The Perseid Meteor shower was coming to a peak. I went out on the 11th of August to test out camera settings. It’s always better to practice before the ‘Big Show’ so you don’t end up spending time and not getting your images correct. I rarely do night time-lapse photography so I needed a refresher.
Good thing too!
MAJOR TIP! One thing you can never depend on is the LCD on the back of your camera when viewing images at night. Because your pupils are expanded because of the general darkness the light coming from your LCD looks nice and bright and full of detail. It’s a physics and eye thing. My images came out about two stops darker than I would have liked. That doesn’t mean I didn’t get anything. Just that the quality is not up to the snuff that I would like. A bit on the dark side. NEXT TIME IT’S BY THE NUMBERS.
Examples of time-lapse video made with Lumix GH5 and Lumix FZ2500 and Adobe PremierePro
(Click on the image above for two time_lapse segments lasting a little over a minute or so)
Three quarters of the noise in a digital file resides in the bottom, or left side, of the histogram. Conversely, three quarters of the best pixels reside on the right. When shooting night star scenes such as time-lapse video or star trails it’s better to get closer to over exposure and make your adjustments in post to keep the noise level at a minimum. You’ll see that in the images below.
Processed as a still from one of the images in the sequence. Made with Lumix FZ2500 (I underexposed this a lot! and was still able to pull a decent image)
This image was produced with a still from the Lumix GH5 and the 12mm Leica Summilux f1.4 Lens This is a sweet piece of glass! I also underexposed this image but between the GH5 and Leica glass achieved a lot higher quality image.
I’ll share another shoot and some star/night shooting tips in an upcoming post.
Yours in creative Photography, Bob
PS – the landscape was so bright at night because of the 1/2 moon shining down
Testing out the slow motion in 4K Video with the Lumix GH5. Hummingbirds are a favorite of mine. They are fascinating to watch as they maneuver through the air. Here’s a short clip that tells so much about their feeding and territorial habits.
Slow Motion Hummingbirds (click on the video above to play
Here’s a still I grabbed from a very small section of the video frame
There’s something about water and the sound an motion of it that speaks to my soul. It calms. It relaxes. It stimulates deep and comfortable thoughts.
Still frame from the video at Beaver Creek. Look below for sound and motion.
I made a short video to share with you from a small little-known creek south of Sedona, Arizona. The place is called Beaver creek and while I often find it barren of people, it is also enjoyed by families, fellow creek water enthusiasts and my photographer friends enjoy an exploration along it’s banks.
Take less than a minute to enjoy the sound and some of the sights. Breath in. Breath out. Relax.
The video below is a time-lapse of Beaver Creek near Sedona, Arizona. Time lapse of water gives a slightly jerky feel at least the way this was captured and processed. These were captured a frame every 2 seconds and processed out to time lapse at 24 FPS 4K video then slowed 50% in post-production in Adobe Premiere Pro. The sound was added from another clip of video captured at the same place.
Watch for ‘The Dance of the spiders’ in the right-hand bottom corner.
Watch the space pictured above when you look at the video and you’ll find my ‘spidey’ friends.
Images captured with the Lumix GX8 and the Lumix G 20mm f1.7 lens. In a couple of days, I’ll share some video from a different day on the creek shot with the same gear and an entirely different feel.
I’m always testing and trying to find out more about the tools that I use in photography and image making. This example is taking a bunch of still images and combining them into a video known as time-lapse.
Time-lapse of water flowing on Beaver Creek in Sedona, Arizona
I used to avoid creating time lapse videos because of all the steps that were involved. Making the images, which involved using an intervalometer and hard to follow calculations to gather the photos. Downloading the pictures. Processing the images. And, finally, combining the images through software into the final video.
A crop from one of the stills from the spider play video below
There are two things that have gotten me more interested in time-lapse videos, and both have to do with the ease of getting to the final product.
One is the settings built into the Lumix line of cameras which makes it simple to calculate the frame rate and capture of images without additional gear. AND (this is the BIG on) the capability to process finished time-lapse videos in-camera with a variety of settings including speed of playback and quality. This is huge!
The other is a simple processing program called Time-Lapse Assembler. A very easy to use bit of software. Select your images. Set the playback frame rate. Set the quality. And Viola! Time-lapse video complete.
From the same location I set in a new place and in playing back the time-lapse I found the spiders dancing around the scene. You need to watch carefully as they are small critters. I enjoy the shapes and forms of the ripples as they combine and reshpe due to the combining of still frames verses straight video capture.
I got a bit more creative in putting these videos together using Adobe Premeire Pro. Because I was able to process the time-lapse into 4K video size that allowed me to move within the scene zooming in on the spider action. This also allowed for the sound of water to be added. You won’t get sound when making time-lapse video because you are combining still photos. I recorded some other video to get the water sound track.
Images were made with the Lumix GX8 with a LUMIX G II LENS, 20MM, F1.7 ASPH
For infrared conversion of my cameras I use LifePixel. Infrared allows you to put an older camera to use and opens up a new time time of day for productive image creation.
Fotopro tripods are well worth checking out. You can learn about the ones I use and recommend by clicking on the Fotopro Tripods link at the top of this page. If you want to see what other tripods might fit your needs check out the Fotopro.com website. Check back with me before you buy as a Fotopro Ambassador I’m able to get you discounted pricing including complementary continental USA shipping for my followers that you won’t find through retail outlets.
Learn Photoshop in a fun environment. Aaron Nace applies the right amount of fun with easy to understand and follow tutorials. Actions and brushes are included with lessons!
Lightning, waterdroplets, sound, time-lapse, HDR sequences, smiles and much more control for your camera!
Cameras Get Smarter -
A High Speed Smart Camera Remote
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Platypod has become a great resource for being creative in getting your camera gear easily into unusual places. As an Platypod Pro I get to work/play with the gear even before it comes out. Head over to Platypod, subscribe to the newsletter and you will get special discounts reserved only for subscribers.
Processed as a still from one of the images in the sequence. Made with Lumix FZ2500 (I underexposed this a lot! and was still able to pull a decent image)
