eric gustavo petersen | cinematographer
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time-lapse | using digital still cameras
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| BACKGROUND: After principle photography finished on The Utopian Society - an HD feature film I shot using the Sony F-900 - the director and I discussed shooting some transitional footage to get us from one scene to the next. While working with the editor, Toby Wallwork, we came up with the idea of shooting time-lapse. At the time, the intervalometer for the Sony HDW900 was still in the testing phase and would not likely be available. We decided that shooting with a digital camera might be the answer. Unfortunately, due to time and schedule, we were not able to shoot time-lapse for the feature, but I did go forward with testing it on my own. |
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Here are the specs for the test: * Canon PowerShot A70, 3 megapixel camera * 1 frame, every 5 seconds via USB using the Canon software, Remote Capture * 2048 x 1536 resolution * Reduced to 720 x 486 * Apple iBook SE Graphite (OS X) The Canon Remote Capture software (found on the Canon website) allows you to control the camera from a computer via a USB cable (or on some cameras, IEEE 1394 / FireWire). Aside from the usual photo controls, i.e. shutter, exposure, etc. the software gives you time lapse controls: interval & number of images. Take advantage of all the usual photographic options when setting up the camera for time lapse. For example, shoot with a longer exposure to give the individual images some motion blur or with a fast shutter so you can freeze on an individual frame in the sequence. NOTE: The software has it's drawbacks, namely that the shortest interval is five seconds. |
| What you're left with are a series of individual photos that can then be stitched together in Adobe AfterEffects. When importing to AFX, import as an Image Sequence. I chose to reduce the image size to 720x486 from the photographed image size of 2048x1536, but you could leave it giving you the ability to zoom in or out or pan across the image. |
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FILTERS USED: * optical compensation * color correction * frame blending * echo It's a little too choppy for my taste but does have a few good moments. A more extreme echo might help or perhaps duplicating the layer and then offsetting it by a few frames and reducing the opacity of the top layer by 50%. |
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FILTERS USED: * echo Everything about this image sequence I love. On the larger image, you can see planes fly by in the black sky. |
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love the footage I got from my Canon A70, but for more
critical work I prefer to use the Canon EOS-1 Ds. Check
out these specs for the camera: 4096x2704, 11 megapixel,
12-bit, 1"x1.4" CMOS
imager, 11.4 mb per frame in Raw mode). For HD projects,
this is a perfect time-lapse option even if you're planning
a film-out. |
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COPYRIGHT 2005.
This material is the sole property of Eric G. Petersen. This material may not be changed, reproduced or cited without the expressed written consent of Eric G. Petersen. |