Aligning Multiple Images for Timelapse

[amp88]

Hi, all. Last weekend I took a series of images for a timelapse, but in my haste to get things set up and erect my tent I forgot to switch from AF to MF before starting my captures. This was, obviously, a very silly thing to do (hopefully I'll never do it again!). Due to this, a high number of the images are slightly differently framed, and when compiled into a timelapse the shift in alignment is very irritating. So, I've spent some time over the last couple of days searching for methods of aligning images, but to no avail as yet.

The method which should (at least according to other forum posts/tutorials/etc) work is using the PanoTools align_image_stack application. I've tried using the application straight from the command line and through hugin's front-end, but neither works correctly for me. With the command line version (where I don't think you can manually set specific control points) it uses the clouds as control points. This means the 'aligned' images are totally useless. With the hugin front-end (and this method) the quick preview never looks right at all (e.g. rectilinear and equirectilinear) and the output images are very strange. For rectilinear, they're tiny and only show a small portion of the frame (e.g. this). For equirectilinear they're closer to the right size, but they're transformed in strange ways (e.g. this). In terms of control points in the hugin front-end, this is what the automatic ones look like (you can see the clouds used as control points as I identified above) and this is what I manually added for a selection of 10 test images.

In terms of other software I also have Photoshop CS2 available, but I haven't found a guide for CS2 to allow me to align images for my case. Being a complete photoshop newbie doesn't help either - makes it very difficult to know how to search for guides and try to navigate the differences between versions.

So, what I'd like is for some advice on either what I'm doing wrong or a link to a guide that I can try or some other inspiration. I'm kicking myself because I forgot to change to manual focus, but for the moment I just have to try and make the most of these images. I'd really appreciate any input you could give me.

For anyone interested, here is a 5.29MB zip file containing 10 sample images so you can get an idea of the alignment problems.

Thanks for any replies.

 

[redhed17]

I just had a go with Photoshop, and the Photomerge option. I don't know about CS2 but CS6 has Reposition as one of the merging options. I tried it with the images you posted, and it does improve the alignment a bit, but . That was just with a handful of images, I'm not sure it is something that could be used with hundreds or thousands of images. :shrug:

If you want to give it a go, Photomerge is found by File > Automate > Photomerge. Browse for your files and and choose Reposition if the option is there.

It will put the images on separate layers, with a mask next to each image. I would crop, to trim any misaligned edges. You would have to cancel each mask and save the resulting images. It is a user intensive option, and hopefully someone can come up with a better option.

 

[amp88]

I just had a go with Photoshop, and the Photomerge option.

Hi, thanks for your suggestion. Sorry it's taken this long to reply.

I had a go with the Photomerge option, but as you pointed out I don't think it's worth the time it would take to get a few hundred images together (I'd intended doing 240 images for 10 seconds of video at 24fps). Thanks again, though.

 

[redfan]

Have a look at VirtualDub+Deshaker - there is a video here

 

[amp88]

Have a look at VirtualDub+Deshaker - there is a video here

Wow. I just had a quick play about with this last night but it seems incredibly powerful and worked wonders even with the default settings. Thanks