Machine-gun action photos: how?

Hey Steve,

That's a shot of my son and a poor example of a sequence shot of 'action'. It was a quick job so what is it that 'they' say. 'Haste makes waste' *haha*. Thank god for digital, huh...

Anyway. Best way to get proper results I think would be to lock your exposure coz when you're hand-holding shots, as you move side to side you'll get different exposure's. Some will have just a little/more light than the next sequence so keeping your exposure locked will help in the end result. It's a drag to try and match photos especially sky shots. Anyway.

-turn your camera to continuous/burst or whatever format your camera will
allow you to shoot in rapid succesion.
-know your target ahead of time coz these models probably won't wanna
keep re-doing the shot.
-a tripod might be nice if you don't need to follow through your subject but...
-let em rip and fire away.
-not all cameras (digital) will allow you to shoot as rapidily as your fingers
can. You've been forwarned...
-so, you've shot your sequence action shot. You might have 4 or 5 shots.
-you might not need all of them to get best results.
-now, the tricky part.
-I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume you have photo-shop or some
photo editing program.
-open up your first photo. If it's vertical it might be a little trickier to put your
shots together. Horizotal shots give you more room to work on for scenics.
-'copy' your first photo.
-open up a new 'file'. Now the new file you're creating should be longer than
your original photo so you can add on multiple photos.
-'paste' your copied photo onto your new file. This should automatically come
in as a 'new layer'. Layer 1.
-move your photo with your 'move' tool to the far left to make room for the
others.
-let's say the sequence will go from left to right, k.
-copy the second photo and paste it to your 'new' file. Layer 2
-now you have 2 photos in there, right. With a few layers.
-here's where the fun begins by trying to arrange where this 2nd shot should
fit in. You can play with oppacities and such but lets keep it simple and use
the 'move' tool again to try and fit it where it best belongs. You shot it, how
should I know *haha*.
-keep your second layer active and start erasing around that subject. This
could be a pain in the ass so stay focused and erase carefully. Choose the
right brushes blah, blah, blah.
-most importantly 'SAVE' your work as you go along.
-so, now you have 2 photos that look pretty cool huh. It'll get more fun and
rewarding as you put together more and show off a 'how it's done' sequence.
-ok, so now you might have 4 or 5 photos together but it looks like a
collage/montage. Now you wanna 'crop' it to your liking.
-finally 'flatten or merge' your job.
-save it and post it to win yourself something cool from these guys.

I'm far from a professional Steve but I do like messin around with photos from my trips, like yourself. So, I hope this helps and please feel free to email me about any other questions regarding photography. I'll try and help out where I can and if not, I've got a few friends that are more savvy with other techniques. Photography's a fun way to kill time. At least it's a productive 'time waster'...*haha*

later, D.