how do you do this?

[NYRANGERS]

How do you do stuff like this? Is it photoshopped?

[jorgemonkey]

Yeap. You can stick your camera on a tripod, take a bunch of photos really quickly, and paste each photo on top of each other. Then you'll erase the part where you want the rider to show through.

Thats how its done in a nutshell

[Medley]

It's absolutely photoshopped, and not that well. If you look closely, you can see a difference in the blue tones around the bikers in the foreground where the person made eliptical selections.

As for how it's done, It would be some variation of this. A tripod setup that captured seven images of the biker between the time he took off and the time he landed. Those seven images are placed on top of one another in Photoshop, and lined up. Done correctly, the background is isentical in each shot because you used the tripod, so it's a simple matter of erasing key areas in each image to let the biker from the image beneath show through.

- Joe U.

[mjs1973]

Also, when taking a series of photos like this, I would treat it much like I would when I'm shooting a series of pics to stich together to make a panoramic image, (without moving the camera of cours).I would set the camera to manual mode, and set the white balance to a specific setting, not auto. That way all your images will be exposed exactly the same and it will be easier to make them blend together.

[another view]

I would set the camera to manual mode, and set the white balance to a specific setting, not auto.

Agree with this, because otherwise the exposure and WB can change just a little bit but it will be noticable.

I'm not sure in this case having never tried something like this, but usually manual focus (and not changing it) would be best too. Just shoot with a fairly small aperture so the depth of field is big enough. You could use Sunny 16 to (approximately) figure out exposure - pick the aperture and shutter speed you need, then figure out the ISO for proper exposure.

[Asylum Steve]

How do you do stuff like this? Is it photoshopped?

Well, looks like you got your answer from the others, but I have to assume (since you asked how) this is not your photo.

Did you get permission to post it here?

Not nice if you didn't...

BTW, I agree this is poorly done. With an even blue sky like that there's no excuse for not having perfect masking!

[another view]

Did you get permission to post it here?

Not nice if you didn't...

Guess I picked a bad day to stop drinking... (movie quote)

I should have mentioned this - please don't post images that are not your own, or have permission to post from the photographer. It would be better to post a link to the image.

[Frog]

Wouldn't it be easier to get eight riders with identical clothes and bikes to jump one after the other and have a fast lens?

srry...couldn't resist.

[livin4lax09]

if i am correct, this was taken from the sports forum...

[livin4lax09]

yep..FMX shots

[NYRANGERS]

Thanks everyone who replied--it was definitely a big help and I appreciate it.
Yeah, it was taken from the sports forum--sorry for reposting it here, I am new to this site and didnt know it couldnt be done. I didnt mean any harm by it, just liked the way the photo was done and wanted to know how to do it. I did ask in that section itself, but didnt get an answer-thats why I asked here. Again thanks for all the answers and sorry for reposting that pic.