Tag Archives: Science Video Tutorials

How to Remove the Background from an Image (Part 1)

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In this post, I introduce a tutorial I created to show how to use Adobe Photoshop (CS5) to remove the background from an image.

Have you ever wondered how people superimpose graphs, isolated images, clip art, and other graphics onto another image so that they both have the same background?  You might wish to layer a series of images of plants or animals, for example, onto a map or a diagram so that they all share a common background.  To do this, you will have to delete the background of the original photographs (left-hand image below) so that when you layer the images onto a base photograph, they all have the same background (right-hand image below):

How is this done?  In the following tutorial, I show how easy it is to remove the background from this type of image in Photoshop.  This technique is a precursor to developing animations and montages of images in a video….so that the result looks professional.

Take a look (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window):

Fair Use

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If you plan to use someone else’s work (photographs, video, or music) in your video, based on the assumption that it falls under the “fair use” umbrella, you might want to take a look at the video below by the Stanford Center for the Internet and Society.

It’s quite long (34:51 min) and not designed to entertain, but is one of the best general explanations of “fair use” as it applies to video.  CIS was asked by YouTube to answer a number of common questions about “fair use”, using specific examples to illustrate.  The information in the video is not legal advice, however, and the speakers caution that they are only providing “general guidance”.  Their recommendation is to get legal advice if you are not sure.

Below, I’ve summarized the definition of “fair use” as well as the four criteria that determine “fair use”.

What is “fair use”?  The term refers to a set of exceptions whereby someone can use copyrighted material without permission.  There are a lot of misconceptions about what one can use without permission, especially if it’s found on the internet.

What are the four criteria?

1.  What are you doing with the copyrighted material?  Is your use transformative?

2. What is the nature of the copyrighted material?  Fictional and non-fictional material are gauged slightly differently.

3.  Is the amount of the copyrighted material used in your creation reasonable?  That is, do you use only what is necessary to make your point and no more?

4. Will your use impact the market for the original copyrighted material?

Want to know how these criteria apply to common scenarios involving video?  Watch the video:

How to Create Animations for your Science Videos with PowerPoint: Part Two

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This is the second part of the tutorial on using PowerPoint to create simple effective animations for your movie projects. In part one, I covered how to set up your slides in sequence to create the animation. In part two, I finish up by showing how to export your project as a movie and then import it into your movie-editing program (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

Animations can greatly enhance your videos, providing a way to better visualize concepts or techniques. In future tutorials, I’ll show how to use more sophisticated applications to create animations that will make your videos look more professional.

How to Create Animations for your Science Videos with PowerPoint: Part One

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Would you like to use animations in your videos to illustrate a concept or technique but think you need an expensive program and years of training? Well, think again. If you know how to create a presentation in PowerPoint, then you can use it to develop animations.

In this post, I offer a tutorial on using PowerPoint to create effective animations that can be exported as a movie to use in your video project. In part one, I show how to set up your slides to create a sequence of frames that will form your animation. I provide several examples of simple graphics that will help you develop your own ideas (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).

Science Video Tip: The Rule of Thirds

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The rule of thirds is a well-known principle of photography that generally leads to well-balanced and more interesting images.  Most photographers know about the rule of thirds, but it’s easy to forget this concept when shooting video.  If you look at amateur video (or photos), you will notice that the videographer often centers the subject, which is not very interesting composition-wise.  By following the rule of thirds, however, you would place your subject quite differently in the frame and may even prompt you to be more creative in your shooting.

Although you don’t have to follow this rule (or any rule, for that matter) in making your videos, it can be a useful guide in capturing well-composed footage, especially if you are just beginning and are unsure how to set up your shots.  By following the rule of thirds, your videos will look more professional and will be much more pleasing to the viewer.

In this short video, I describe how to use the rule of thirds to compose your shots so that they are visually pleasing (for best viewing, select the HD version and full-screen options (see menu bar at bottom of player window).