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Resizing, cropping, positioning images for time lapse


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I have a few hundred images shot with my DSLR of the same scene over many months. The issue is that the camera position and scene are slightly differently positioned in each image. Ultimately I would like to build a time lapse movie of these images, but the first step is to adjust the zoom and centering issues.

My current manual approach is as follows:

1) Take the first image

2) Insert the second image as a layer in the first image

3) Set that second image to semi transparent

4) Drag it around until it matches the positioning

5) Manually look at the sizing and determine if one is a little bigger

6) Manually drag the corner of the pixel move selection box to resize the layer to eye

7) Hide the base layer and save the layer (second image) as a new flattened image file

8) Repeat

This seems like it is going to be very time intensive and tedious. Is there some plug-in that could assist me? I have created panoramas using multiple images shot from a tripod. Software such as microsoft ICE is great for finding the overlapping areas doing the calcs to stitch multiple images together. What I want is almost the inverse selection of that. I want it to find and align the "common area" and give me just that. I doubt this would work exactly as the point of the time lapse is that the scene is changing slightly between images.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

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Here are some ideas that come to mind:

Investigate whether any batch-processing-capable image program, such as Irfanview,

can produce a folder full of hundreds of blank image files in the filetype you want.

These should be sequentially pre-named.

Open these in order as the starting point for each edit that you do.

This should save a lot of time/tedium in the area of saving and naming at save.

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Learn the keyboard shortcuts for the tools and other functions that you'll be using.

http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/KeyboardMouseCommands.html

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Be aware that when using the move tools, fine adjustments in position can be made with the arrow keys.

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I don't know whether cropping to a fixed size/canvas position will be part of this,

if so, there are some things that can be done to help with that.

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Best of luck with this project. :)

Edited by Sarkut
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