Hyper-lapse Experiment (Fun!) at DVinfo.net

Hyper-lapse Experiment (Fun!) · April 12th, 2013, 07:40 PM

Just getting my feet wet with some hyper-lapse tests. This is pretty fun!

Tom Bostick · April 22nd, 2013, 12:30 AM

Very cool!

How is it done?

John Carroll · April 22nd, 2013, 07:26 AM

The difference between this and normal timelapse is that the camera moves incrementally for each shot rather than being locked down which of course gives you the camera movement. The trick is to be methodical about how far you move the camera each frame to keep the shot from appearing to speed up or slow down in the end. While shooting, I pick a focal point and re-frame each shot to center on that focal point the best I can... Also, you will pretty much always wind up with every frame having variations in the camera level and framing which you will have to fix in After Effects (or similar). Sometimes you can get lucky and Warp Stabilizer will do an outstanding job of this, but other times you will have to go through frame by frame and track, stabilize and rotate by hand to get a nice smooth shot. On this particular shot I did it by hand. It is a huge help if you have something in the shot that you can use as a vertical or horizontal reference and this shot has both.

Another potential challenge is when you want to blur people or objects to give the illusion of fast motion (very important in timelapse). To get the proper shutter speed of 1 or 2 seconds to get a nice blur in bright daylight, you'll need to apply some serious ND in order to get the right exposure which can make it nearly impossible to see through the viewfinder. If you have a camera with LiveView it makes this much easier to deal with, especially when you have to reframe each shot to keep your focal point in the center.

This is a lot of fun for a camera geek like me!
I'm planning to do enough of these to put together a fun little hyperlapse demo when I get enough time... put it to music and do some serious grading etc... If you do a search for "Hyperlapse" on Vimeo, you can see some really impressive work that is sure to inspire!

Here's the first one I tried of a lake in my neighborhood...

John Carroll · April 22nd, 2013, 07:33 AM

Almost forgot to mention that during the shot of the highway, someone called 911 and told them that there was a person on the bridge with some kind of weapon. So the cops came about half way through my shot and I had to stop, mark my spot, drag all my stuff back to my car to show them my ID and make nice for about 20 minutes... once they were satisfied that I wasn't a terrorist, I was able to go back, find the spot where I left and continue the shot. I was pretty proud that there wasn't a glitch in the final shot. The cop was actually pretty cool and we got a good laugh out of it.

I told him that I do shoot people for a living, (pointing to the camera) but this thing doesn't hurt nearly as much as a bullet!

April 22nd, 2013, 12:30 AM	#2
Tom Bostick Major Player Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Austin TX Posts: 292	Re: Hyper-lapse Experiment (Fun!) Very cool! How is it done?

April 22nd, 2013, 07:26 AM	#3
John Carroll Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 156	Re: Hyper-lapse Experiment (Fun!) The difference between this and normal timelapse is that the camera moves incrementally for each shot rather than being locked down which of course gives you the camera movement. The trick is to be methodical about how far you move the camera each frame to keep the shot from appearing to speed up or slow down in the end. While shooting, I pick a focal point and re-frame each shot to center on that focal point the best I can... Also, you will pretty much always wind up with every frame having variations in the camera level and framing which you will have to fix in After Effects (or similar). Sometimes you can get lucky and Warp Stabilizer will do an outstanding job of this, but other times you will have to go through frame by frame and track, stabilize and rotate by hand to get a nice smooth shot. On this particular shot I did it by hand. It is a huge help if you have something in the shot that you can use as a vertical or horizontal reference and this shot has both. Another potential challenge is when you want to blur people or objects to give the illusion of fast motion (very important in timelapse). To get the proper shutter speed of 1 or 2 seconds to get a nice blur in bright daylight, you'll need to apply some serious ND in order to get the right exposure which can make it nearly impossible to see through the viewfinder. If you have a camera with LiveView it makes this much easier to deal with, especially when you have to reframe each shot to keep your focal point in the center. This is a lot of fun for a camera geek like me! I'm planning to do enough of these to put together a fun little hyperlapse demo when I get enough time... put it to music and do some serious grading etc... If you do a search for "Hyperlapse" on Vimeo, you can see some really impressive work that is sure to inspire! Here's the first one I tried of a lake in my neighborhood... First test with Hyperlapse

April 22nd, 2013, 07:33 AM	#4
John Carroll Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 156	Re: Hyper-lapse Experiment (Fun!) Almost forgot to mention that during the shot of the highway, someone called 911 and told them that there was a person on the bridge with some kind of weapon. So the cops came about half way through my shot and I had to stop, mark my spot, drag all my stuff back to my car to show them my ID and make nice for about 20 minutes... once they were satisfied that I wasn't a terrorist, I was able to go back, find the spot where I left and continue the shot. I was pretty proud that there wasn't a glitch in the final shot. The cop was actually pretty cool and we got a good laugh out of it. I told him that I do shoot people for a living, (pointing to the camera) but this thing doesn't hurt nearly as much as a bullet!