Time Lapse video of clouds by Bob (yea, another one)

Bob in St. Louis · « **on:** 30 Jan 2011, 01:52 am »

Ok, I'm getting a bit better at this. Granted, I don't have audio yet, but whatever..... Get over it.

As is the case most often in photography, the cool stuff happens when the timing is right and the photographer is ready. This one is one of my better TLs (Time Lapses) due to the fact I happened to get home at a time of day when there was enough available light, the celestial Gods decided to shine upon me their creation that was something other than the typical St. Louis January gray skies, and I was paying attention to the fact that all of this was spread before me.

There's a bit too much black at the end, and I should have cut that out, but I forgot before I posted it on Vimeo.
Oh well, it's a learning experience.

The camera sat on a tripod on my front deck facing north, snapping a picture every 20 seconds until it got too dark to see anything . What you see is the sky and tree line outside, and to the right of the front door of my house.
Next time I do clouds, I'll set the interval much more often. Look close, you'll see the contrail at about the two second mark.

Nikon D200 with a 18-55 kit lens and a Tokina "wide angle" lens attached. (No flames please, it was free).

It helps to watch in a dim room, full screen. Be sure to let it run through once to buffer.

http://vimeo.com/19340779

WGH · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 02:34 am »

yea, that was cool.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 03:27 pm »

Thanks Wayne. It's a fun project to put together too.

Bob

charmerci · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 04:41 pm »

(This is an edited entry with the correct link.)

Bob,

http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html has a free, very simple video editing software program.

charlie

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 04:50 pm »

Thanks for that Charlie, I'll check them out.

The "VideoMach" I'm using is free, but it puts their watermark on the bottom. I can pay $5 for the full version. So far, it's amazingly easy to use. I can go from 250 raw pictures to a "film" in less than a minute. Can't beat that.

Bob

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 04:52 pm »

Actually, that link doesn't work.

Quote from: charmerci on 30 Jan 2011, 04:41 pm

Bob,

www.avidemux.com has a free, very simple video editing software program.

charlie

JakeJ · « **Reply #6 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 05:05 pm »

Very cool, Bob! I love time lapse photography and had no idea it could be as easy as this. Gonna have to try and get out and try it.

Are you programming the camera to do the 20 second intervals or are you doing it manually?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #7 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 05:13 pm »

Hey Jake, Thanks!!

It takes me less than 5 minutes to set the camera on the tripod, and choose the setting I want. Hit the button, and come back when it's done. Making a ham and cheese sandwich is more difficult. Seriously.

The D200 is very adjustable for how many pictures it will take. Basically I've got the settings all maxed out, so it's going to stop on its own because the card is full, or the battery is dead. It allows me to change the interval timing in 1 second increments up to "whatever". You can have it take a single picture every 6 hours is you want. Right now it's outside do another series of clouds every 15 seconds. A bit tighter than the last one.

Bob

Levi · « **Reply #8 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 05:41 pm »

Thanks for sharing.

If you have the camera connected to a pc running nikon capture, your hdd will be the only limit.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #9 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 05:50 pm »

Yes, the Nikon Capture is on my radar if I get serious about this endevour. Some of you may remember that the D200 I'm using is a loaner. If I get serious, I'll have to buy the camera first. Software will be second.
Plus, the memory card is a 1GB. That's the smallest they make. A PC HDD and external power supply would be orgasmic.

By the way, my earlier comment about processing "the raw photos" didn't mean I'm using the RAW format. That's for when I get serious. Right now I'm using the low rez stuff.

Bob

JakeJ · « **Reply #10 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 05:59 pm »

Hmm...guess I'll have to do some intense research as I did a quick text scan of the manual for my Canon 7D and did not find anything related to "time lapse" or "timed shutter release". Might be that feature doesn't exist since it does video. The dang thing is still new to me so I admit I have much to learn.

Nonetheless, this is inspirational to say the least. Need to finish the tasks on the immediate to do list but maybe on my days off. We do have some phenomenal sunsets here but this isn't the time of year for them.

Oops...you got in a post while I was typing. Low res or not that sky time lapse is cool. I also looked at that Chrismas one, I like how the refection fades into the final shot.

low.pfile · « **Reply #11 on:** 30 Jan 2011, 06:48 pm »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 30 Jan 2011, 05:50 pm

Yes, the Nikon Capture is on my radar if I get serious about this endevour. Some of you may remember that the D200 I'm using is a loaner. If I get serious, I'll have to buy the camera first. Software will be second.
Plus, the memory card is a 1GB. That's the smallest they make. A PC HDD and external power supply would be orgasmic.

By the way, my earlier comment about processing "the raw photos" didn't mean I'm using the RAW format. That's for when I get serious. Right now I'm using the low rez stuff.

Bob

Good progress on the TL Bob!

@Levi and Bob.
I'm fairly sure Nikon Capture NX2 does not support tethering (to store images directly to the computer HDD). Nikon's "Camera Control" application does though. I have Capture NX2 and had a quick look.

I believe that Phase One's application "Capture One" does do tethering.

Capture a-rama!

Cheers, ed

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #12 on:** 31 Jan 2011, 12:41 am »

Ed, thanks for the info regarding the Nikon software. That's going to come in useful.

Jake, the ability for a camera to take pictures "automatically", following a predetermined set of instructions is called an "intervalometer". The key part of that word is 'interval'.

I've got a forum buddy (non audio forum) that connected his Canon DSLR to a cheapo TI graphics calculator, which then controls the camera interval, timing, etc.... Somewhere I've seen his tutorial on how he accomplishes that feat. If you're interested, I'll find it for you. Would be great to have a bunch of time lapse junkies around here.

Bob

Levi · « **Reply #13 on:** 31 Jan 2011, 01:12 am »

It looks like we have a winner. Thanks for checking out the software, I knew it is one of the Nikon bundled software. You see how much I do post processing.

charmerci · « **Reply #14 on:** 31 Jan 2011, 07:25 am »

Sorry about that Bob.

Here it is.

http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/download.html

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #15 on:** 31 Jan 2011, 08:14 pm »

Got it, thank you Charlie, I'll check it out.

They're calling for epic proportions of snow in St. Louis. Some weathermen are saying 20+ inches in areas. If that's the case, I'll be staying home all day time lapsing the mess and drinking hot cocoa.

Bob

thunderbrick · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 Jan 2011, 08:40 pm »

A boy and his new toy.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #17 on:** 1 Feb 2011, 03:44 am »

Amen Brother. And thank you again for the use of said toy.

St. Louis is expected to receive an ice storm of "very rare" proportions. I've been racking my brain to come with a time lapse to worthy of the event.
Would suck if I just let it pass.

Seems like a TL of a growing icicle would be interesting.
How on earth do you "plant" where an icicle of "worthy" proportion will grow?

Bob

JohnR · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 Feb 2011, 12:10 pm »

You're using auto exposure?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 Feb 2011, 12:17 pm »

Quote from: JohnR on 1 Feb 2011, 12:10 pm

You're using auto exposure?

Yes.

Not by design, just simply because I haven't had the time to play with the camera enough to see where and how to adjust it.

Lame, I know.

Bob