

Hi Christina,

Please forgive me, a busy time at home has meant I have hardly set foot in CiC for weeks now, but I kept this thread open as a tab on my browser so I wouldn't forget to eventually post here.

In #1, I have no problem with the ripples since they are not the subject and are sufficiently good that they do not distract attention away from the subject, so personally, I think you're being too hard on yourself (again!).

In #2, I can't see how this could be improved either.

In #3, I support Nick's idea of countering Bruce's wind shear and putting the last exposure in line with the first three.


I do have a shooting technique question for you though (and my apologies if I missed it above despite me thinking I have read the entire thread): when you shoot these, do you pan with the subject, or keep the camera still and rely on a fast shutter speed to 'freeze' the bird with sufficient sharpness?
I just wondered whether the latter technique might help with the foreground/background water 'continuity'.
However, I suspect you do (need to) pan with the subject, especially when the subject distance is altering between shots (#2), in order to maintain AF lock.

As you can tell, this is not something I have tried myself so I cannot help beyond encouragement.
That said, next time I am near suitable water and birds, I may give this a try.

All the best, Dave

[Bobobird]

Interesting experiment. Does your camera have a built in feature to do multiple exposures? Most Nikons do I think. Both my 5D3 and 1DX do have it but have never used it myself.

I did see recently a pic of a kingfisher in which the photographer had placed the long lens some distance from the action area so that all of it is within the frame and then fired off 15 shots. I don't recall the camera but it rendered the image quite nicely.

[Brownbear]

Hi Bobo,

Thank you for sharing.

Yes, my camera has a multiple exposure feature but the only time(s) I have used it are by mistake (settings)... Once on a snake and the image had two snakes, and once on the moon (several moons) all with a blurry effect on the extra images so I'm not so sure this would work?

The longest lens I have is 300 mm with an extender = 500 mm... This suggestion puzzles me as how would one capture focus on all of the shots in sequence? ie... first shot in focus, assuming you hold the shutter button down (burst mode?) but by then the bird would be somewhere else in the frame. I don't understand the technique used.

Also haven't you ever combined any of your bird images photographed in sequence into one image? If yes, please share here.

Thank you.

Interesting experiment. Does your camera have a built in feature to do multiple exposures? Most Nikons do I think. Both my 5D3 and 1DX do have it but have never used it myself.

I did see recently a pic of a kingfisher in which the photographer had placed the long lens some distance from the action area so that all of it is within the frame and then fired off 15 shots. I don't recall the camera but it rendered the image quite nicely.

[Bobobird]

If you look at other pics of say skateboarders, dancers etc you will notice that the all of the subject is not exactly fully focused only the first one is but the DOF if deep enough should make them appear to be in focus.

For that shot that I mentioned - he probably set maybe f11-f16 or maybe even tighter. One thing perhaps is not to chase the bird. Also he may have done it a few times. That particular kingfisher came around to the same spot every hour or so and he had plenty of time to get it right. The bird did the same move every time. Swoop down the tree, grab a fish and go either left or right in an arc. There are some boats further on which the KF always avoided so his movement was fixed within that frame.

I have done one before but not like yours. All I did was cut out the narrow strip where the bird is from each shot in the sequence and the just pasted them vertically into a larger empty frame.

The multi-exposure thing I have tried a number of times but the temptation to follow the bird has always taken over. The key is perhaps not to zoom into the bird like that person with the KF. It probably also helps if you are higher up as he was. I guess he focused on something that was about midway from the platform that we were on and the sea so as soon as he saw the bird drop he started firing. But that is a guess.

I would suggest a new thread in discussions about mulitple exposures. Maybe the guys who may be doing this sort of thing are not into birds???

Edit - btw that guy's shot was just one frame not a pano.

[Brownbear]

Hi Bobo,

Thank you for sharing and advising. Truly appreciated!

I don't understand how one manages to get multiple images of one bird in one shot but I will research it, and try the multiple exposure feature on gulls or something.

If you could share that image here or through a PM I would love to see it.

With respect to the thread I will make a note for future (strapped for time during the next couple of weeks)

Thank you as always....

If you look at other pics of say skateboarders, dancers etc you will notice that the all of the subject is not exactly fully focused only the first one is but the DOF if deep enough should make them appear to be in focus.

For that shot that I mentioned - he probably set maybe f11-f16 or maybe even tighter. One thing perhaps is not to chase the bird. Also he may have done it a few times. That particular kingfisher came around to the same spot every hour or so and he had plenty of time to get it right. The bird did the same move every time. Swoop down the tree, grab a fish and go either left or right in an arc. There are some boats further on which the KF always avoided so his movement was fixed within that frame.

I have done one before but not like yours. All I did was cut out the narrow strip where the bird is from each shot in the sequence and the just pasted them vertically into a larger empty frame.

The multi-exposure thing I have tried a number of times but the temptation to follow the bird has always taken over. The key is perhaps not to zoom into the bird like that person with the KF. It probably also helps if you are higher up as he was. I guess he focused on something that was about midway from the platform that we were on and the sea so as soon as he saw the bird drop he started firing. But that is a guess.

I would suggest a new thread in discussions about mulitple exposures. Maybe the guys who may be doing this sort of thing are not into birds???

Edit - btw that guy's shot was just one frame not a pano.

[Bobobird]

8 images.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-w...0-7800_CMP.jpg

[Cantab]

Christina, in relation to your comment:

I don't understand how one manages to get multiple images of one bird in one shot but I will research it, and try the multiple exposure feature on gulls or something.

I'd be interested in knowing the results of your research as it to bit of a mystery unless the method is simply to paste together eight separate images.

[Brownbear]

Bobo,

Thank you for sharing the image. Truly appreciated.

Bruce,

I'm thoroughly puzzled. I think that using the multiple exposure feature will just result in a blurred image(s) of the bird, and I don't know of any other way to obtain a single image of just one bird, showing its flight sequence. I will be away for a week but when I return I will try the multiple exposure feature and if I manage anything near the shot Bobo has shared I will post it. I will research the subject too...