Stitching a bungee jumper back together. how?

mickledore

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I took a series of pics of a bungee jumper on his way down. I'd like to stitch them together in some way so that I can show his progress. Obviously all the shots are slightly different with rope position moving and the background changing.

I don't really know what to do; trouble is I'm not really sure what I'm trying to achieve except some form of image showing his progress downwards. I've tried copying with layers, but that reduces image quality - at least it does the way I do it!

Does anyone know what I'm on about, or how to achieve something presentable?

(I'm using Elements 9 if that makes any difference)
 
Sooner or later somebody's going to ask to see what you've got, so allow me to be the first. Posting some images will help people understand the task you have in store for yourself.

On a side note, the title of this thread made me think you would be better off with a medical emergency forum, rather than a photography forum :)
 
This might have been easier if you'd shot the whole scene for every shot as it is you only have parts of the images in different shots.
 
Yes, I realised that afterwards, but I just chanced on it and shot off without thinking too much. 20/20 hindsight is wonderful!! That's why I can't now work out what to do with them. Can anything meaningful be done?
 
youch, normally i'd use image stacks (think you need photoshop CS3/4/5 Extended for that) but i think you might be pushing it a bit to get photoshop to sort it for you mathematically.

First thing i'd do is sort the exposure on all the images so they are the same, scale them so they are the same, add them as new layers and try to align them up and then use masks to reveal the different stages. Shouldn't take too long to do but a bit of planning before hand could have made it a lot easier (as in ~4 clicks)
 
FWIW, I just ran these through PS photomerge and it threw a complete wobbly! :D

The problem is that there aren't enough anchor points in common in the images and even worse the moving cloud formation is going to be a nightmare to correct. You'd be better of putting them side by side on one canvass as a progression.
 
Agree with the above... Downloaded the small sizes (hence the poor quality) and after ten minutes in PS, you can see the problems... (it's not tidy, because it's just an illustrative point)


Example by Harlequin565, on Flickr

Because you've moved as you've shot, the perspective is slightly skewed and the bungee "pole" needs straightening, meaning you have to rotate each image slightly. As others have mentioned, the clouds are an issue too, but if you were to stitch this up, you'd need to "add" a lot of sky to get a four sided crop.

With patience, dedication and skill (more than I have), you might be able to pull it off.

I'll pull the image off flickr tomorrow sometime. This was using simple layer masks and very rough masking.

-Ian.
 
Ian, thank you very much. Even in that state it's better than I could manage. I'll go back for another play, but if you (or anyone else) can cobble something together I'd be most appreciative.
 
Looking at it again - I'd take the first 4 or 5 images and go with those. The ones with the straight rope might need a new rope drawing in - which isn't impossible, but, as a stick man drawing expert, is beyond me.

Ian.
 
Yes, I've sort of come to the conclusion that the rope is the tricky bit, but as that's an integral part of bungee jumping I really do need to have it in there!!
I've got a reasonable result, but the sky is a real mess - so obviously cloned in that it almost makes an acceptable abstract style image, but not a photograph!!
 
Yes, I've sort of come to the conclusion that the rope is the tricky bit, but as that's an integral part of bungee jumping I really do need to have it in there!!
I've got a reasonable result, but the sky is a real mess - so obviously cloned in that it almost makes an acceptable abstract style image, but not a photograph!!

I'd say it was a fairly important part anyway :D
 
Being serious for a moment I'd forget the sky and put another in later, just concentrate on the jumber.
 
Nice edit Ian I was going to have a go, until I saw your edit so theres no point, pretty much what I would have done.

Mike, Id go with what Wayne said get the whole series with a wider angle shot,
 
OK guys. Thanks for all your help and suggestions. I thought it was a pretty forlorn hope anyway. I'll accept what I've got, and try and do better next time!!!
 
Being serious for a moment I'd forget the sky and put another in later, just concentrate on the jumber.

That's exactly what I was about to write. Just clip the jumper out of the background altogether, then paste it over another similar sky later.
 
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