How to get rid of people (with Photoshop)

    Almost every photographer has experienced this: You want to get pictures of a building or a landscape and there's too many people around.

    I've had times when I just wanted to unload a fire-extinguisher-sized can of pepper spray on people who were ruining my otherwise good shot. But there are a couple ways to make the crowds disappear that won't get you a criminal record.

    However, both require an investment of time — and a tripod.

    The first involves the oldest camera trick in the world. It's how early photographers got cityscapes in broad daylight that were devoid of people: Long exposure.

    Back in the day when ISO, if it could have been measured, was in the single-to-low-double digits, a photograph could take anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two to expose. Most people walking about in such a photo would not register on the plate. Only people who didn't move too much would show up as ghosts, though.

    We can achieve the same effect today, even with cameras that have faster sensitivity levels at their lowest end than Louis Daguerre could have imagined possible.

    First, mount your camera on a tripod. Unless you are dead, you won't be able to hold it still long enough.

    Second, stop down your lens as far as you can and then, if that's not getting you a speed slow enough, put on a neutral-density filter. Variable ND filters, either professional or one you make yourself, will let you adjust it to get the slow speed you want.

    (If you really want to go hard-core, use a piece of welding glass, but just remember that you'll have to do some serious white-balance adjustment later.)

    Third, use a remote shutter release to take the picture, and if it works out, it should look like a ghost town.

    The other way allows you to use more normal shutter speeds but gets you the same result, although it may take more time.

    With your camera mounted on a tripod (because you don't want the camera moving around between pictures), take a series of pictures of your subject, making sure that you get people in different spots as you take pictures. Here's the set I shot while visiting The Alamo recently.

    If you notice, there's always somebody in the picture, but they're not always standing at the same spot. That's going to be important in just a bit.

    Bring the photos into Photoshop as layers in the same document and then auto-align your layers. Even if you did this on a tripod, this eliminates any accidental jostling of the camera between shots.

    Then, create a smart object with your pictures and, after it has finished that task, set the stacking mode to median. When you do this, Photoshop looks at your pixels as values, and as it compares the different pictures, it will use the pixel that is the average of the collection. What this means is that it will more often than not pick the pixel that has nobody in it and leave you with a scene devoid of people.

    It's not a perfect process. In my pictures, the guy in the red shirt didn't move far enough in two pictures, so there was some residual red left on the stones. Plus, the flag was fluttering a bit, which created some interesting ghosting. But the fix is to go back inside the smart object, find a clear spot for that section of the image and copy and paste it into the final picture, making sure you feather it sufficiently so that it doesn't look like a kid used a cutout and that paste-like glue they used to have in elementary schools that you applied with a tongue depressor.

    This is what I got:

Look, Ma, no tourists.

PVC Shoulder Rig real-world review

    In March, I wrote about the PVC shoulder rig I built, following the pattern used for the "Lars Cam" by The Slanted Lens.

    Since then, I've had a few opportunities to use it in real-world situations, and overall I have to say it has been a success, albeit while finding an area where the design could be tweaked.

    First, I opted to use tape instead of paint to cover the PVC pipe. But, unlike the Slanted Lens' version, I went with cloth hockey-stick tape rather than electrical tape. Aside from cost, the stick tape does not get slippery or come off like electrical tape, and it offers a better grip. After all, that's what stick tape is designed to do.

    It also gives the rig a good, finished look. I also chose to wrap the T-joint, which the crew at The Slanted Lens left undone.

    My first use of the rig was while covering a demonstration of high-tech gear for the battlefield. I was being shuttled around a sprawling military base by van.

    One advantage of the rig is the fact that I was able to disassemble it partially, making it easier to stow between stops. I can also leave it assembled and turn the handles and back support so it can store flat, which is also handy.

    As you can see in the video (and I apologize for the bad audio in the second half. I had a recorder die on me, and I think my phone's on-board mic got covered), that there is some slight movement, but it is steadier than trying to just hand hold it without any support.

    The next time I used it was at a fund-raiser where people were rappelling down the side of a building to raise money for a cancer-support group. Again, I got good results with the rig, and I also discovered that when I put the camera down and let go, the shoulder support held it on my shoulder while the handles kept it close to my body.

    As for improvements I would make, I would probably install a quick-release-plate system to the rig to make it easier to attach the camera.

    Other than that, it's a design I look forward to continually using in my video projects.

PVC shoulder rig for less than $10

    If you've ever tried to shoot handheld video, you know camera shake is a thing, even if you've got the steadiest of hands.

    There are a few tricks to get around it. Knoptop suggests using your camera strap, pulling the camera away from you until the strap is taut, providing some stability to the camera. While Scott Eggleston, aka the Frugal Filmmaker, has advocated for cage-like rigs, such as one made out of my favorite material, PVC, and another that is group of flash brackets mounted together.

    But many people have found that shoulder rigs provide great stability for a few reasons. First, you are using your shoulder and body mass to provide stability, and with the right handles, it gives three points of contact. A shoulder rig also puts the camera right about eye level.

    There are plenty of plans for DIY shoulder rigs out there, but the one I liked the best — for the most part — was the one the crew at The Slanted Lens came up with. Dubbed the "Lars Cam," it consists of a 10-12" length of 1-inch PVC pipe, a 1-inch T-joint and three 1-inch 90-degree PVC electrical conduits, along with a 1/4x20 bolt to hold the camera on to it. The tools consist of a power drill (I recommend using a 9/32 bit, as it makes it easier to insert the bolt in the hole), and a way to cut PVC pipe. My personal choice is a pair of ratcheting PVC pipe cutters.

    I spent $6.72 at Home Depot on the conduit, T-joint and bolt (actually, the bolts came in a three-pack with nuts). I was able to get a short length of PVC pipe from a friendly plumber for free from his scrap collection. 

    From my test run with it, the rig is quite stable and handles smoothly. You can still reach up to adjust focal length or focus, resting one of the handles either in the crook of your arm or on your forearm.

    At this point, I am debating whether to use tape to cover the PVC, as the Lars Cam's inventor did, or spray paint. I am also planning to borrow another trick from Knoptop and putting a craft-foam pad around the bolt to better hold the camera.

Low-cost ways to set focus for your videos

    If you're working by yourself, getting your camera focused to where you are going to be in front of it can be a challenge.

    There are some tricks, such as using a remote to trigger the autofocus on the camera while you're standing in position, and then quickly locking it in by going to manual focus. But not everyone has a remote trigger.

    Another way is to put something where you will be,  focus on it, and then step into position.

    Dave Knop, AKA Knoptop, has a couple suggestions in a Youtube video.

    One is using a polystyrene mannequin display head, which you can pick up at a local wig shop or on Amazon. But if you either don't want to spend the money or have Jeff Bezos' algorithms making wild assumptions about you, Knoptop offers a cheaper solution that you most likely have laying around your house: A plastic, one-gallon jug.

    Knoptop said they can easily be used as a head to either hold hats and wigs, or as a focus stand-in. He recommends using a milk jug (not those big. square-ish ones you get at Costco), after rinsing it out, of course. For me, I have distilled water jugs sitting around that don't need as much cleaning.

 

    Knoptop said you can paint it, cover it with comic book art or whatever you want. I would recommend something that creates an easy focus pattern, maybe something like this modge-podged to the outside. To make it really utilitarian, you could also paint it a neutral gray tone so you can set color balance as well.

    I think the best part of it is you can fit it on a light stand, especially if you are using a PVC lightstand.