I stumbled upon a method of merging multiple photos shot with Intentional Camera Movement on this faceboook post (don't know whether the link will work for everyone else or not), and decided to give it a try myself. On my 4th attempt at creating such an image, I feel like I succeeded with the following final resulting image. Click/tap the image to enlarge it, then again to put it back on the page.
Final Image
Read on only if you like the image enough to try one yourself. The composite photo above is made from the two in-camera images below. Both were shot using a 6-stop neutral density filter on a 50mm lens at f/2 with a shutter speed of 0.4 sec at ISO 100. The first one is a vertical upward sweep and the second is a horizontal sweep. Here's the processing I did. If you'd like to play along, you can download the images, then unzip them. The downloaded images are the two shown below, which I had imported into Lightroom, developed using only the "Auto" button, then exported for this page. Here are the steps in Photoshop to combine them into final result.
- Use the "File --> Scripts --> Load Files Into Stack..." command. Browse to the folder where you saved the two photos, select both of them, leave both checkboxes unchecked, and click "Open" to load the 2 photos into a new document, each in their own layer. (This is the same as using Lightroom's "Edit In --> Open As Layers in Photoshop" command).
- If you toggle the top layer as not visible, then visible again, you'll see the two layers are not well aligned. Select the Vertical Sweep image (DSC04701), change its opacity to 50%, use Ctrl-T to start-up a transform, and move it about 250 pixels to the left until the trunks seem to align. It might help to move it down a bit while finding the correct left-right position, but move it back up once you've found that sweet spot and press Enter to approve the transformation.
- Change the opacity back to 100% on that Vertical Sweep Layer.
- Now the magic... change the blending mode on both layers to "Darker Color".
- Use the Crop tool to crop off that right edge where only one layer shows through, then save the image, perhaps as a PSD as I always do.
- In the final image at the top, I've removed the bright arcs over the tree trunks at upper-right, but don't want to confuse this tutorial with such image-specific details.
Vertical ICM Sweep
Horizontal ICM Sweep
Tips:
- This image (and I the one I originally saw on Facebook, I think) were created using the "Darker Color" blending mode. This will not always be the best blending mode to use. I've found cases where Lighten, Screen, Lighten Color, or even Pin Light looked better. You just need to try a bunch of them and see what looks best.
- You might start with more than 2 layers. In subsequent attempts (there have been many over the next few days after this one), I've often taken one normal non-ICM photo, then two upward sweeps, then two horizontal sweeps. (actually, in all honesty, I take 5 vertical sweeps and 5 horizontal sweeps and pick out the ones that look like the best alignment and best possibilities).
- Different blending modes might be used on different layers, and also different opacities.
- For example, I often put the non-ICM photo on the bottom, with a vertical sweep using Screen above it, with a horizontal sweep using Screen above that, then a vertical and a horizontal using Darken Color above those. Then I'll set the opacity of the non-ICM bottom layer. Sometimes I need more details from the non-ICM layer in the final image, so I duplicate the non-ICM photo, move the duplicate to the top, and set the opacity down to perhaps 10% so it only adds a little more detail without blocking the ICM effects.
- To make these adjustments, you should make all your layers not-visible, then from bottom to top, make one more layer visible, adjust its blending mode and opacity, then move up to the next higher level.
- Try to avoid my mistake of not-aligning the images properly in the original photos. I've learned to pick something out at the bottom of the first image and start my vertical sweeping below that, pressing the shutter button down when I reach that point at the bottom which I selected. For the horizontal sweeps, find something on the left edge, start your horizontal sweep further to the left, moving right, and pressing the shutter when you reach that pre-selected spot.
- To get non-jerky sweeps, don't use your arms or wrists, use your body. Hold your elbows tight against your body and do your horizontal sweep by twisting your waste to the left, then twist back toward the right as you take your photo (or vice-versa if you prefer). Using your body instead of your arms or wrists makes a much smoother motion. Likewise, on vertical sweeps, bend your waist forward to point your camera lower than you want to begin, then straighten your waste as you sweep upward.
- Do your sweeps very slowly (or use a shorter exposure time if you cannot). If you sweep a long distance, all detail is lost and you end up with mush. If you sweep a short distance, you retain some detail but still show the smearing of an ICM photo.
- BEST LUCK when you try this!
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