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davidh62483053
Participant
May 3, 2022
Question

How to create this echo trail or motion trail effect

  • May 3, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 3409 views

Can anyone tell me how to create the effect shown in these two pictures of birds in flight?  I don't know if these are stacked and blended still photos, or produced from a video clip.  It looks like a motion trail or echo trail.  If so, can this be done in After Effects and, if so, can someone point me to a tutorial on how to do this?  If it is easier to do this with stacked still photos (presumably in Photoshop) can someone point me to a totorial on how to do that?   

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2 replies

Warren Heaton
Community Expert
Warren HeatonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 7, 2022

On the Photoshop side, this looks like Statistics with the Stack Mode set to Maximum, but maybe Mean.

 

You'd shoot in burst mode with your still camera locked down while a bird flies past (or anything, really).

 

In Photoshop, choose File > Scripts > Statistics... to open the Statistics dialob box.  Choose your Stack Mode and the files to be used, then click OK.

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    davidh62483053Author
    Participant
    May 7, 2022

    Thanks very much for your advice.  I'll give it a try and if I get it to work I'll post some results.  

    Mylenium
    Mylenium
    Legend
    May 4, 2022

    You basically answered your own question: The Echo effect is your friend.

     

    Mylenium

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    davidh62483053Author
    Participant
    May 4, 2022

    Thanks.  By way of background, I do still photography, not video, and I don't even have a copy of Premier or After Effects.  After doing some online research, I found the "Echo Effect" but wanted to hear some people who were familiar with this whether I was going down the right path. Sounds like this will work, so I appreaciate the advice.  I suspect that there is also a way of doing this with a short burst of still photos that are stacked and merged in PS, since all I want is a still as a final product, not a video. 

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