# Make It Look Like It's Moving..?



## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

I've been trying to work out how to make a car look like it's moving from a picture of it sitting still... the effect i'm looking for is something like this...










it's the banner from the PB homepage.

I've taken this....








and come up with this...








using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

Anyone got any ideas how to improve it?


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

That looks damn good :thumb:

Only thing wrong is that the car appears to be moving both forward and backward as the blur is in opposite directions at the front and rear.

You haven't said what filters you used and I'm not familiar with PS Elements but in GIMP there is a motion blur filter for doing just that.

*Edit* Here's one I did using the motion blur filter in GIMP

From this...










to this...


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## declanswan (Feb 27, 2008)

Loving the exotic backdrop LOL


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## declanswan (Feb 27, 2008)

parish said:


> That looks damn good :thumb:
> 
> Only thing wrong is that the car appears to be moving both forward and backward as the blur is in opposite directions at the front and rear.
> 
> ...


Now thats a good pic :thumb::thumb:


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

declanswan said:


> Now thats a good pic :thumb::thumb:


Thanks.

I did it in this thread over on Talk Photograhy


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

Hi

I haven't done anything with graphics editing since school and that was many many many years ago.

I took seperate layers for each wheel and used a radial blur. Made a layer for the car which wasn't blurred or anything then did a motion blurr on the entire photo before putting the car and wheels back on.


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## coxy (Aug 3, 2006)

Id say its probably a rig shot, the best way to do it, heres one of mine no post processing.

Stationary with the rig on










Moving with the rig on










couple from other angles










Hope that helps, everyone loves rig shots! If you want one go to

http://www.b-hague.co.uk/camera_suction_pads_vacuum_mounts.htm

I made my own.


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## -ROM- (Feb 23, 2007)

That Aston probably was moving and had a pole mounted camera attached to the car, and the pole has been edited out in post production.


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## coxy (Aug 3, 2006)

forgot to mention cars doin approx 1-2mph in them shots


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

grantwils said:


> Hi
> 
> I haven't done anything with graphics editing since school and that was many many many years ago.
> 
> I took seperate layers for each wheel and used a radial blur. Made a layer for the car which wasn't blurred or anything then did a motion blurr on the entire photo before putting the car and wheels back on.


Ah, so the blur on the front and rear of the car is actually caused by blurring the background layer which has softened the edge of the 'hole' left by the car.

Hmm, how about trying shrinking the layer of the background slightly so the car is bigger than the 'hole' in the background and so covers the soft edges when you put the layers back in?


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## HeavenlyDetail (Sep 22, 2006)

coxy said:


> Id say its probably a rig shot, the best way to do it, heres one of mine no post processing.
> 
> Stationary with the rig on
> 
> ...


Lovely car :thumb:


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## coxy (Aug 3, 2006)

cant take credit for the car. Its a friends, very nice though. 

If your local your more than welcome to have a play with the rig.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

From the original...








Here's the next attempt...









Will try the shrinking thing next...

Cheers for the advice about the rig - bit too advanced for me at the moment! The pics are taken on the wifes wee sony camera from JL - no fancy SLR's or anything.


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## jamest (Apr 8, 2008)

No need to shrink the background layer.

Take the background layer, duplicate it. Then using whatever method you chose select the car and create a new layer with just the car. Blur the second layer, then using a light opacity eraser delete parts of the 2nd layer that shouldn't be blurred. That will then show through the original background layer.


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

jamest said:


> No need to shrink the background layer.
> 
> Take the background layer, duplicate it. Then using whatever method you chose select the car and create a new layer with just the car. Blur the second layer, then using a light opacity eraser delete parts of the 2nd layer that shouldn't be blurred. That will then show through the original background layer.


Genius idea!

Anyone know how to get the motion blur to only go in one direction as oposed to back and forward in PSE8?


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## coxy (Aug 3, 2006)

And you want the wheels to be blurred in a circular motion rather than up down.

Try this place http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/tutorials.htm

Theres a still to motion guide


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

grantwils said:


> Here's the next attempt...


That's better :thumb:



jamest said:


> No need to shrink the background layer.
> 
> Take the background layer, duplicate it. Then using whatever method you chose select the car and create a new layer with just the car. Blur the second layer, then using a light opacity eraser delete parts of the 2nd layer that shouldn't be blurred. That will then show through the original background layer.


I thought that's what he said he'd done? 



grantwils said:


> Anyone know how to get the motion blur to only go in one direction as oposed to back and forward in PSE8?


Motion blur is supposed to go in one direction only. Is that what the filter is called in Elements? If so, then that's what it should do.


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## Crafty (Aug 4, 2007)

hmm I think the only way to make it look like a car is moving is to have it moving as per coxys' shots. Put the camera in shutter priority and get someone to drive it, pan with the speed of the car... with a bit of luck you end up with something like:


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## Nanoman (Jan 17, 2009)

coxy said:


> And you want the wheels to be blurred in a circular motion rather than up down.
> 
> Try this place http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/tutorials.htm
> 
> Theres a still to motion guide


That is a radial blur on the wheels though. I'll have a look at that tutorial later though... thanks.



Crafty said:


> Put the camera in shutter priority


in english please? Not a photogeek in any way i'm afraid...



parish said:


> That's better :thumb:


thanks



parish said:


> I thought that's what he said he'd done?


no, i hadn't tried that.



parish said:


> Motion blur is supposed to go in one direction only. Is that what the filter is called in Elements? If so, then that's what it should do.


for some reason motion blur seems to go back and forth in PSE8.


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## parish (Jun 29, 2006)

grantwils said:


> no, i hadn't tried that.


Ah, it was this bit....



grantwils said:


> I took seperate layers for each wheel and used a radial blur. Made a layer for the car which wasn't blurred or anything then did a motion blurr on the entire photo before putting the car and wheels back on.


but reading it again, you made a layer of the car then blurred the whole photo *including the car* then pasted the car layer on top? That explains the blur on the edge of the car.

You need to remove the car from the background layer then - leave a 'hole'



grantwils said:


> for some reason motion blur seems to go back and forth in PSE8.


It's not proper motion blur then.


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## Crafty (Aug 4, 2007)

> in english please? Not a photogeek in any way i'm afraid...


okay, behind the lens is a hole thats covered up by a shutter, when you take a picture the shutter opens, light goes through the hole and the sensor "sees" the light.. which is used to create the picture.

usually the time that the shutter is open for is pretty quick - your audi picture the shutter speed was 1/160th of a second, which is fairly slow, but obviously there wasn't much light, the camera you used worked out how much light there was and worked out what shutter speed to use - at the same time it worked out the aperture (how big the hole is) and something called ISO (basically how sensitive to light the sensor is).

Most cameras will let you tell the camera what shutter speed to use, whilst it works out all the other stuff. The advantage here is that by forcing a low shutter speed (lets say 1/60th) that hole is open for so long that it will actually see stuff moving, and you get the motion blur of whatever is moving. 
You have to "pan" with the vehicle otherwise the whole car gets blurred (because its moving), panning is basically keep the camera pointed at the car whilst its moving, when you've got it framed right take the picture - but keep panning!

There is more to it, but hopefully that gives you an idea..


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## james_RScos (Mar 13, 2006)

My Effort, never done it before.










Using the Motion Blur tool

Selected the tarmac and using about 85% motion blur i changed the angle of movement to match the cars direction.

I then selected the background(Houses Etc) and used about 20-30 % Motion Blur to keep the background more defined again changing the angle to match the direction of the car.

Last of all using Radial blur i selected the wheels and applied spinning motion to them.

Ok for a first attempt!!!

James.


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