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Use timelapse for family photos

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Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Ron Hunter » Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:35 pm

I was recently asked to take a photo of my company's employees in front of our building. As you can imagine it is practically impossible to get everyone looking in the same direction, with eyes open, at the same instant. It is often difficult to get everyone at the same place at the same time, and you don't want to view your photo after everyone leaves and say "D'oh!" because you made a silly mistake.

I found an easy fix for this...do a timelapse of the group! Here's how I did it.

I arranged everyone around our company's sign and after adjusting exposure/focus, I took a test photo of the group and reviewed it to ensure everything looked good. I then set my camera to take one photo per second for 30 seconds. I described to everyone that we had "30 chances to get this right" due to the 1 photo/second for 30sec, but I encouraged everyone to smile and keep their eyes open as much as possible.

I started the timelapse and ran into the frame so I could be included in the photo. After the shots were finished and everyone went back to their jobs, I opened all of the photos in Lightroom and crawled through them to find the best one. As it turned out there were several that were usable.

I think this technique would work well with families or any large group. Hopefully I can use it on my own family and get everyone looking in the same direction at the same time!
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby sidd finch » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:05 pm

That is a great idea. When I have to take group photos I ask them to look irritated that they have to have their picture taken. Then I ask them to pose with a fake smile. Then I ask for a regular nice pose. I have had pretty good success but the time lapse makes thing much easier.

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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Ron Hunter » Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:50 pm

sidd finch wrote:When I have to take group photos I ask them to look irritated that they have to have their picture taken. Then I ask them to pose with a fake smile. Then I ask for a regular nice pose.

Sidd


Too funny!! I'll try that next time to loosen everyone up.
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby momoffduty » Tue Apr 07, 2015 4:04 pm

Great idea Ron!
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Chuck Engels » Tue Apr 07, 2015 7:02 pm

Love this idea Ron, good excuse for me to get a camera that shoots time lapse 8-[
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Ron Hunter » Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:57 am

Chuck Engels wrote:Love this idea Ron, good excuse for me to get a camera that shoots time lapse 8-[


If you have a SLR/DSLR, all you need is a cheap intervalometer from Amazon and you're in business! :gl:
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Chuck Engels » Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:03 pm

Unfortunately not, that's why I am looking at the camera that Cheryl is selling :)
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby momoffduty » Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:36 pm

I think I paid $12 for my intervalometer. It doesn't have an off/on switch so I just take the batteries.
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Bob » Wed Apr 08, 2015 4:15 pm

And, don't forget. Once you have multiple photos of the group you can use this technique to combine one photo with another to get the best expressions. This tutorial uses Photoshop which has the auto align layers tool (which has been around for a while -- you don't need Photoshop CC). I don't think auto align has been surfaced in Premiere Elements yet, but you can align the images by hand or get an add-on that adds the feature. ElementsXXL is one such add-on.
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Chuck Engels » Wed Apr 08, 2015 6:43 pm

Oh, no ... Now I have to try that !! #-o
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Ron Hunter » Wed Apr 08, 2015 8:14 pm

Wow Bob, thanks for that tip. I didn't know that was possible but after watching the tutorial it makes perfect sense. I'll look for that Elements plug-in you mentioned, and I'm hoping Pixelmator on my MacBook Pro will do that too.
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Bob » Wed Apr 08, 2015 10:31 pm

Here's the link to elementsxxl. Looks like it's Windows only.
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Re: Use timelapse for family photos

Postby Ron Hunter » Fri Apr 10, 2015 8:23 am

Bob wrote:Here's the link to elementsxxl. Looks like it's Windows only.


Thanks Bob! Yes, I saw the "Windows only" disclaimer and now I'm torn. I'm trying to move all my photo/video work to my MacBook Pro and I already have Lightroom and Pixelmator there. Even if I install Elements I can't use that plugin.

Do I perform video work on laptop and photo work on desktop? Should I use Pixelmator or Elements for photo editing? "First world questions" eh? :hyst:
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