Creating see through images, how do i do it?

[Mazman]

Hi guys,
Ive read people doing this in photoshop, but i only have corel photo paint 7 and dont know if its possable.

Easiest example i can explain would be a photo of a motor vehicle with its bonnet closed, but it has a see through effect where you can see its engine... how do i go about doing this?

Im reading you need two identical photo's(example: one with bonnet closed and one with open) then merge them together somehow and use a brush of some kind to delete part of the closed bonnet so you start seeing the engine? this is what i have read so far and after that i get lost!

Does anyone have any sites/links or even know themselves how to do this?, a simple guide for dummies would be great or even better if you can try to explain to me in simple terms would be awesome and greatly appreciated.
And in particular, if you have corel photo paint7 and know what tools i need to use?

If i cant find a way to do this on this software, i will have to get the photoshop and give that a go.

thanks for any helps/tips.

[ricktas]

You need to use a tripod and take two photos of the vehicle, one with bonnet up, one with it down. These photos must line up perfectly, so a tripod is a must and nothing in your scene should be changed, moved, except raising the bonnet.

You then open both photographs in your image editing software and place the open bonnet one first and the second as a new layer over the top of it. Then using masks etc, you reveal some of the underlying photograph to show the engine through the bonnet.

It takes practice to do well, and I am not sure is PSP7 has the ability to work with layers and masks. If you want to seriously get into this sort of editing, I would consider upgrading to the latest version of PSP (which is X2 - I think), or getting Photoshop.

[brindyman]

yup thats it

basically two layers and then you background erase the bonnet or part of the bonnet on the layer than has the bonnet down......and the engine will appear half 3/4 or how ever much you want

[Falcons]

Just curious why there is no mention of doing this in camera.

I know it is possible to produce this effect in camera on The Pentax K10D & K20D with up to 9 exposures that are combined into a single frame in camera that produce the exact effect you are talking about with the car.

I don't know if the result is as good as photoshop one but it has always been a feature I have wanted to have a play with (one day I'll have enough to buy My K20D).

Is it just a Pentax feature though or is it available on other cameras as well or is it not as good as what you can achieve in photoshop?

Here is a link to an article on it (if you are interested) - more to use it on waterfall pics though. ( I did see a photo of it used to take a pic of a car so it had a transparent bonnet - looked great, but i can't find it now.)

http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2007...s-on-k10d.html

Kirk

[peterst6906]

You can do it the delete way, or the easiest, if you still want all the bonnet in place, but just see through, is to place the image with the bonnet open, then add the one with it closed over the top and simply reduce the opacity of the top layer.

Reducing the opacity of the top layer will start to show through the layer underneatch, but you'll maintain the image of the bonnet, so that it looks like you are looking through it.

I did something similar a while back for Friday the 13th to achieve this effect.

[dbax]

Peter beat me to it, using the opacity slider on the top layer is the way I'd do it as well. Good luck and we'd love to see the results

Ok I've had 1/4hr spare so grabbed a sugar bowl, first shot lid closed, 2nd lid off, and the
3rd is with the open image on the lower layer the closed image top layer and adjusted the opacity of the upper layer to 58% in this case.
you will see a slight miss alignment so a sturdy tripod and cable/remote release, if you have one, would help.
Hopefully this helps