Creating a filmstrip in Photoshop

How cool is that, making your own filmstrip in Photoshop.

With creating your own filmstrip you get to learn a lot about the Free Transform Tool and Merging layers. And with a bit of warp and perspective thrown in, you get a great result!
Let's get started:

1. Make a new file using CMD N  (Using Ctrl if you're using Windows). Make this layer black (edit > fill, choose black)
2. Make a new layer and fill it with white
   Now you have a black and white layer
   
3. Select the white layer and hit CMD T. Make the top and bottom around 75% and the left and hight about 90%
   
4. Merge the two layers using CMD E
5. Select all using CMD A, go to Edit > Copy
6. Create or open a new file. This is the file where the filmstrip will be placed in. 
   
7. Paste the first part of the filmstrip into the picture using CMD V
   
8. Make a copy of the layer and move it next to the other layer
   
9. Merge layer 1 and layer 1 copy using CMD E. Duplicate the new merged layer using CMD J. Move it next to the other layer. Next is merging the two layers again. And your basic filmstrip is ready. 
   
10. The next step is to remove the white in the filmstrip. Select the white parts with the Magic Wand Tool (W) and hit delete. Hit CMD D to deselect the selection.
    
11. Next is to create the holes at the top and bottom of the filmstrip. Hit E for the eraser tool and choose a square brush. Make one hole at the beginning, hold down the shift tool and make a hole at the end of the filmstrip. Now the upper part is ready. Do the same for the bottom part of the filmstrip. 
    
    Next step is to put pictures into the filmstrip. 
    
    
    
    
    
12. Open a picture and copy it into the filmstrip. Scale it using CMD T. To get the picture behind the filmstrip, simply move the layer with the picture underneath the filmstrip layer.
    
13. Add the other pictures into the filmstrip and scale them down.
    
    Next is to merge all layers. except the background layer. Select those layers and hit CMD E.
    
14. There you have it! Your basic filmstrip with your own pictures is done!
    
    But it does look a bit flat, right? You want to give it a bit more dynamics by doing this: . Go to Edit > Transform > Warp and choose Flag
    
    A little less boring, right? 
    
    
    
    More depth can be created by using Edit > Transform > Perspective. Make the right side of the filmstrip smaller and the left side bigger.
    
    
    
    With CDM T and/or adding more perspective you can totally create the filmstrip the way you'd like to have it.
15. One more thing though: to make it look real, it's a great idea to add some shadow. First make a new empty layer, grab a soft brush and make a black line 
    
16. Using Perspective you can give the line the correct size
    
17. Scale and move it using CMD T 
    
18. Move the layer of the shadow under the filmstrip layer. Now the shadow is behind the filmstrip. If your shadow is too strong, reduce the Opacity of the layer. 
    

Voila! You've now created a really cool filmstrip in Photoshop.

Here's another filmstrip I made just the other day 

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How to capture the magic

You've probably heard and read about it. With the solar storm raging, we've had some pretty amazing skies over Sweden the past days.

The night before last it was totally off the scale: pure magic! Instead of watching TV or reading my newly bought Lee Child, I checked the softservenews website to see Jämtland covered in red. Meaning highly highly active northern lights. For anyone familiar with this app it'll mean something when I say that the percentage was up to 75%.

No kidding. Just stepping out onto our balcony felt like standing frontrow on the most magical lightshow on earth. 

Although great, there's even better views around here. So I grabbed my gear and sprinted out the front door. 

How did I capture the magic?

• You've got it. Like I said on occasion, for shoots like these, you'll be wanting to use a sturdy tripod
• I used a shutterspeed of 30 seconds
• My ISO was up to 320
• And the aperture on F4
• I guess it's even better to use a cable release, but I used the 2 seconds timer on my camera

I got back in the middle of the night. Or rather, in the early morning. So after having been out and about on Rödön, I went home to warm up and to import some pictures to see on a proper screen how they turned out. 

Couldn't help but keep an eye on the app and would you believe that the percentage was up to 99% now? No time for bed! Time to jump into the car to get to one of my favourite places to check out amazing skies: Frösön, near Frösön Kyrka. 

It was totally awe inspiring. I nearly forgot to take pictures as the northern lights were everywhere! Luckily I didn't, because I wanted to have a picture of the sky with the northern lights and with some stripes of lights of cars passing by.

I hadn't been planning this shoot. It was only by chance that I happened to check the forecast. Going out to shoot this amazing spectacle I could rely on my experience of previous shoots of the northern lights. 

Being critical of my own pictures. Seeing what can be improved, checking out how to improve. Always being on the lookout for better spots to take pictures. I'm continuously learning. 

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