Just thought I'd post a link to one of the fungus growth timelapse shots I've recently done for my forth coming film on the Stag beetle.

Fungus Timelapse on Vimeo

Incredible and surreal.

Wow Mat, amazing!!!
What timescale was this captured over?

Speaking to a friend who is into his mushrooms, sounds like it is still being a bumper autumn!!!

Very nice !

Thanks guys.

This part of the growth was about 50hours, maybe a bit more. I based it on a 7minute frame time after speaking with the 'mushroom lady' !

20D/Nikon 55mm Micro - hooked up to a laptop.

Toughest thing about this is keeping everything consistant. Lighting was 2x cool lights 105w and 150w. But you appreciate how much bouncing around light does as even small changes in the objects around the scene can make a difference.

There are a few frames in there that could be smoothed out but I don't think it matters too much.

Brilliant stuff Mat, well done.
Steve

Truly wonderful Mat. 7 times I've watched it and, like mushrooms, it's growing on me organically.

It's the sort of video that would easily be trivialised by a soundtrack, especially a kinky one; but I'd love to watch it while listening to a brief mellow chorus Barry Tuckwell + a brass ensemble might play behind it.

Beautiful clip, I want to see more. You said you used a 20D, is that a Canon 20D DSLR?

Terrific clip, Mat.

Mat,
Looks very good to me. Were the the lights on continuously for the whole 50 hours or were they only turned on for each shot?

Thanks muchly everone !

Caleb - Yes canon 20d slr.

Alastair - Yep continuous lighting (Cool lights)

SUUUPERCOOOOL!

I love it... This is super nice!

What program did you use to turn your photos into a video? Could you briefly explain the whole process of making a time lapse with a DSLR? Thanks.

Hi

You can use FCP, FCE or Stop motion pro.

It is a great shot and thanks for the lighting information. Did you have to mask out the ambient light?

My only criticism is that it comes to a rather sudden end. Was this "all you had time for" or is that how it ended? It is obviously too late to do anything in camera like progressively reducing the the time interval between shots but could you perhaps do anything in editing like starting to slip in more copies of the final frames and bring it to a more gentle stop?

Hi Caleb

I'm not sure which bit of the process you want but I'll try and lay it out. - Technically its pretty simple really.

Connect your SLR up to a laptop/timer software or timer unit. Set your camera to manual and fix appropriate exposure and focus. Think not only of whats in the scene now but what will be in the scene during the time to be lapsed ! ( This is key to good results)

Decide on a frame rate. So 1 frame per min or whatever is appropriate for the event you are filming. (This was 7min frames) - You can't really shoot too many but you can wear out your camera shooting so I usually shoot about 25% more than I need.

Once finished import into your NLE as a frame sequence@ 25/30 fps or whatever is appropriate for your production. You wil need to resize/scale the shots as they will likely be 4:3 and high res (I use medium res (3k wide) jpg sequence) - You can then export as a normal video clip.

I hope this helps.
Mat

Thanks Mat, that is very helpful info!

Love the clip- I have done some timelapse of flowers. 2 problems occured: small insects moving around - maybe because of the lamp heating. second problem was that the tungsten lamps did not produce a stabil light source. Got 3 coollights now - I'll try with them on a carbattery beeing charged.

Beautiful clip Mat. Have done something simular to this, but another mushroom, camera and setup. I like it!

Mat,
how do you pan, tilt, or zoom in a time lapse?

Well you'd have to have power driven tripod movement with gearing that moves your entire pan/dolly etc over your given time period. These sort of movements combined with this sort of time lapse is spectacular but adds another layer of complexity to the rigging of course!

Mat,

Great stuff!!!


How does ther slr record to the lap top?? I can do that with fire wire to computer, scenealyzer and a cam corder, but how with the slr???

I have been using my Canon 40D connected to my laptop with a USB cable and the Canon utilities disc that came with my camera.

I am not sure if this has been posted before or not but this BBC behind the scenes video shows just how complex timelapse can be

YouTube - BBC Life Series: "Plants" Part 6/6 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCyoqaM_4sM)

My first time-lapse try, i have to work. Mat the mushroom are very nice i have to find a family.



http://vimeo.com/13003241

Time-lapse stars on Vimeo

see it in large screen please.

Very interesting Gilles, thank you.

What shutter speed did you video with?

Hi everybody Hi Brendan

Shutter speed is 20 seconds, f 5.6, FL 31 mm (17-40 Canon) ISO 100 with an EOS 7D one shot every 40 sec. After crop i do the clip with Quick Time pro. 20 sec is near the maximum exposure time for night sky without stars following, with longer time you have elliptical patterns than circular stars, but all is FL dependent you can do longer exposure with shorter FL (astrophotography web site are very good to explain that)

And your bird trek in Spain ?

Food for thought Gilles, thank you.

No video, only photos from Spain in recent times. Found some bee-eaters with help of Jesus Laborda