Time-Lapses

[sidd finch]

I am pretty new to making time-lapses but I got a chance to try and make a few. This video is a random collection of time-lapse pictures I tool last month. The clouds looked so cool that I set the camera up with an external battery pack and let the camera record the cloud movement. The cool things I found out is that the free GoPro Studio software makes doing these time lapses a very very easy project. Just import the folder in their timeline and it will put the time lapse together automatically then output. If this is something you are thinking about doing it is a lot of fun.



Sidd

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks for posting that Sidd, it was gorgeous! I really liked the panning inside one of the timelapses, and the sun's rays coming over the clouds at the end was really nice. Colors were great.

What was your time between exposures and video frame rate? I ask because the video looked a tiny bit choppy.

Does the GP software have a fisheye removal feature? There was a tiny bit of that in the video, which is completely understandable given the wide FOV, but I was just curious.

I thought you lived in CA??? That is some awfully flat terrain; Midwest US maybe?

[Steve Grisetti]

Sidd, your work is at least as good as the stuff we see in today's feature films!

[momoffduty]

Great job Sidd and great choice on the music! My favorite is at :41. Love the framing of this shot with the road winding from lower left to top right and the fence line. Perfect composition! I found this site helpful on time-lapses. It is for a DSLR, but some good tips. I read recently from a person who does time-lapses that he tries to set up in the shade.

http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/view ... =40&t=1871

[sidd finch]

Thank you for the kind words.

These time lapses were all taken on a recent vacation.

There is a whole lot I have to learn about time lapses regarding exposure time ISO etc. But the output is pretty straight forward using the GP studio. These were 12 megapixel images recorded at 30 second intervals with an ISO of 400 except for the morning shots that were and ISO of between 800 and 1600. Perhaps decreasing the time between shots might help with the choppiness. I guess I have just gotten used to seeing the fish-eye in so many productions. I am curious to see what effect I could get using Lightroom in post to tweak the coloring.

great choice on the music! My favorite is at :41. Love the framing of this shot with the road winding from lower left to top right and the fence line

Thanks Mom. The music is Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 and that road shot was my favorite too. I used a 12 foot painters pole lashed to a fence post so I was really lucky on the framing. I had it record for almost 4 hours. I was amazed at how all the clouds disappeared at sunset. Almost like they were leaving town. lol. Before I used to just record video and speed it up but the time lapse is a much easier approach and does not use so much SD card memory.

Sidd, your work is at least as good as the stuff we see in today's feature films!

Thank you Steve. I am always happy to be "discovered". I am curious to see what a motorized slider would do....But I need to master the bike with training wheels before I go off and start riding. I am likely to fall down and scrape my knees....

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Great idea on the painter's pole. Very lucky on the framing. I don't think you could have planned that better. The clouds do look like they are leaving town. Your battery held up 4 hours?

[sidd finch]

Great idea on the painter's pole. Very lucky on the framing

I purchased an ACME thread that screws on the end of the painters pole and I found these bungee cords at the hardware store that made the setup really easy. I then just pointed the camera. I think because it has such a wide field of view the camera was quite forgiving. For the battery pack I plugged in a New Trent battery pack and hung it on the pole and let the camera just run till sunset.





Sidd

[_Paz_]

Sidd,

This is great! You're always a thousand steps ahead of me. I've been trying to convince Mr. B that we need to find a lonely place with a good view and feed the mosquitoes for a few hours. So far he has only grumped. (I just elbowed him to look at your video - without having read anything here he said "those clouds just took off" !)

I've been looking at power inverters and deep cycle batteries that we can use for both a trolling motor and being able to 'plug in' my field monitor and/or cameras for all day outings. I'm interested in your usb? external battery. Do you leave the GoPro's own battery in place?

Do you babysit your camera? I'm afraid mine would be stolen if I just went off and left it. There is a bluebird house nearby where I have sat in the weeds with the chiggers for a couple of hours, waiting to press the RECORD button when they forgot I was there but Mom and Pop Bluebird simply sat on tree limbs and on a wire and watched me until I gave up and went home. I'd love to capture them taking bugs to the babies.

[momoffduty]

Thanks for the info Sidd! I enjoy the backstory on how the shot was made almost as much as the video itself. Thanks for sharing you tips.

[sidd finch]

I enjoy the backstory on how the shot was made almost as much as the video itself

Thanks Mom. Muvipix is one of the few places I do not feel neurotic when discussing camera setups. I enjoy the backstory too especially when I first check out the raw video and see if it was just a complete "learning experience".

we need to find a lonely place with a good view and feed the mosquitoes for a few hours

I learned that mosquito's hate sage and basil. You might smell like a farmers market but way less itching.

I'm interested in your usb? external battery. Do you leave the GoPro's own battery in place?

The GoPro will not operate on USB alone. It needs to have the battery installed. It USB will keep the battery charged as camera is operated.

Do you babysit your camera? I'm afraid mine would be stolen if I just went off and left it.

Normally I would agree but on this vacation the nearest house was six miles away so I felt pretty comfortable about leaving the camera out to record. Next time I should look into a micro umbrella just to keep the sun from beating down on the camera.

There is a bluebird house nearby where I have sat in the weeds with the chiggers for a couple of hours, waiting to press the RECORD button when they forgot I was there but Mom and Pop Bluebird simply sat on tree limbs and on a wire and watched me until I gave up and went home. I'd love to capture them taking bugs to the babies.

You could always set Your GoPro camera up with an external battery pack and use the smartphone app to see when the birds come in to feed. Then just press record. That way you could stay away from the insects. This is the way I was able to record the hummingbirds. I also turned the beep and red led light so they would not startle the birds when feeding.

Sidd

[momoffduty]

Too bad we all do not live close. Then we could borrow each others gadgets!

[videovillageidiot]

Another great video Sidd!! I love the color of the sky at the end. And I like the music - it reminds me of watching figure skating competitions!

[_Paz_]

Too bad we all do not live close. Then we could borrow each others gadgets!

Yes! I agree!!! I want to try out Bob's brain for a while! (Wonder if it comes with an instruction manual?)

I learned that mosquito's hate sage and basil. You might smell like a farmers market but way less itching.

I like pizza!

You could always set Your GoPro camera up with an external battery pack and use the smartphone app to see when the birds come in to feed. Then just press record. That way you could stay away from the insects. This is the way I was able to record the hummingbirds. I also turned the beep and red led light so they would not startle the birds when feeding.

That's similar to what I did to get my latest hummer footage and what triggered my desire for a way to run equipment from a multi-purpose deep cycle trolling-video equipment battery.

I set up my camcorder and field monitor, both plugged into electricity. When I could see on the monitor that hummers were in view I pressed the record button on the camcorder's remote. All the while, editing video, propped up in bed. Nice work when I can get it!

I too have put together a painter's extension pole and have been able to use it to get video of the cupped inside of magnolia blossoms high overhead. Sure wish I'd had that when the cardinals raised their babies. The painter's pole I bought is a Shur-Line and can collapse short enough, at the push of a button, to go into the trunk of the Miata. Extended to about 9 feet, which is about as high as I can hold it steady. In fact, a little too high. I don't usually use it fully extended.