See it on Flickr
On the bright side, my intervals seem to have evened out. On the not so bright side, there wasn't much of a sunset last night, and I have some experimentation to do with exposure settings before I'll be able to get this right.
Showing posts with label time-lapse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time-lapse. Show all posts
Friday, April 23, 2010
Time Lapse Sunset
Yesterday I went up to a high vantage point near my house, set up my tripod and intervalometer with fresh batteries, and attempted to time-lapse a sunset.
See it on Flickr
On the bright side, my intervals seem to have evened out. On the not so bright side, there wasn't much of a sunset last night, and I have some experimentation to do with exposure settings before I'll be able to get this right.
See it on Flickr
On the bright side, my intervals seem to have evened out. On the not so bright side, there wasn't much of a sunset last night, and I have some experimentation to do with exposure settings before I'll be able to get this right.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
TI-83+ Calculator Intervalometer
I mentioned a while back in this post that it's possible to make an intervalometer from a calculator. I actually entered the code listed on the tutorial into my calculator weeks ago, but today I finally got ahold of a 12mm audio jack (link cable). I'm happy to report that it works.
See it on Flickr.
As stated in the guide that showed how to convert the calculator to an intervalometer, I seem to have gotten some slight variances in time between shots. Apparently the accuracy of the intervals is determined by the freshness of the batteries. Unfortunately, even slight variances are pretty noticeable in time-lapse. You'll see that the video above appears slightly "choppy." I'm also convinced that having a video editor that will do 1-frame-photos will also help me smooth out my videos a lot.
I can't remember the last time I changed the batteries on this calculator, and it gets used for Calculus homework almost every day. So before I get too upset about the inaccuracies of the calculator, I think I'll put in some brand new batteries and try again.
This was a test run; from now on I'll try to to shoot time lapses that have more points of interest than clouds moving in the sky and my little brother lounging around on the trampoline.
See it on Flickr.
As stated in the guide that showed how to convert the calculator to an intervalometer, I seem to have gotten some slight variances in time between shots. Apparently the accuracy of the intervals is determined by the freshness of the batteries. Unfortunately, even slight variances are pretty noticeable in time-lapse. You'll see that the video above appears slightly "choppy." I'm also convinced that having a video editor that will do 1-frame-photos will also help me smooth out my videos a lot.
I can't remember the last time I changed the batteries on this calculator, and it gets used for Calculus homework almost every day. So before I get too upset about the inaccuracies of the calculator, I think I'll put in some brand new batteries and try again.
This was a test run; from now on I'll try to to shoot time lapses that have more points of interest than clouds moving in the sky and my little brother lounging around on the trampoline.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
An Intervalometer
One of the biggest things I'm looking forwards to with the arrival of my Rebel XSi is the ability to attach an external intervalometer (a device that takes photos at a pre-set interval) of some sort to take time-lapse photos without my constant attention.
While looking up such a device (expecting to find one built into some remote shutter release or cable of some sort), I found this. Cool. I already have one of those for my AP Calculus class, so that unlocks some time-lapse possibilities without spending any money.
For some reason, I continued searching for things like this, when I stumbled across a site called CHDK, which stands for Canon Hack Development Kit. It's basically a large database full of open-source coding that has been done to add extra cool features to your camera. It's kind of a hassle to install (and took me a while to figure out; it's kind of tech-y), but among the scripts, I found an intervalometer that works with my model of camera and my version of firmware. Looks like I get to do some better time-lapses before my XSi gets here after all.
I tested it out today. The setting was one photo every 45 seconds, stopping after 200 photos. I set everything up, and left it to its work. After a few hours, I came back and checked on the progress. The battery was dead. But it had made it to 177 photos first! The reason the battery died is because for some reason, the camera will not operate in manual focus with the LCD display turned off. So I am forced to leave the LCD on in fear of the autofocus getting off at some point during the shooting. Fortunately, the XSi is exactly the opposite of that: the autofocus won't work with the LCD on Live View.
Enough talking for now. Here's the video:
My apologies for the obnoxious color cast shifts. Of all the things to forget to set manually, white-balance wasn't the worst one. But it's still kind of a noobish mistake.
On the bright side, I've been hit with another realization: the choppiness of my previous time-lapses was primarily due to the human factor involved in the intervals between exposures. When the computer handles the intervals, it gets the exactly the same. No matter how hard I try, I'll always have a bit (or more) of error in my timing shots. So never mind worrying too much about finding a 1-frame-per-photo video editor, this already looks significantly smoother.
Bottom line: Yes, the XSi will do a better job. But it's cool to know that you don't have to have pimped-out equipment to do really good time-lapse photography.
While looking up such a device (expecting to find one built into some remote shutter release or cable of some sort), I found this. Cool. I already have one of those for my AP Calculus class, so that unlocks some time-lapse possibilities without spending any money.
For some reason, I continued searching for things like this, when I stumbled across a site called CHDK, which stands for Canon Hack Development Kit. It's basically a large database full of open-source coding that has been done to add extra cool features to your camera. It's kind of a hassle to install (and took me a while to figure out; it's kind of tech-y), but among the scripts, I found an intervalometer that works with my model of camera and my version of firmware. Looks like I get to do some better time-lapses before my XSi gets here after all.
I tested it out today. The setting was one photo every 45 seconds, stopping after 200 photos. I set everything up, and left it to its work. After a few hours, I came back and checked on the progress. The battery was dead. But it had made it to 177 photos first! The reason the battery died is because for some reason, the camera will not operate in manual focus with the LCD display turned off. So I am forced to leave the LCD on in fear of the autofocus getting off at some point during the shooting. Fortunately, the XSi is exactly the opposite of that: the autofocus won't work with the LCD on Live View.
Enough talking for now. Here's the video:
My apologies for the obnoxious color cast shifts. Of all the things to forget to set manually, white-balance wasn't the worst one. But it's still kind of a noobish mistake.
On the bright side, I've been hit with another realization: the choppiness of my previous time-lapses was primarily due to the human factor involved in the intervals between exposures. When the computer handles the intervals, it gets the exactly the same. No matter how hard I try, I'll always have a bit (or more) of error in my timing shots. So never mind worrying too much about finding a 1-frame-per-photo video editor, this already looks significantly smoother.
Bottom line: Yes, the XSi will do a better job. But it's cool to know that you don't have to have pimped-out equipment to do really good time-lapse photography.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Time-Lapse Learning Experience
I seem to be pumping out failed time-lapses at a startling rate these days. While I was at first kind of hesitant to use one of my two video uploads for February on Flickr, I figured this was worth it. Every time I screw something up, I learn more about how to fix it.
See on Flickr
The first problem with this video is that the sun never actually rises. It was the first non-foggy morning in a while, so I decided to try and get the sunrise. I was taking one photo per 8 seconds, and I was out in the cold repeating this for probably a solid 25 minutes. The clouds and sky kept getting brighter and brighter, but I was forced to pack up and head to school (school starts late this week for Juniors and Seniors due to Sophomore state testing) before it actually came out. There's no school Friday, so if I get another lucky fog-free morning, that problem is easy enough to solve.
My larger problem is my editing software. iMovie refuses to display stills for less than 3 frames, which makes my videos 3 times longer, 3 times slower, and 3 times choppier than I had planned. I'm in the process of finding a video editor that will put stills at 1 frame. I know my dad has an old copy of Final Cut Express somewhere, but I need to get the serial number off the box to use it. I've checked, and it looks like FCE will go down to 1 frame on stills for me. Furthermore, FCE will make high res videos. I've been shooting at a resolution of 1600x1200, and just batch re-sizing down to 640x480 before applying to iMovie, and even then I seem to be losing a lot of sharpness in my photos. If I can find the serial for FCE, that should solve both of my problems. I'll just have to crunch some numbers to get a new rate at which to take photos.
Anyway, this video looks pretty good considering everything that went wrong. The pink clouds look nice until they get washed out. The darkening at the end of the video is my own trying to adjust exposure gradually between shots so that the final frames weren't just pure white. Kind of a bad idea I think; a better approach would be to start my exposures at -2 stops (rather than -1, which is what I've been using) and hope that they don't overexpose too much when the sun does come out. A polarizer might be something to consider too.
Anyway, I only have one video upload to my free Flickr account this month, so if you see another video post, it means I finally got a time-lapse that I'm satisfied with. On a final note though, free Flickr accounts cannot have high-def videos uploaded, no matter the size. So unless I find $25 laying around that I have no use for, you'll be watching my videos in normal resolution. Sorry.
See on Flickr
The first problem with this video is that the sun never actually rises. It was the first non-foggy morning in a while, so I decided to try and get the sunrise. I was taking one photo per 8 seconds, and I was out in the cold repeating this for probably a solid 25 minutes. The clouds and sky kept getting brighter and brighter, but I was forced to pack up and head to school (school starts late this week for Juniors and Seniors due to Sophomore state testing) before it actually came out. There's no school Friday, so if I get another lucky fog-free morning, that problem is easy enough to solve.
My larger problem is my editing software. iMovie refuses to display stills for less than 3 frames, which makes my videos 3 times longer, 3 times slower, and 3 times choppier than I had planned. I'm in the process of finding a video editor that will put stills at 1 frame. I know my dad has an old copy of Final Cut Express somewhere, but I need to get the serial number off the box to use it. I've checked, and it looks like FCE will go down to 1 frame on stills for me. Furthermore, FCE will make high res videos. I've been shooting at a resolution of 1600x1200, and just batch re-sizing down to 640x480 before applying to iMovie, and even then I seem to be losing a lot of sharpness in my photos. If I can find the serial for FCE, that should solve both of my problems. I'll just have to crunch some numbers to get a new rate at which to take photos.
Anyway, this video looks pretty good considering everything that went wrong. The pink clouds look nice until they get washed out. The darkening at the end of the video is my own trying to adjust exposure gradually between shots so that the final frames weren't just pure white. Kind of a bad idea I think; a better approach would be to start my exposures at -2 stops (rather than -1, which is what I've been using) and hope that they don't overexpose too much when the sun does come out. A polarizer might be something to consider too.
Anyway, I only have one video upload to my free Flickr account this month, so if you see another video post, it means I finally got a time-lapse that I'm satisfied with. On a final note though, free Flickr accounts cannot have high-def videos uploaded, no matter the size. So unless I find $25 laying around that I have no use for, you'll be watching my videos in normal resolution. Sorry.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Time Lapse Attempt (Failed)
A few days ago, I was taking macros of an amaryllis on the windowsill. Then I went outside to play with my new monopod. I didn't stay out long; maybe 5-7 minutes. When I came back in, the amaryllis had done a full 180° turn to face the sun.
Today, I decided to try and time-lapse it. I set up my tripod, got everything in order, and waited for the sunrise to begin. It started getting slightly lighter, so I started shooting at 1 photo per 8 seconds. Long story short, it was too cloudy for the sun to be seen at all, so the amaryllis pretty much stayed put. Even the slight movement you can see through the movie is due to heater vents blowing on it. I couldn't cover them well enough to prevent all movement.
See on Flickr
The moral of the story is, sometimes clouds are stupid. Oh, well.
Today, I decided to try and time-lapse it. I set up my tripod, got everything in order, and waited for the sunrise to begin. It started getting slightly lighter, so I started shooting at 1 photo per 8 seconds. Long story short, it was too cloudy for the sun to be seen at all, so the amaryllis pretty much stayed put. Even the slight movement you can see through the movie is due to heater vents blowing on it. I couldn't cover them well enough to prevent all movement.
See on Flickr
The moral of the story is, sometimes clouds are stupid. Oh, well.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Time-Lapse Photography, Part I
I've been intrigued with doing time-lapse photography for a couple of months now. I always thought I would have to wait until I got a DSLR, because of the limitations presented by my camera not supporting any type of intervals or cable release. About a week ago, I did a little math in my head and figured out that with some patience, I could get moderately long time-lapses by hand. So I tried one. I took about a picture a second (shooting at 640x480 resolution, and only my second-best quality). It worked, but even with my tripod as stable as possible and my button-pushing at its most careful, it looked like the person holding the camera was on meth when the video was played.
Luckily, I discovered that one picture per second creates more frames than I really want to use, which in turn creates a somewhat slow and boring time-lapse.
Here is attempt two:
See on Flickr
This was a good exercise. I was just shooting from outside my school, near the parking lot. There was a lot of obstruction, so my composition is iffy. Also, I was trying to shoot the sunrise, but there were clouds in the way. On the bright side, using a two-second timer on my camera eliminates the minute differences in angle between frames; stabilizing the video. And I think I got a lot closer to the framerate I want.
Luckily, I discovered that one picture per second creates more frames than I really want to use, which in turn creates a somewhat slow and boring time-lapse.
Here is attempt two:
See on Flickr
This was a good exercise. I was just shooting from outside my school, near the parking lot. There was a lot of obstruction, so my composition is iffy. Also, I was trying to shoot the sunrise, but there were clouds in the way. On the bright side, using a two-second timer on my camera eliminates the minute differences in angle between frames; stabilizing the video. And I think I got a lot closer to the framerate I want.
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