Creating Light Photos / Multi-Person Shots

[Sir Topham Hatt]

1)

Looking at this tutorial: http://kil1k.deviantart.com/art/Long-Expos...inting-25978480

How did the guy create the last photo making it long enough for him to make all the white lines? I am pretty new to the photographing world, I used to just point and shoot but now I am wanting to learn more about the shots and different things I can actually do with my camera. I also have something called "Continuous" when looking at shooting photos. Does this mean it will continually take photos?

Also, one last question - i guess (well, he must have!) the guy was waving the light source himself in this shot, thats all well and good, but how come he isn't in any of the pictures?

2)

So I have seen some shots of people where they are in the photo three or four times. I thought the way to do this would be position the camera, use a timer, take a shot of me, then take another one and use something like a panoramic program to stich the photos together, but as they would be the same photo then it would simply add the three of me (in different positions) into the one photo, but it didnt work. How is this possible?

Thanks,

Peter

[Lt-DavidW]

1. 'Continuous mode' refers to the camera taking several pictures one after the other. What you'd need to do to achieve that effect is to reduce the shutter speed to a range of seconds. Because of the longer exposure time, you would need to use a smaller aperture so that the lighting does not become overblown.

2. You got the first half of this correct:

You need to take several photos all from the same position (preferably using a tripod). In each photo place yourself in a different position. I suggest changing clothes and activities, as Berserk87 suggested in this related thread.

Make sure that colour correction and white balance are set to manual or else you will end up with photos with noticeable lighting variances.

I then layer these photos up in Photoshop and align them up perfectly, if needed.

Then I go though each layer individually and erase the background, leaving a few pixels around my skin, clothes, etc.

However I do not erase anything on the bottom layer, as this will be the background.

All you need to do now is enable all layers and use the eraser tool to tweak it all together so it looks seamless.

You can try playing around with the clone and blur tools also. I'm sure there are other methods you can use to get the same effect too. There are lots of tutorials and help available online, just Google or Wikipedia them.

Have fun!

[metro]

Continuous could be 1 of 2 things, either continuous shooting when the shutter is held down or continuous focus. Continuous focus is used for sports because objects are always moving. You can have the camera keep trying to focus when the shutter is held halfway down and then take the shot once you press down all the way. Most cameras will only focus once when the shutter is halfway pressed as a default so you have to either set it in the menu or use a programmed button on the dial for different modes.