Thursday, September 15, 2011

Time-lapse Holy Grail: Get great results with Advanced & Expert Methods

This is an example of what has been called The Holy Grail of Timelapse! In the example videos below, my subject is a clear sky sunset - which is a worst-case-scenario for creating a time-lapse. The sunset transitions from a bright blue sky to darkness, with a bright moon. It’s nearly impossible to get smooth results in these conditions - even the tiniest variation in brightness between frames results in a noticeable flicker.

In the examples, I’ve used this tricky lighting situation to showcase side-by-side the Advanced and Expert Methods in GBTimelapse 3.1. As you’ll see below, GBTimelapse 3.1 delivers awesome results - the smoothest possible time-lapse I’ve been able to achieve. There’s no other tool like this on the market!

•Advanced Method Example

Technical details: Using a Canon T2i with 10-22mm lens, the time-lapse began at f22, 1/15" ISO 100. As the scene darkened, AutoRamp gradually decreased Tv and then switched to bulb mode at 0.7 seconds. From then on, AutoRamp incrementally decreased the Av by 1/3 stop whenever the bulb exposure time increased to 16 seconds. Once the Av reached its minimum value of f3.5, AutoRamp incrementally increased the ISO by one f-stop whenever the bulb exposure time increased to 16 seconds. Once the ISO reached 1600, AutoRamp continued to increase the bulb time to a maximum value of 30 seconds.



In the Advanced Method demo, some flicker occurred in the original time-lapse images due to Tv stepping at the beginning when not in bulb mode. The flicker was easily removed using GBDeflicker.

•Expert Method Example

Technical details: Using a Canon 5D MkII with 16-35mm lens, the time-lapse began at f2.8, 0.5" bulb and ISO 100. Three ND8 filters were stacked on the lens reducing the exposure by 9 f-stops to allow the 0.5" bulb exposure at such a wide aperture. As the scene darkened, AutoRamp gradually increased the bulb exposure time. Whenever the bulb time increased to 10 seconds, I carefully removed one of the ND filters and AutoRamp adjusted the exposure time accordingly. After all three filters were removed, AutoRamp incrementally increased the ISO by one f-stop whenever the bulb exposure time increased to 20 seconds. Once the ISO reached 1600, AutoRamp continued to increase the bulb time to a maximum value of 24 seconds.



In the Expert Method demo, there was virtually no flicker in the original sequence. Absolutely no adjustment of the original images was needed. This is the Time-lapse Holy Grail: a sunset with no flicker!

Stay tuned - upcoming posts will showcase more examples from GBTimelapse 3.1, and will help out with technical details & info.

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