Step by step BUILD your sequence photo

Piece together your set of rapid fire action photos using simple masking skills in photoshop

01 open as layers

Open Bridge and Shift-click between the first and last photo to select your sequence, then go to Tools > Photoshop>load Files into Photoshop Layers. This’ll open them into one layered document (you can also use File>scripts>load Files into Stack in Photoshop).

02 change the order

Next open the Layers Panel (Window>layers) and rearrange the layers so they overlap how you want. We’ve dragged the ‘hero’ image to the top. You can use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/ctrl+] or [ to move layers up or down the stack.

03 make rough masks

Highlight the top layer and grab the Lasso tool. Then select the skater and click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel. Next Alt-click the eye icon of the layer below, then select and mask again. Repeat for all but the bottom layer. Next, reveal all the layers.

04 tidy the overlap

Highlight the mask thumbnail on the top layer then grab the Brush tool. Paint with black to hide the edges and tidy up parts of the body that overlap the layers underneath. Then, highlight the next mask thumbnail and repeat. Carry on until all the masks are complete.

05 add a fade effect

Once all the masks have been perfected the sequence should look seamless. At this stage, if we like, we can experiment with different opacities to create a faded look to parts of the sequence. Highlight each layer and use the layer opacity controls to fade them out.

06 finish the image

Highlight the top layer then click the Create New Layer icon. Use the shortcut Cmd/ctrl+shift+alt+e to merge a new layer then finish off by adjusting this layer. We’ve boosted the colours with Filter>camera Raw Filter and cloned out some background details.