Cauldron

HERE is another time-lapse video of Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods from this morning. This one compiles nearly 2,500 shots, making it almost two minutes long at 24 frames per second. There's a glitch right as the moon sets, as my battery died and, no matter how prepared I was for the exchange, it took me about 20 seconds to get the new one in when I thought I could do it in five. Click on the 720p version.

The clouds on Pikes Peak remind me of stage smoke or a witch's cauldron.

That's cool!

Pretty nice!

Very cool Todd! I love how the clouds flow over the mtns.
What is the spacing on the shot to shot?

I set it for one shot per second, but with the mechanics of the process it comes out to one per two seconds.

Very neat Todd! Interesting to see your timelapse progress, not sure I'd be cut out for it. Keep 'em coming!

Wow, Wow, Wow !!!
I enjoyed the experience...Great color.

Cool man. Is there a big difference in the end product from 1 second interbvals to say... 5 seconds? Does 1 second make for a less choppy cauldron effect?

I haven't figured out the choppiness thing yet, but I'm still experimenting.

It's very interesting watching the clouds boil up over Pikes Peak. Would it be feasible to shoot something like this at sunrise? The light in this movie is basically unchanging. Watching the light change color at sunrise or sunset would add a lot of interest. Do you have to hold the exposure constant to make this work?

Glenn, that's something I've been contemplating, and to be honest, with the remote switch I have (Canon TC-80N3), I don't think it's feasible. I think you'd need complete remote control over your camera, including the ability to adjust aperture. That's one interesting aspect of the new Nikon DSLR that's just announced — totally smooth operation of the aperture for use in video recording (although I suspect it's usable during still shooting, too). As it stands now, I think that, even if there were a way to tweak the exposure while it's firing off one shot every second, the 1/3- or 1/2-stop clicks on the Canon would be noticeable. Maybe not much, but some. You'd just notice the exposure change at certain points along the way, then see the scene grow brighter, then change again, over and over along the way.

OTOH, if you're doing a sequence with a 5-second interval, or longer, it doesn't seem like it would be a problem, notwithstanding the exposure wave mentioned above. Or, if you were using some kind of adapter to use a Canon FD or some other type of lens with aperture ring on the camera, you could adjust manually as you went along.

Here's a thought: adjustable neutral density filter?

Todd, this is real cool! I hope you get one with a storm ruling in sometime...I really like this kind of stuff.

Great movies. I assume that this is made with your Canon 5D.

The February edition of Digital Photo Pro magazine arrived yesterday.
The lead article is entitled "What's the future of still capture?"
It says that stills will be captured in five-second bursts at 24 frames per second or more,
and photographers will be able to select the exact frame from more than a hundred."
They claim that that future is now-2012. You seem to be on the cutting edge.

If I'm on the cutting edge, this is the first time in my life I've enjoyed that position. I usually jump on a trend just when it's dying.

Neat! That one swirl at ~1:10 is wicked. One suggestion--when you batch process these try to tame the highlites, they look a bit blown here. The problem ive encountered with manual changes to the settings is that you have to touch the camera, and inevitably that moves things a couple pixels unless everything is rock solid. Its a tough gig. Well, now youve got to get a sequence as a blizzard moves in, maybe next week if some of that pacific moisture ever gets here...

Oh, i seriously doubt anyone could tell the difference between 1 and 5 second intervals here, but i could be wrong.

Very cool stuff Todd, you got me wanting to try this out.

Todd,

One of the alternatives you discuss is what the time lapsers call bulb ramping or bramping. This guy sells an electronic device that works with Canon. See: http://www.thewhippersnapper.com/LittleBramper/Site/Home.html and http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1871 for links

Here is a link where a guy describes bramping manually: http://forum.timescapes.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=5996

Bill

Here's a thought: adjustable neutral density filter?

Awesome idea. Kodak probably had a patent for this, they just didn't do anything with it.
Thanks for posting your link. Love the movement of the clouds over Pikes Peak. I've seen many time lapse videos on YouTube for years, and even tried a few myself, but continue to have some questions about how exposure is made in changing lighting conditions.

Waay Cool! And the moon just sneaking in there is awesome! Looks great!

Todd....super duper, double scooper cool! Love the movie too... It's amazing how you got those large fog machine positioned so it looked so natural ! You're on a roll!