The other day while going through the endless post of photography blogs and websites I follow, I ran across an post from DIY Photography. DIY Photography had two videos that Google made using High Speed video up to 2700 fps (frames per second). Google had three different scenarios one with a potato gun. Another with paint on a speaker, and a third was with electricity coming from a Tesla Coil.
The first video is the actual comercial. The second video is how it was done. Take a look, it is awesome to see how they played with each scenarios.
This is a late Tech Tuesday post. I have always wanted to try my hand at time-lapse photography. I have seen several videos that I thought were great. Unfortunately my equipment didn’t allow for easy time-lapse set up. I currently shoot a Nikon D70s. The newer Nikon models have the time-lapse (intervalometer) feature built into the firmware.
In order for me to achieve time-lapse I need to purchase external equipment i.e. The Mumford Time Machine. The new equipment wouldn’t even make it seamless. I would have to make modifications to my current camera setup and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go that route.
In July or August of 2008 I met a Pro Photographer from Australia. He was using high end Canon Cameras, but he also had the Canon G9. The G9 had a intervalometer built into the firmware. However shortly after Canon discontinued the G9 and replaced it with the G10. I purchased a G10, from a local store thinking it had a intervalometer. I was wrong, and all the G9′s out there on the used market either were abused or cost more then the G10.
A few weeks ago while researching this project again, I ran across the PocketWizard MultiMax. I already had PocketWizard Plus II that I use for my studio strobes. In the MultiMax the software has an intervalometer. I went to my local photography store to test it out. It worked great. It was expensive, but I at least could justify the purchase, because I knew I would use it with over studio gear, so it would serve dual purposes.
As with all new unfamiliar equipment I need to work out some bugs. However over the weekend I did manage to take a time-lapse of the sunrise in San Francisco, and later that evening I did another of the sunset in the same direction. I marked my tripod and when I returned, I placed it in the exact same spot. However, I did find out you need to babysit it to make sure that the lighting is right. Cameras setting is one of those bugs I will work out as I do more. Making sure the ISO is set right, Aperture an Shutter are set correct. I read that you should put the camera in Aperture Priority. I did that and it didn’t work like I hoped. I will play with the setting and come up with the right recipe.
My next quest is to find inexpensive (free) software that will complies all the images together. I have gone to VersionTracker, but most of the software they offer is for iSight on the Mac’s. I use a Mac, but I need something more then that. A few people have pointed me to QuickTime Pro 7. It isn’t very expensive and may work seamless with iMove. Unfortunately QuickTime Pro 7 doesn’t have a trial.
On a side note, while I was doing time-lapse research, I did find a photographer Nicolesy Photography, that does a two video series on How to Create a Time-lapse. Below is the first video of her two part series. Plus as a bonus I will add another of her videos of a time lapse that she did of a portrait shoot setup and the shoot it’s self.
Stay tuned for next weeks Tech Tuesday. I that series I will explain how I set up my first time-lapse and what I leard from my mistakes. Plus I will include Nicolesy Photography second How to Create a Time-lapse video and a bonus video as well.
If you would like tocomment or add links to your time-lapse photography video, please put them in the comments below.
The Spring Chicks are here and arriving a day early. Every year in my wife’s third grade class they hatch chicken eggs for life science. This year my wife ha 22 eggs to hatch. Not all will hatch, but they have a unusually good yield of 75% hatchlings.
Every year they day they start to hatch I arrive with my travel studio equipment and set up a little studio. Over the years a I learned a few tricks.
Take paper towels to clean up the poop.
Use a seamless background (paper) so you can throw away fouled paper
Take images within the first day of hatching. Chicks are easier to manage when the are a day old. Any older and they are hard to keep in the same spot.
Don’t drop them off the table, they break.
Here is a slide show of some of the images I took in the past. Yes, I have a warped sense of humor.
I cooked some Spicy BBQ Ribs in the slow cooker. It required for them to be in the cooker for 6-8 hours. If I would have left them in their for 8 hours, the meat would have been totally off the bone. As it was all you had to do is pick up the end and the meat slid off.
Strobist Info:
SB600
Pocket Wizards II
Lasolite 24in. EzyBox
3/16 White Core Foam Board
My wife is a 3/4 grade teacher. This term they are doing a study of the local indians that lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. One of the things they do is create a piece of art from a “Oak Gall” or “Wasp Gall”. These were the best among and my wife asked me if I would photograph them.
Strobist Info:
SB600
Pocket Wizards II
Lasolite 24in. EzyBox
(2) 3/16 White Core Foam Board
I have been working on a new website. So I am working on a new design for my website. I am using Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. I have not done much to the new site because; I spend a tremendous amount of time reading. Dreamweaver isn’t like iWeb, you have to know a little html to get going, plus you need to have a little understanding of how the w3c works. Here are a few books that I am reading Dreamweaver CS4 The Missing Manual, and Creating a Web Site The Missing Manual. The Dreamweaver CS4 book has almost 1100 pages. So you can imagine its not light reading.
Most sites are built with HTML, DHTML, XML and CSS. I have found some that are built using Flash or have flash components in them. Other sites use Java Script for fancy and smooth looking features. And then you have some sites that have a pseudo Java Script function JQuery. JQuery is a simple way of writing Java Script. Also, you have website that use MySQL and or Php. Then I have found some sites that use a little of everything.
I am so confused. Yesterday with all the new languages that I was learning, I thought to myself “I might as well learn how to read and speak Chinese or Japanese it would be easier”.
