Applying Motion to a Still Photograph

[Jordanne Dervaes]

I'm self-teaching myself to use Adobe Premier and I have been pretty successful so far. However, there is one thing I'm stumped on--how to apply motion to a still photograph (ala Ken Burn's "Civil War")

I'm working on a film short that contains lots of digital photographs and instead of them remaining static on the screen I would like to zoom in on them or pan across, etc.

Is there a resource on the web that can teach me this? Otherwise I'd have to visit my local library.

Thanks
Jordanne

[Christopher Lefchik]

What version of Premiere do you have?

[Brian Handler]

Well generally for stuff like this I use after effects...but premier does it well.

What you need to learn is keyframes and how to work them...premiere help should do you fine.

What you do is set the picture how you want to look in on frame...then time out the duration on the timeline to the next way you want the picture to look and set a keyframe there. Then it will pretty move in the shortest distance to the new point/opacity/scale...ect.

[Jordanne Dervaes]

Thanks for the info Brian. I will be getting After Effects when I save up enough money to.

I'll try to work on keyframes then.

Christopher -- I have Adobe Premiere Pro 7.0

Thanks

[Wes Coughlin]

"""Thanks for the info Brian. I will be getting After Effects when I save up enough money to.
I'll try to work on keyframes then.""""

Just as a heads up, After Effects does all of its motion/effects and etc... using Key Frames. The motion in Premiere is some what designed after AF, so just read some tutorials and keep on trying, then things will start to click.

[Mike Teutsch]

You do not need After Effects to do what you want, and in fact Premiere Pro is easier. The best thing you can buy is the Total Training DVDs on Premiere Pro and watch them. They have a whole section on doing just what you want. It was actually my first project. I used about 160+ pictures from a trip to Costa Rica, and put together a montage, complete with naration. Most who saw it, thought it was video and not still pictures. It is really pretty easy, hey, I did it!

I would be happy to help you if you need it. None of these editing softwares should be learned or even attempted to be learned just by the book. Training tapes, CDs, or DVDs are a must!

Where are you located?

Good Luck--Mike

[Jordanne Dervaes]

Thanks for the responses.

Mike -- Thanks for the tip. I feel better now -- I always hate feeling like I have to buy something else to get a good video. I'm probably - eventually - going to get the whole Premier package just for the whole experience, but until I begin to make my first videos, it's just going to have to wait.

Wow - 160+ pictures from Costa Rica. Must have been quite a time.

I really appreciate the offer of help. I may take you up on that! For now, I'll fool around with key frames and see what I can work out. And, I'll look up the Total Training DVDs!

If I can do web design, I should be able to figure this out!

I'm located in Pasadena, CA (slightly east and north of Los Angeles). I previously used to do filming on a Sony DCR-TRV38 but am now the new owner of a Canon GL2 that I got a good deal for.

I've had people from the film industry in the area offer to help me out on this project, but they are sometimes just so know-it-all ... :-)

Jordanne

[Barry Gribble]

Jordanne,

I agree... Premiere is the easiest place to do this if you are using it already. Quickly here is what you do:

1. Put the photo on the timeline.

2. Click on the clip, and put the timeline marker in that clip.

3. Go to Effect Controls, and select Motion (expand it)

4. Slide the timeline marker to the left and create a keyframe in the "scale" section (press the icon that looks like a stopwatch).

5. Slide the timeline marker to the right (later in the clip) and create another keyframe in the scale section.

6. Now change the scale of the image. Make it larger.


Now run the clip. As it goes from the first keyframe (the original size) to the second keyframe (the larger version) Premiere will gradually change the scale.

Sorry, I'm actually not strong on the vocabulary that the manuals would use for this, but it works.

Just a hint: If you zoom in on a photo that has a lot of horizontal strips (like a window shade) you will get strange Moire patterns. To get rid of this you can open the image in Photoshop and use the blur brush to just blur the horizontal lines slightly. The Moire patterns will go away.

Good luck.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Jordanne,

Well, it looks like you got lots of help! Premiere Pro is definitely better for applying motion to still images (or any other graphics, for that matter) than earlier versions.

[Henry Cho]

check out canopus' imaginate. it comes with a premiere plugin, but even as a standalone product, it is a wonderful time-saving tool, and well worth the low price.

[Sheila Ward]

Originally Posted by Mike Teutsch

You do not need After Effects to do what you want, and in fact Premiere Pro is easier. The best thing you can buy is the Total Training DVDs on Premiere Pro and watch them. They have a whole section on doing just what you want. It was actually my first project. I used about 160+ pictures from a trip to Costa Rica, and put together a montage, complete with naration. Most who saw it, thought it was video and not still pictures. It is really pretty easy, hey, I did it!

I would be happy to help you if you need it. None of these editing softwares should be learned or even attempted to be learned just by the book. Training tapes, CDs, or DVDs are a must!

Where are you located?

Good Luck--Mike

Agree about the Total Training DVD's. I first started to learn Premiere with books, but it is much easier with the training DVD's. There's nothing like seeing the actions performed. I have learned a ton from these DVD's. They are a good reference when you forget stuff too. You can find these on eBay sometimes cheaper than at totaltraining.com.