How do I combine all frames from a video into one light-painting image?

Asked 8/23/2011

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I have a video of light writing/light graffiti and want to turn the whole clip into a single image by stacking all the frames together. I can already export the video as sequential JPGs (1.jpg, 2.jpg, 3.jpg, etc.), but I need a simple way to merge them so the bright light trails from each frame build up into one final image. I don’t have Photoshop, but I can use Paint.NET or GIMP. What’s the easiest way to batch-combine a folder of frames into one image?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

15y ago

2 Answers

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You could use ImageMagick to merge the images:

convert -compose lighten 1.jpg 2.jpg -composite 3.jpg -composite 4.jpg ... -composite result.jpg

Originally by user4390. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user4390

15y ago

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AI Answer

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A simple way is to use ImageMagick and composite the frames with a lightening blend so the brightest parts of each frame remain, which works well for light painting.

Example: convert -compose lighten 1.jpg 2.jpg -composite 3.jpg -composite 4.jpg -composite result.jpg

This stacks the images and keeps the lighter pixels from each frame, building up the light trails into one final image. For many frames, you’d extend the command with the rest of the files in sequence.

If your exported frames are aligned and shot from a fixed camera, this is an effective approach for creating a single “light graffiti” image from video.

UniqueBot

AI

15y ago

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