Intro

A montage is a sequence of images assembled into one image so the movement can be viewed as it progresses. Montages are great for education and instruction as well as pure entertainment. The following is my method developed by experimentation and years of experience.

Camera

A good camera makes life easier but it’s not essential to get a good sequence shot. At the minimum the camera should be capable of 3 frames per second (fps) in a continuous burst of at least 6 shots. For skiing, 5 fps is even better, especially for side view shots. For ski racing frame rates as high as 8 fps work well but that kind of performance is usually found only on high-end cameras. The lens is important. A medium sized lens with autofocus works best. I use a 70 – 200mm zoom lens.

If you have a lens that is not very long, side view montages will probably work best. The problem with shooting skiing from the front with a short lens, 80mm max say, is that the subject goes from tiny to huge in the space of only 5 frames. If the photographer can stand well back, the subject doesn’t change size much from frame 1 to frame 5. Going from too small to too big looks a little strange. Compare that to the proper zoom length example.

Shooting

I prefer shooting in mid-winter snow as opposed to spring conditions. There is already so much contrast on snow that the soft winter light is easier to work with. In spring I try to avoid shooting mid-day because of the harsh light and dark shadows. The other reason to minimize spring shooting is that as the snow starts to go through freeze-thaw cycles it loses its whiteness and looks grey in pictures.

A good shooting location is not always the safest location and when you are looking through the camera lens you aren’t as alert to danger as otherwise. Before starting take a moment to check how safe you are. It may be possible to put skis in the snow to alert the public or use some other tactic such as an assistant to direct skiers around you so you can concentrate.

Computer

Computers have made montages possible for anyone to do at home. I use Photoshop as the software to manipulate the images so instructions below apply to Photoshop. A basic knowledge of Photoshop or similar software is a big help but the following instructions should be sufficient to make simple montages with only basic computer knowledge. A pen tablet such as Wacom certainly feels more natural and is faster for some things, but I also used only a mouse for years and it worked just fine.

Basic concept

Photoshop works in layers. The basic concept is to load all the pictures onto one page, each on its own layer. Then erase the parts that overlap and voila, it looks like one picture. As usual the devil is in the details and the following outlines the details step by step.

The first step in making a good montage is shooting the sequence. Without good photos to work with a good montage is practically impossible. Some photographers think that a montage is shot by having the subject move through the frame without moving the camera. No, that causes out-of-focus images and poor results.

1. Adjust the zoom setting so the subject will be as big as possible in the last frame closest to the camera.
2. Shoot the sequence at that setting, do not adjust the zoom while shooting.
3. Frame the subject in the middle of each shot and move the camera with the subject.

Front view shots

Front view shots can be effective in portraying pace and rhythm but they are difficult to pull off well. Because the angle means that images are overlapping the montage itself is more difficult to assemble and if not properly shot, too cluttered to be meaningful.

When preparing the shot, choose a location where the camera is as high as possible or there is a change in the slope so that the shooting angle is against a steeper pitch to give the illusion of a high camera angle. This is where a long lens can be helpful because the photographer has more options to find a high vantage point. For some shoots a small ladder can make a big difference.

Side view shots

Side view montages are the easiest to make. Almost any lens can keep up with the focusing because the subject distance doesn’t change much and the subjects rarely overlap at normal frame rates.

1. Keep the camera level while shooting. Pan the camera over the site a few times before shooting to be sure you have enough range of movement from your position.
2. Avoid shooting against a busy background, especially trees unless clothing has enough contrast. These examples illustrate the differences.
3. Try to avoid background sky if it is a day where the sky goes from deep blue to grey in the range of the pan from first frame to last.
4. Try to avoid panning from shadows to sun, from back lit to front lit etc. where there is a big range in exposure from first to last frame.

Good areas for side shots are troughs or areas where the photographer can shoot from a raised location on the side of the trail. It’s usually a bit safer and that way you have the best chance of a snowy background which is easiest to work with.

View the photos and choose the photo sequences you will use. A typical sequence would be 4 to 6 shots. Do not work with originals. Make copies of the sequence photos you will work with and put them in a separate working file.

Sample montage construction:
Download the sample photos to follow through with a sample montage construction.

Windows - "Right Click the text" then "Save Target As"

SAMPLE IMAGE 1          SAMPLE IMAGE 2          SAMPLE IMAGE 3

Open a new page in Photoshop for a background layer.

1. Choose a fairly large canvas, say 20 inches wide and 16 inches high.
2. Set resolution to 300 pixels/inch
3. Set color mode to RGB
4. Set background to White
5. Adjust the size of the canvas so everything fits on the screen. Use the command + and – symbols to do that quickly.

Open sample Image 1 of the sequence in Photoshop. On a Mac the quickest way is to drag the image icon to the Photoshop icon in the dock. Now you have two Photoshop canvases open on the screen, the white background and the sample Image 1. If the photo is reasonably exposed, make general color corrections and sharpen. Auto Levels and Auto Sharpen commands are usually all that is required (shift-command L, command F). I have found that if each picture requires major Photoshop work to be satisfactory, it is unlikely that they will all be close enough to each other to be seamless when the images are assembled into one. Poor quality pictures usually make a poor quality montage.

Drag the image onto the background page opened previously. The new image will create its own layer. Roughly place the image at the beginning of the sequence. Go back to Image 1 that is still on the desktop. Close it but don’t save it.

Make sure the Layers palette is turned on (Top Menu bar > Window > Layers).

It’s also helpful if the little box for layer auto select is checked so when you put your mouse on an image that layer is automatically selected.

Open each subsequent photo in correct order, placing each one on the background layer. Don’t worry about positioning, just get them on in such a way that all are somewhat visible.

Starting with the last image imported, click on the eye symbol (show/hide) to hide all the layers except the first two pictures, in this case Layer 3 is hidden since there are only 3 images in this example. That leaves just two images on the screen.

In the Layers palette, select Layer 2 and select “Darken” from the little filter menu at the top of this palette.

That will cause the underlying image to show through so you can move Layer 2 into the correct position. Use cues such as lumps of snow around the feet to get accurate placement. Leave the Darken filter on for now.

In the Layers palette, click on Layer 3 to reveal it, select Darken filter and move the final picture into correct position.

Note: The Darken filter works great on clean backgrounds like snow. If there is clutter such as trees or even dark areas such as sky it may not work very well. In that case use the Opacity selector and see through the image that way.

Now that the images are positioned correctly, go back to Layer 3 and hide it again by clicking on the eye symbol. If you look closely you may see that the images are not aligned absolutely perfectly. Don’t worry about it, usually that makes no difference in the end. Make the screen image as large as practical for easy viewing. I find it helpful to have the Navigator palette open too. (Top Menu bar > Window > Navigator)

Select Layer 2 and remove the Darken filter by selecting Normal. Now Image 1 is hidden. With Layer 2 selected, adjust opacity to about 60% to reveal the faint image of 1 underneath.

Now comes the tricky part. That part of Image 2 that is covering Image 1 has to be erased.  Select the eraser icon from the Tools menu and start with a fairly large soft-edged eraser. Experimentation will lead you to the right size. Cut around the large part of the subject being careful not to erase any part of Image 2 such as the pole. You don’t have to be precise around most of the subject, you want a soft line joining the two images so just roughly follow the outline of Image 1 skier.

To cut away close areas such as the pole, switch to a hard edged eraser that is also smaller. (Quickly change eraser sizes by right-clicking).

For the main erasing job here I used a 100 and 200 sized soft edge eraser. For close work I chose a 20 hard-edge setting. Zoom the image as much as necessary to see what you are doing.

Tip: To make a straight cut along the ski pole, place the hard eraser on the edge of the pole where you want to start. Click the mouse. Move the eraser to the precise spot where you want to stop and shift-click your mouse. A straight line between those two spots will be cut out.

Select Layer 2 and return Opacity to 100%. Both images should be clearly visible. Zoom in and inspect edges closely to make sure spots weren’t missed. (Both at 100%.jpg)

As a final check, hide Layer 1 and see if anything has been missed in erasing. Soften any hard edges using the eraser on a soft edged setting.

Show Layer 3, return Darken filter to Normal and reduce opacity to about 60%-70%.

Select Eraser from the Menu palette and repeat the procedure described above.

Zoom the image and carefully inspect all the edges to be sure nothing’s been missed, all the ski poles are there and they are in front of the right things so it looks as it should. In the case of skiing there is often snow spray that can obscure following images but gives a dynamic look to the image. Use your judgment as to how much you erase. Where the edges of the images overlap, there is sometimes a sharp line in the snow where they aren’t perfectly aligned. Run a large soft eraser along that line to make it disappear.

A word about magic

There are a number of short-cut tools in the menu like “magic wand” and “magic eraser.” In my experience they are usually faster but aren’t very precise. Unless you really believe in magic I recommend taking a bit more time with the standard tools.

When everything looks perfect it is time to flatten the image and make this multiple image into one. (Top Menu > Layer > Flatten Image). After flattening, (all images go onto one layer) take one more look for major mistakes before closing the file. Until you close the file it’s still possible to reverse the Flatten Image command by going into the History palette. Once you close the image it’s too late.

Choose the Crop symbol from the Tools menu and crop the image as you wish.

I thought the two bamboo poles in the background were distracting so I used the Rubber Stamp tool from the Tools Menu to quickly erase them. I did the same to erase a couple of ugly specs cause by dust particles on the camera sensor. (You can’t use the eraser tool anymore because the image is just one layer now and you will just see the white background layer under it). The montage is now finished.

FOR A LATER VERSION:

Solving special problems

1. using channels to change exposure with pans against sky
2. altering registration
3. restoring frame cut-offs
4. changing background and sky