Binoculars Effect

If anyone intends to use binoculars in their current or future film/video production, this short tutorial may come in handy for those of you who don’t know how to achieve the effect of overlaying the binoculars famous circles over their footage. I worked on this effect after a trip from Niagara Falls and it worked great on my video. This effect is very easy to make and in just twelve steps you’ll be able to achieve it using Photoshop Cs3.

Here goes:

1- Open a new file: 720 x 480 for DV NTSC with Transparent Background

2- Use the Paint Bucket Tool to paint your canvas BLACK

3- Switch to White color by clicking on the double headed arrow over the black & white squares.

4- Go to “View” click “Show” click “Grid”

5- Use Eclipse tool to draw a circle (the size depends on you. Notice it’s white now)

6- Position it to the left and make sure it’s edges are within the screen safe margins.

7- Press “Alt” (In PC) and move the cursor to the right to duplicate the same circle (should be the same size and shape)

8- Position it to the right (The two circles should now converge – if not, try moving them so the left and right edges of the two circles meet)

9- Go to “Layer” click “Merge Visible” (All three layers should turn to one layer now)

10- Get the “Magic Wand” tool and select the white circles then press DELETE. (Transparent Background should appear now)

11- Go to “Filters” click “Blur” click “Gaussian Blur”, Set Radius to 2.0 Pixels.

12- Save file either in “PNG” format for high resolution (recommended) or in (GIF).

Now you should be able to import the file to your APr or FCP/FCE. Remember to keep it over a higher video track. The footage you use should be placed on a lower video track for this effect to work properly.

That’s it. Hope you could use this tutorial well and make a good impression on your audience.

Cheers.

Written by Sam Meddaka for Lab 310 and copied from iBlogs. To visit my blogspot click here