curious on this technique by mike kelley

rocketman122

Senior Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCaWYtPqcOM

my question is regarding the flashing he does with an SB flash on a monopod. he walks around and flashes part of the house. probably giving different exposures for every shot. then in photoshop layers them. dodging and adjusting for the proper final image.

I would have no isue doing this kind of work. even PP is not an issue.

my questions are
1-Im guessing he keeps the camera in the same spot for all of the shots but doesnt he catch himself in every image? how does he remove himself from every image? either it seems like a lot of cloning, or im guessing the image HE will stand in, doesnt matter because he can remove that part out and use the area he stood in from another image he "exposed for", correct?
2-there is a photog I work with who has clients who need architecture photos done. will get more details tonight but if its houses or buildings or interiors, I dont know. I do have the tamron 17-35 and im sure it will be fine stopped down. I did look at the Samyang/Rokinon 24mm tilt shift lens and might even get that if I need to. but I thought 24mm was the architecture lens used but maybe there arent any rules anymore?
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
This was a bit of playing, but I suspect similar to this image he stacks all the layers (stationary camera) and then erases himself out (like I did my daughter) rather than cloning himself out. This looks like fun to try and experiment with on a small scale first.
Day110MagicFrame.jpg
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
It is called "painting with light" and it is an easy thing to do. Make sure you wear dark clothing when you do it, preferably black.

Here's go primer: Painting With Light - DIY Photography

Problem is this is shot at roughly 1/60 shutter. this is not a long shutter to smear him. see the vid, he doesnt shoot long exposures. he simply shoots some parts with more exposure, some less. but from what I before or around sunset time. too much light for me to get out of the shot. and if you notice him shooting he just stands there in the pictures he shoots. he doesnt boom the monopod out to the item hes flashing. he walks around flashing slowly, shooting, flashing. very weird. I think moab man got the right idea as I thought at first. he makes sure all the images are lined from the same position and simply erases part of the images he in. meaning, he shoots the whole living room, then flashes the wall and hes standing in the sofa area, but uses the image he shot of the sofa before as the final part of the image.



This was a bit of playing, but I suspect similar to this image he stacks all the layers (stationary camera) and then erases himself out (like I did my daughter) rather than cloning himself out. This looks like fun to try and experiment with on a small scale first.
View attachment 97083

WOw sweet picture. How did you get the images lined up? did you hold the frame or was it mounted and you made it look like it was held? I like it. made me smile.
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
Really easy to do and I will gladly share.

1. Set up my camera to get the exposure and composition I wanted. No people just the bridge.

2. Daughter and I walked on to the bridge with me holding the frame.

3. She then put her hands onto the frame and leaned forward and through just slightly.

4. Snapped the second picture of the two of us.

5. Stacked the image and reduced transparency on the top layer (bridge layer) to see the bottom layer of my daughter and I.

6. Slowly erased the top bridge layer essentially erasing us INTO the photo. Using a hard eraser I followed the inside edges of the frame area to erase in the frame and its content but not her legs, body, or elbow.

7. Set the top layer transparency back to 100% and flattened image.

This was just a fun photo I did to try out this technique I had dreamed up. In the future I plan to do some more with this type of image, but at a much higher quality now that I have proven the technique to myself. It's truly a lot of fun to do and people get a laugh out of it.

From doing this... this is why I suspect he erased himself out of the architecture photos to an underlying layer. Stationary camera with no changes in each shot. Stacked two at a time, blended for what he wanted, and erasing himself out. Flatten layers, add a new layer, and repeat.
 
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rocketman122

Senior Member
Love it! very nice. I will talk to the photog today and see what she had in mind. I told her first oth. just wanted to see what I can do. I do shoot the interiors of the wedding venues and outside as well. in fact when I worked for a studio years back they specifically sent me to do shoot for the places they wanted to work with so they wanted some enlargments. so im very good with that. just need my PP technique and know how to build it in my mind when on location.

cheers!
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Basically the same thing I did with this shot.

_D613993-Edit.jpg

6 frames, 3 of the birds, 3 of me, all taken with a single camera on a tripod triggered remotely. Pull them into Photoshop as separate layers, mask out all but the bottom layer and then use the masks to paint in what's missing - either with the brush or use the selection tool and create the masks from that.

Trial and error at first, but when you get the hang of it you can do all sorts of cools tuff.
 

rocketman122

Senior Member
Basically the same thing I did with this shot.

View attachment 97099

6 frames, 3 of the birds, 3 of me, all taken with a single camera on a tripod triggered remotely. Pull them into Photoshop as separate layers, mask out all but the bottom layer and then use the masks to paint in what's missing - either with the brush or use the selection tool and create the masks from that.

Trial and error at first, but when you get the hang of it you can do all sorts of cools tuff.

NICE! thank you! need to do a test.
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
Really easy to do and I will gladly share.

1. Set up my camera to get the exposure and composition I wanted. No people just the bridge.

2. Daughter and I walked on to the bridge with me holding the frame.

3. She then put her hands onto the frame and leaned forward and through just slightly.

4. Snapped the second picture of the two of us.

5. Stacked the image and reduced transparency on the top layer (bridge layer) to see the bottom layer of my daughter and I.

6. Slowly erased the top bridge layer essentially erasing us INTO the photo. Using a hard eraser I followed the inside edges of the frame area to erase in the frame and its content but not her legs, body, or elbow.

7. Set the top layer transparency back to 100% and flattened image.

This was just a fun photo I did to try out this technique I had dreamed up. In the future I plan to do some more with this type of image, but at a much higher quality now that I have proven the technique to myself. It's truly a lot of fun to do and people get a laugh out of it.

From doing this... this is why I suspect he erased himself out of the architecture photos to an underlying layer. Stationary camera with no changes in each shot. Stacked two at a time, blended for what he wanted, and erasing himself out. Flatten layers, add a new layer, and repeat.

Hardest challenge for me is erasing that "hard edge" without messing it up by getting too much or too little. I kind of like the adjustment brush in LR with it's smart auto-mask feature, but doesn't seem PS has that? Sure would be nice if it did...

Or am I wrong? IS there a way to do that in PS as well?
 

Moab Man

Senior Member
Hardest challenge for me is erasing that "hard edge" without messing it up by getting too much or too little. I kind of like the adjustment brush in LR with it's smart auto-mask feature, but doesn't seem PS has that? Sure would be nice if it did...

Or am I wrong? IS there a way to do that in PS as well?
@Pretzel

Easy to do.

At the corner of the picture frame, with a small eraser set to hard edge, I will erase a small dot - place mouse and left click without moving the mouse. Next I move to the next corner of the frame, hold down shift, place the eraser in the corner and left click. The holding of the shift will draw a perfectly straight erased line down the length of the edge. It also helps that I am blown up in close on the picture frame to know that I am getting right on the edge.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Hardest challenge for me is erasing that "hard edge" without messing it up by getting too much or too little. I kind of like the adjustment brush in LR with it's smart auto-mask feature, but doesn't seem PS has that? Sure would be nice if it did...

Or am I wrong? IS there a way to do that in PS as well?

Remember the 4 Pitcher overlay I showed you? I like to use the selection tool with the refine edge feature to select the things I want to include/exclude and then use the selection to create a layer mask. This mask can then be refined without destroying/modifying the underlying image. I find it much easier to mask in what I want onto the Background image than to erase what I don't from upper layers, mainly because you always miss something and when it's removed permanently you can't always get it back easily.
 
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