I want to show you a cool way to create handmade "video" using Adobe Lightroom, a digital SLR, and a "scratch" technique used by disc jockys. But first, some backstory.

I am a still photographer, and yet I am fascinated with sequencing stills in a way that makes them appear to move. In fact, many years ago i wrote on entire book on the subject titled Still Images in Multimedia. I researched it back in the late 80s/early 90s before the internet took off, and my point of view was the then-nascent computer multimedia, which used CDs and laser discs as distribution vehicles. There is a long history of "moving stills" that even predates the personal computer. In fact it is an well-established genre, known by the name kinestatis. or moving stills. La Jetee, created by the French artist Chris Marker in 1962 is one of the most famous films of this genre. It's a 29 minute long film done almost entirely as a sequence of still photographs. The movie inspired the Terry Gilemin blockbuster film, Twelve Monkeys staring Bruce Wills and Brad Pitt. Ken Burns also made the moving still famous with his PBS Civil War series.

Back in 1989 I collaborated with Michael Rogers on my first "moving still", a "film" based on Michael's short story Not Exactly Unique. ( It "starred" my good friend Jacques Gauchey and a young woman whose name I have forgotten.) That same year, I showed our creation to a large audience at Photo Expo Plus in New York. It took a stage filled with equipment to show it. When it was over, someone in the audience yelled out sarcastically, "when will it be shown at the movie theater?" He had a point. There really was no good way to share our creation. That has changed of course, with the Internet and YouTube and Twitter and other video sharing sites.

Anyway, I decided it's time for me to shift my focus back onto moving stills, using today's 21st century technology, There is a lot of good video editing programs out there that allow you to work with stills, but call me crazy, I found a way to use Adobe Lightroom to create a unique effect. Why Lightroom? Well, first of all my Nikon D3 NEF files contain tons of pixels and visual information that I can manage almost anyway I want. (I also have a 14-24mm lens, for amazing coverage.) In Lightroom with those files I can zoom in and out with no apparent loss of resolution. I can batch process all my frames at once and easily change colors, and exposure. And best of all, I am using a tool I am familiar with and love to use.

This is what I did to create the video of the Imperial Courtroom in the Istanbul Grand Palace Harem, seen on Viddler by clicking here.

1. Fixed myself in a corner of the Imperial Courtroom and holding my D3 by hand carefully fired off 29 frames. (Tripods aren't allowed in the harem so I had to hold my camera very steady). I used aperture priority and manual focus and shot at an ISO of 1250.

2. Imported the files into Lightroom and placed the sequence in a folder called Harem Movie.

3. I selected one image and in the Develop module boosted the Clarity setting and in the HSL pane I bumped up the blue and red saturation. I then selected all the frames in the filmstrip and synched all the settings to each frame.

3. Back in the Library module I made 1:1 previews. (Library> Previews)

4. In iTunes, I downloaded the Harem Overture by Sarah Brightman. In Photoshop I created a title slide and saved it as a TIFF and imported it into Lightroom.

5. Using the left and right keys I practiced sequencing the images. I physically played the keyboard like a disc jockey turns a vinyl disc back and forth for effect. The space bar zoomed to me a predetermined level and added more motion to the final sequence. (Remember I have lots of pixels to work with.).

6. After practicing a while, I opened a program called IShowU. The I basically filmed myself performing on Lightroom with the music playing in the background.

That was that. The end result is far from perfect. In fact, it's quite rough. But you get the idea. I'd like to experiment using Photoshop CS4s video tools and create a Flash-based video which would give me a bit more control. But I don't have the new application loaded now on my laptop here in Turkey so that experiment will have to wait.

PS> My new Lightroom 2 Adventure book is at the printer and should ship any day now. I know times are tough, and outlaying money for a book isn't the top of anyone's list. However, I'm really proud of this book and think it will not only provide practical, easy to follow instructions on using Lightroom 2 that will improve your photography, but I hope it is entertaining and inspiring as well.