Ghost image using Digital Rebel in Night and remote mode

[htkchen]

Image1: http://www.cityofsolitude.com/images/non-txp/ghostimage_1.jpg


Image 2: http://www.cityofsolitude.com/images/non-txp/ghostimage_2.jpg


This is just one of those weird photos that I can't explain and wished I knew how to since I would GREATLY love to fix it (if possible). I set my Digital Rebel on a tripod, put it in night mode and 10-sec remote mode so I could also be in the picture. It was shot in front of a restaurant with relatively low lighting.

I have NO idea why some of the faces, especially the girl's and mine (far right) were transparent. Is it because I had such a slow exposure (2 secs shutter speed, about f/4.5 aperture for both pics)? We moved a slight bit but not too much. That's my guess. I hope there's a way to fix this in Photoshop, but it seems it's not possible :(. Any suggestions or explanations would be gladly appreciated.

[StvShoop]

yeah, they definitely moved.
like this!
http://www.rpi.edu/~shoopr/images/double1.jpg
for yours, maybe it was hard to tell exactly when the shutter was opened/closed?
10 seconds is a looooong time to stay still for a photo anyway :wink: for the old guy in the middle, there are apparent double-images, where he stayed in one place for a while, then shifted to a different position for a shorter amount of time

if you can't reshoot, there might be a way to fix it. If it's possible at all, it would be very difficult. try making a new layer (several actually, for different areas of the shot) and masking off the color ranges that are opaque. you can dodge+burn the mask a little to add some more definition to the mask. then try underlaying the masked layer with a color layer (color of skin, etc., whatever matches the masked layer above it), apply the mask from the previous layer to the color layer, and dodge the color layer mask significantly more.
that's me talking out of my ass :drunk: i really don't know if it would work, and it would be very hard to do

did you use a flash with this? the lighting has a very unusual and cool effect

[htkchen]

That sounds rather complicated :(. I followed you up to the 3rd sentence :). Oh the 10 seconds was the remote time, like I hit the shutter button, had 10 seconds to get proper pose, and after the 10 secs, the shot fired. But yeah, I think a lot of us just moved our of our place after the flash went off rather than try to stay still for a good 3-4 seconds. It was my fault, I didn't tell them to stay still. It was my novice photo skills talking. Thanks for your help. I'll still give that photoshop tip a try.

[markc]

A 2-second exposure will definitely give you that ghosting if people move at all. If it needs to be that long, you are better off using flash and a short shutter speed. Using flash with a long shutter speed with give you a sharp image, but you will still get ghosting effects because the shutter is still open.

[ksmattfish]

love to fix it (if possible). I set my Digital Rebel on a tripod, put it in night mode

"night mode" is going to cause a long exposure. Either make sure everyone stands still for 4 sec (check your manual) after the flash, or don't use "night mode".