First, you can download a short QuickTime of the clip before any effects are added - the 'before'. You can see that literally nothing is happening in the shot. We'll solve that.

tutorial 1 - before (QuickTime; 456K)

Step 1:
Locate the frames needed for effecting. Choose about five frames, beginning right when the gun begins to kick upwards. We'll be using Adobe Photoshop, but you can use Corel or other image editing programs. 

Figure 1.1. An interlaced image, exported to Photoshop.

Interlaced frames appear in Photoshop with zebra stripes around high-motion areas; what you're seeing is two consecutive images on alternating lines. This is a normal artifact of video, but we don't want it for our still image.

Choose Filter > Video > De-Interlace (Figure 1.2), and then choose Even Fields and Interpolation (Figure 1.3).

Figure 1.2. Choose 'De-Interlace'.

Figure 1.3. De-interlace settings.

Step 3:

De-interlace all the frames you've exported, even if you don't see that zebra striping. You'll notice it later, when it plays back in your sequence. Your image should look a little blurry after de-interlacing (Figure 1.4).

Figure 1.4. Image, de-interlaced.

Step 4:
The first thing we'll do is add the muzzle flare. Find the first frame in your sequence (it should be the frame right as the gun begins to kick). This will be your muzzle-flash frame.

Create a new layer to paint our flare onto. (Layers > New > Layer). Call it 'flare', or something similar.

Step 5:
Remember, the flare is fire. It's orange and yellow, not white. A lot of the bluish and whitish flares you see in the movies are from electronic charges and propane guns. Real gunpowder burns orange.

We'll be making our flare orange; you can make yours whatever color you want. Choose a nice, fiery orange from the color palette.

Step 6:
Using the Airbrush tool (or the Brush tool set on Airbrush mode, in Photoshop 7), paint a bright orange flare on your Flare layer. Try a 30-pixel brush with about 50% flow (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5. Add orange flare.

Then, turn the flow down to about 20% to soften up the edges. Use the Eraser, set on a large, soft brush, to shape as desired (Figure 1.6).

Figure 1.6. Soften the edges.

Step 7:
Now, choose a lighter yellow and fill in the inside of your flame shape. I use a 45-pixel brush at about 75% flow. Make it brighter nearer the muzzle, and be sure to keep the flame in line with the direction of the barrel (Figure 1.7).

Rotate your flare image if it's not right in line.

Figure 1.7. Lighten the interior.

Step 8:
Apply a Gaussian blur with a radius of about 9 pixels (Figure 1.8). Depending on how much this fades your flare, you may wish to apply some more orange and blur again.

Figure 1.8. Apply Gaussian blur.

Figure 1.9. Add highlights.

Figure 1.10. Add highlights.

Step 10:
One last thing you can do is to add some noise on your Flare layer to mimic the grain of your video or film. 1.5% is enough, Gaussian (Figure 1.11).

Figure 1.11. Add noise.

Step 11:
Normally, a muzzle flare only shows up for about one frame of film, but if you want to be slick you can add a little trail in the next frame.

Drag your Flare layer onto your second frame and reposition it so that the flare is in the same spot (Figure 1.12).

Then use the Eraser to tone it down to just a little puff (Figure 1.13)

Figure 1.12. Copy the flare to the next frame.

Figure 1.13. Shape the secondary flare.

Step 12:
Another cool thing you can do, which works well on wide shots, is blur a little of the air in the bullet's path to create a trail.

On a close-up like this, with a bland background, it won't be too noticeable. On a wide shot, you'd want to do it in two consecutive frames, first from the gun until about two-thirds of the way to the target, then from about one-third all the rest of the way to the target. (The overlapping gives a feeling of motion.)

We'll do a little here. Select a trail using the Polygonal Lasso (Figure 1.14), feather it about 2 pixels (Select > Feather), then blur it with a Gaussian blur of about 20%.

Be sure that you're blurring the Background layer, not your Flare layer, and check the previous frame if you need to make sure that your trail is in line with the barrel of the gun when it fired.

Figure 1.14. Creating a bullet trail.

Step 13:
We're done with the flare, Now, let's make the slide move. On an automatic such as the one in our clip, the slide will blow back with every shot and then rack forward to chamber the next round. This process takes a fraction of a second - in our case, one frame.

Go back to your frame with the big flare, and copy the background layer (Layer > Duplicate Layer).

Step 14:
On your duplicate background layer (what I named the Slide layer), use a Lasso to select the area right around and immediately behind the slide (Figure 1.15).

Figure 1.15. Select the area around the slide.

Invert the selection (Select > Inverse) and delete everything except that slide area.

Click the eye next to the Background and your flare layer in the Layers window, so that only your Slide layer is visible (Figure 1.16).

Figure 1.16. Create an isolated area.

Step 15:
Use a Lasso to select just the slide - not the hammer, at the back of the gun, just the slide.

If the image is blurry, try to approximate it as best you can. It's better to select too much than too little.

Feather your selection by 2 pixels (Figure 1.17).

Figure 1.17. Select the slide.

Step 16:
Move your selection backwards (Figure 1.18).

Don't deselect - instead, go to Select > Modify > Expand (Figure 1.19) and expand your selection by 10 pixels.

Figure 1.18. Move the slide back.

Figure 1.19. Expand the selection.

Then, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur (Figure 1.20). In the Motion Blur window, set the angle of the blur to be in line with the motion of the slide. In this close-up, the distance of the blur is going to be 13 pixels (Figure 1.21).

Figure 1.20. Add motion blur to the slide.

Figure 1.21. Motion blur settings.

Step 17:
Now you can deselect. Make a new selection around all the transparent background that was revealed when you moved the slide, excluding some along the bottom of the slide and near the front (Figure 1.22).

Figure 1.22. Select most of the revealed background.

Click on your Background layer to make it visible again. Make your Slide layer invisible (Figure 1.23).

Figure 1.23. Reveal the background layer.

Step 18:
Feather the selection by about 5 pixels, then use the Clone Stamp tool with a large, soft brush to fill in that selection with background images (Figure 1.24).

If you have a complex background, you may have to go to another frame to find the appropriate background to replace, or it may be easier to do a cut-and-paste from the other frame to fill in the selection. (With the Clone Stamp tool, Alt+click on an area, then when you paint it will take the pattern from the area you set.)

Figure 1.24. Replace selection with background.

Step 19:
Deselect, make your Slide layer visible again, and do any necessary cleanup to the Slide layer with the Eraser.

You'll want to select just the motion-blurred area of the Slide layer and apply the Noise filter to it, to add grain (Figure 1.25).

Figure 1.25. Add Noise to the motion blur.

Step 20:
Your slide should be pretty well set; now it's time to add a flying casing. In this tutorial we'll be adding the casing to the image.

You can copy an image of a casing from the Internet somewhere (Figure 1.26) or make your own in Photoshop. Quickly, we'll make our own.

Make a new file. Select a rectangle of nothing. Set your Foreground color to brassy yellow and your Background to darker brassy yellow. Use your Gradient tool (on Reflected Gradient, the one with two bands of color) and draw a gradient from one-third to two-thirds the way across the rectangle (Figure 1.27).

Presto.

Figure 1.26. Feel free to download and use these casings.

Figure 1.27. Casing created in Photoshop.

Step 21:
Copy and paste your casing into your first frame. Size and align it so that it looks like it's just come out of the middle of the gun.

Remember, the casing should align parallel with the barrel (Figure 1.28). If you're unsure about how to size the casing, remember that a dozen or so of them should fit in the magazine inside the grip.

Figure 1.28. Add casing to image.

Step 22:
Copy your casing, make the copy invisible, and apply a Motion Blur to the one still visible (Figure 1.29).

Figure 1.29. Add motion blur to casing.

Step 23:
Now, drag the invisible, un-blurred copy of the casing into your second frame. Position it appropriately. If it twists as it flies, it's going to blur in a different direction accordingly.

Remember that casings come out the right side of the gun, and they fly laterally very quickly (Figure 1.30).

I've made the casing fly unnaturally here, so that it'll remain visible for all five frames.

Figure 1.30. Add casings to consecutive frames.

Step 24:
Repeat for the remaining three frames. By frame five the casing should have fallen out of frame.

Step 25:
Save all your images as layered .psd files, then save copies as flattened files. Keep the layered files in case you have to come back to adjust something after you've re-imported the images into your video editor.

Step 26:
Import the images, and arrange them so that they replace their original, exported counterparts.

Play your sequence, and come back to the .psd files in case you have to make adjustments.

Check out the QuickTime of our completed sequence!

Go ahead, check it out frame-by-frame. With sound design, this will play great. You'll hear the gunshot, and, if you're a good sound designer, you'll here the slide racking back and forth, and the casing pinging out of the chamber and clattering on the floor.

tutorial 1 - after (QuickTime; 456K)

tutorial 2: borrowing a flare/the subtractive method

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