Time Lapse Photography - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

05/22/2007 11:13:45 PM · #1

Could someone please tell me how to do time lapse photography from start to finish? I've seen it done a few times and it looks awesome! I'm guessing you start with a nice scene, mount your camera on a tripod, and fire away with a timer. But...how often, file size, how do you adjust for changing light patterns, etc, etc. And finally, what program would you use to put them all together and make a "movie" out of it?
I have this remote timer.
Thanks in advance!!

Nullix

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

05/22/2007 11:21:25 PM · #2

Wow, that's a pretty big question to ask. Since you can afford a 5D and can blow $140 on a gadget, you must have money to burn.

Try Adobe Premiere or Premiere Elements.

I used those to make a movie of images and music. You could also use ImageReady to make an animated gif which would do the same thing without the sound.

OMG!!! Do you actually own all those lenses on your list? You must be a trust fund baby. If you need to get rid of some of that gear, just let me know. I'm surprised you didn't get the 50mm f1.2. Why waist your time with the 1.8?

Message edited by author 2007-05-22 23:24:14.

05/22/2007 11:23:41 PM · #3

Originally posted by Nullix:

Wow, that's a pretty big question to ask.

Ya it is. :)

Message edited by author 2007-05-22 23:24:02.

krnodil

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

05/22/2007 11:23:57 PM · #4

I have that timer too. How often depends on what quality of motion you want to depict - you may need to play around at first to see what intervals you like. I took them jpgs, and saved at relatively small sizes, say 150k as combining in some cases 50 or more images can be more than my computer can take. My experiment didn't involve problems with light patterns, so I can't advise you there.

I used Quicktime Pro to stitch them together. You choose "open image sequence" which will allow you to open a series of images from a folder, and you can select the interval at which they'll play (frames per second) (just make sure your images are number sequenced in the title). Quicktime puts them together into a movie.

05/23/2007 10:36:50 AM · #5

bump

PhotoDave

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

05/23/2007 10:48:51 AM · #6

Wow Nullix, go easy on the guy. After all he did ask a valid question ;)

Anyway Tom I cant really answer on the first questions as I myself are trying to find the answers but on comping the images together your cheapest solution as mentioned above would be Quicktime Pro, I think its still around $25-35usd and works great.

-dave

krnodil

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

05/23/2007 10:57:47 AM · #7

Originally posted by krnodil:

I got some of that wrong - it's been a while and I forgot the process - I did shoot them as RAW files, then I batch processed them to TIFF files, then created a processing action on the first one (which included saving to a smaller size jpg) and batch processed the others using that action.

tcmartin

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

05/23/2007 11:13:29 AM · #8

I just completed a job somewhat like this where we did a time lapse photo thing. Unfortunately for me it was outside, the weather was horrific, it was rushed so I didnâ��t get the camera mounted as I desired, and I had no cool timer as you have. All of the tips you have received so far are good ones.

First you need to decide what you are trying to capture. Then you can figure out how often to grab a shot. We were doing people completing a process. We had planned on a 3-minute interval, but the weather also hindered their progress so I switched to a random interval and just tried to document action. The changing lighting as storms kept rolling past turned out to be one of the coolest parts.

Since I was stuck there by the camera for about 12-hours, I controlled the exposure for each shot. Fortunately people kept bringing me coffee and soup in Styrofoam cups!

ADVICE: make sure your camera is really stable and protected for the entire duration.

When it came to processing, you can certainly use QuickTime Pro as suggested to create a movie from a sequence of images. This is great advice and will work well. I unfortunately had camera shifts, twists and turns as the wind blew me and my equipment around. I brought each photo into a single PS files as a new layer. That way I could drop opacity and see the frame before, sort of like onion skinning. I could make adjustments to each photo as needed to rotate slightly or realign, etc.

I then imported the PSD file into Adobe Premiere which allows you access to each layer in the PSD file. I dropped each layer on the timeline one-after-another, held each shot for about 1.5 seconds, and added short cross-fades between shots. I threw in some titles and a little music, exported to the desired format and bit rate, and it turned out nicely.

Hope that helps.

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

05/23/2007 11:21:46 AM · #9

I didn't use a timer for this one, but I could have. All these frames were triggered by hand, and you can tell by the uneven, jerky spacing.

iPhoto (mac only) will assemble frames into a quicktime movie, but I prefer animated GIFs because they're more universal. I use a cheapo utility to assemble the frames into a GIF after I have PP each one. This one had minimal processing.

Nullix

Canon EOS-5D Mark III

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

05/23/2007 11:25:22 AM · #10

Originally posted by dknourek:

Wow Nullix, go easy on the guy. After all he did ask a valid question ;)

Sorry, just jealous. The guy's 21 and has $10,000 worth of equiptment.

Gotta remember, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods."

Message edited by author 2007-05-23 11:26:46.

PhantomEWO

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

05/23/2007 11:29:41 AM · #11

How about a HD movie camera. I just got the new Canon HV20 1920-1080i and it takes absolutely great HD videos. Many reports have it a good as quality as $5,000-$10,000 HD video records from just a few years back. Then put it through Adobe Premier and eithe slow it down or speed it up. Also takes 24 frame cine. I know, a little off the subject but there are lots of technology to do it without stills unless that is needed due to the project. Have fun!

hyperfocal

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 105mm f/2.5 AIS

05/23/2007 12:01:21 PM · #12

As others have mentioned I use quicktime pro, simple, effective and easy to use. Just put all the images in a folder and select image sequence from the pull down menu. You then get a dialoge to select a range of frame rates.

As far as the timer, my D200 has one built-in, but if you get further into TL you'll find camera manafacturer's timers limiting. I use the Time Machine. It is not only for TL, but many other like percise timing such as stopping a bullet, etc. Here is a pic of it helping me creating a water drop time-lapse.

PhotoDave

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM II

05/23/2007 01:04:44 PM · #13

I tried to shoot a sun rise a while back and was using the EOS utility with my laptop for the timed shots but I had a heck of a time with the exposure, as far as the camera was concerned the lighting was changing drastically every 60 to 90 seconds. It turned out just so so but Ive been trying to figure a better way than using full manual mode.

-dave

strangeghost

Canon EOS-7D

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

05/23/2007 02:01:20 PM · #14

Originally posted by dknourek:

Could you put the camera on Av mode and let it choose the best shutter speed for the next shot in the series? I don't know if I've ever tried this but I can't think of a reason it wouldn't work.

Bugzeye

Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digital

05/23/2007 02:39:58 PM · #15

i just did one of these last week. We had a deck built in our back yard and I did a time lapse of the guys putting the railing around the deck. worked out great except I didnt stand by to adjust the ap and shutter speed so when the shadows rolled in the scene got darker and darker. I will have to do some serious playing in photoshop to make the entire scene mesh if I make a animation with it.

justamistere

Nikon D3s

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

05/23/2007 03:45:24 PM · #16

For a Nikon D200 you could set it to Aperture Mode.

If you connect it to AC with the adapter. There is a corded remote switch that keeps the shutter-release in the awake position. That keeps the auto-focus on. This connects screws into the outlet on the front below the WB selector.

Message edited by author 2007-05-23 15:45:47.

hankk

Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical DF for Canon

05/23/2007 03:46:02 PM · #17

Originally posted by Nullix:

Originally posted by dknourek:
Wow Nullix, go easy on the guy. After all he did ask a valid question ;)

Sorry, just jealous. The guy's 21 and has $10,000 worth of equiptment.

Gotta remember, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods."

Gotta also remember "on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog".

He may not really be 21. Or he may not own that equipment (it may be Dad's ...)

On the other hand, if I think about the amount of money I wasted on wine, women and song when I was 21.... (and I can't sing, so you can eliminate song from that equation :) )

Message edited by author 2007-05-23 15:50:11.