Shooting & Editing for a Sequential Action

[ccphoto]

This was for a magazine article on remote controlled gliders. There are a total of 17 shots, nine of which are the glider launcher and eight for a stitched BG because the sequence took place over a 20 foot (6+ meters) area and the BG changed with each shot. It was a bit tricky, but a fun shot none the less. Note that you can see the BG in each of the launch sequences because of the transparency used.

[Shadowman]

Nice work.

[Manfred M]

Chris - I think the shot would be more informative if you had spaced out the glider launch more evenly (probably more of a pano look format). With everything so close together, the resulting image is a bit confusing.

A clear sequence from right to left (or there is no reason why you couldn't do a horizontal flip and go left to right, which would be a more logical flow as we read in that direction).

[Mike Buckley]

My hunch is that someone familiar with the intricacies of launching a glider will understand the photo. I'm ignorant of how launching a glider is done. So, even after studying the photo and an explanation of what it is intended to convey, I still don't understand the action required to launch the glider.

[ccphoto]

You're right, I should have included the dialogue that went with the shot. As to the flow, since the launch person is twirling, much like a discus thrower, it would be almost impossible to convey that motion any other way than how I did. I was really just showing it for the difficulty in making a sequential shot.

[madcrow]

Chris, nicely done

[Dave Humphries]

As to the flow, since the launch person is twirling, much like a discus thrower, it would be almost impossible to convey that motion any other way than how I did. I was really just showing it for the difficulty in making a sequential shot.

Perhaps with less images then?
I know; you shot them and it seems a waste not to use them

The area that confused me most was the left-most human and (what I am guessing to be) the penultimate airborne glider shots, they overlap and the guy seems to be holding it by the tail until studied closely and the difference in scale makes what has happened apparent.

I was really just showing it for the difficulty in making a sequential shot.

In that, you succeeded.


Like Mike, I am still not clear on how it is done, I believe there's a rubber(?) catapult 'thing' which I assume is tensioned by the twirling action then launched and the human twirl continues after that

[ccphoto]

No, he just grabs it by a wingtip and in two consecutive discus swings, he does the release. I tried less and it didn't work, and more was even more confusing but there was explanation as to what was taking place so the reader wasn't completely in the dark.

The hardest part of this was that as he was twirling, as he was also moving laterally, he was also moving vertically. So, in each frame stitch I had to align the background to keep a constant of his feet planted. There was a whole lot of mask painting going on

[Manfred M]

The hardest part of this was that as he was twirling, as he was also moving laterally, he was also moving vertically. So, in each frame stitch I had to align the background to keep a constant of his feet planted. There was a whole lot of mask painting going on

Sounds like you should have been shooting from above to show all the fancy footwork.