time lapse photography

chris_c

Time lapse photography
I am thinking of giving this a go over the next few days, has anyone on here ever giving it a go and if so what was your results like???
I am using a D70 so any tips on software to use or any online tutorials would be a big help.

flyingpylon

If you're using a D70 you'll need an external intervalometer such as the one at http://www.pclix.com.

jamesl

chris_c wrote:

Time lapse photography
I am thinking of giving this a go over the next few days, has anyone on here ever giving it a go and if so what was your results like???
I am using a D70 so any tips on software to use or any online tutorials would be a big help.

What kind of time lapse photography are you looking to do? I do a lot of time lapse photography involving celestial objects, and sometimes storms and such. I shot with both the Canon 10D and 30D, so I'm not familiar with the D70. A few basic things I would suggest are:

* A good sturdy tripod
* A grip for your cam so you can use multiple batteries ( a must for what I do)
* A timer remote for your camera that you can program to do the shooting, or a laptop you can tether and control the camera with
* A stopwatch if you don't have a timer to control the camera
* A lot of storage space on your CF card
* Plan out ahead of time what you are wanting to accomplish and write it down
* Don't be afraid to practice a lot and find out just what your camera can do

Here's a few of my attempts over the years. Let me know if you want details on any of them:


Time lapse composition of 18 images of the moon rising.


Time lapse combination of 25+ images


2 hour timelapse of 240+ images


3 hour timelapse of 360+ images


5 image composition from a 30 minute time lapse of around 60 images


6 image composition from a 30 minute timelapse of around 60 images

James

kdog

Man, those are some really great images, James!! Very inspiring. I must try this!

cheers,
-joel

chris_c

Thanks for the help people, I am trying to create a movie of clouds moving across county side or of a sunrise/set.
@ James those images are very powerful well done! if I could come up with a pic like that I would be a happy man its just a pity we don’t get lightning like that in Ireland to often

Kerrick

Wow indeed.

So how do you overlay those images so everything comes out well-exposed?

Is everything except the moon from 1 exposure?

jamesl

chris_c wrote:

Thanks for the help people, I am trying to create a movie of clouds moving across county side or of a sunrise/set.
@ James those images are very powerful well done! if I could come up with a pic like that I would be a happy man its just a pity we don’t get lightning like that in Ireland to often

Hi Chris,

I can't help much on the making the movie part, as I have never done that. However, for capturing the shots, you will want to either use an Intervalometer, or tether your camera to a laptop. I'm not sure how long you plan on doing the lapse, but battery life could become an issue. The grip for my 30D helps here, as it holds 2 batteries. You could also get an A/C adapter plug, but that may not be practical. Make sure you lock your tripod down tight, as you don't want to introduce any movement in the camera.

Good luck!

James

jamesl

Kerrick wrote:

Wow indeed.

So how do you overlay those images so everything comes out well-exposed?

Is everything except the moon from 1 exposure?

These are actually repeated exposures (see the details under the shots). For the star trails, it is possible to shoot very long exposures to capture them. However, I don't like the introduction of noise and the overexposure that can result. I will generally shot 30 second or so exposures, and then combine them using photoshop with a "Lighten" layer type, or use the Image Stacker program (google it if you want more info). For the moon shots, I shot the city and exposed it properly before the moon came up. The correclty exposed moon shots are actually very quick exposures (1/60 or so). The blown out moon shots are 4 seconds, I think. The lightning shots are created by shooting the same scene many times in quick succession, and then layering the shots that have lightning in them.

James