Category Archives: Time-lapse
Want Better Photos or Video? Avoid Lens Flares
Pointing the camera up into the sun is an almost guarantee to get lens flares. You’ll see a washed out area with a geometric flare in the trees.
While the sun is generally incredibly useful to photographers, it can occasionally be annoying. If the sun hits your lens at an undesirable angle, you can end up with spots or flares that ruin a shot. Flares generally take on a geometric shape, and may be easy to miss while shooting. Additionally, a flare can significantly reduce the amount of contrast and saturation in your image.
The flare is typically caused by a very bright light sources (in most cases the sun). Flares are far more common in zoom lenses as they have multiple surfaces that are prone to light scatter. With a little practice you’ll learn to spot flares quickly. Getting rid of flares just requires a few strategies and modifications to your shooting style.
Use a Hood
When shooting, reverse the lens hood to protect your lens from flares and other issues. You can reverse it back for packing or shipping.
Most lenses include a hood attached at the end of the lens. Typically, the hood is reversed for shipping (to make the lens shorter and easier to pack). Unfortunately most people never bother to turn the hood around.
Once a lens is mounted to your camera, you should properly set the hood. With a quick turn (and perhaps a push of a release button) the hood can be removed. Reverse its direction and re-attach it to your lens in order to protect the lens from flare.
Sometimes a slight tilt to your camera can remove a flare. Photo by Robert Vanelli
Hoods are usually specific to each lens. Some will have notches (called petals) to better accommodate the aspect ratio of your camera’s digital sensor. These type have an angle of view which is greater in one direction than the other . Others will vary in length to avoid casting a vignette in your final image.
If you lose your hood, I recommend you purchase a replacement. The hood is the best way to cut down on flares. It can also help protect the front of the lens from accidental impact as well as contact smudges.
Keep the Lens Clean and Clear
The use of a cheap UV filter accentuated my lens’ tendency to flare when shooting on a bright sunny day.
Most lenses have an anti-reflective coating to cut down on lens flare. Of course greasy fingerprints and other smudges can also cause their own problems. When you clean the lens, be sure to use a proper lens cleaning cloth to remove smudges without damaging this coating.
If you’re going to use additional filters on your lenses (such as a protective UV filter or a neutral density filter) make sure you don’t skimp on quality. Cheap filters often lack good anti-reflective coatings). These filters can often cause flare through the introduction of additional reflective surfaces. If using filters, make sure you choose a quality that matches your lens.
Flag the Lens
I used a Rogue FlashBender to protect the lens from additional flare while shooting on a bright day.
One way to prevent lens flare is to block the light. Typically the flare is caused by light entering from the side of the frame. This light is rarely needed for a proper exposure and can be blocked. If using a tripod, you can place your body to the side of the lens to serve as a wall. You can also reach out with a hat off to the side to block the light.
You can of course use other devices to block unwanted light. I’ll often attach a Rogue FlashBender right to my lens (http://www.expoimaging.com). These flexible cards are normally used to shape an off-camera flash, but I find the built in flexible support rods bendable surface works well to flag a troubling flare.
Change your Position
I use the SunSeeker3D app to know where the sun will be during my shoots.
If you can’t minimize a flare, you have one simple recourse. Move your camera until the flare is gone. Remember flare is caused by light hitting the lens at an unwanted angle. Often a little adjustment can be very effective at removing the flare. You can look to frame the shot so objects are blocking the sun or light source (or even reposition your subject to block the light for you). You may find that tilting or panning the camera just a few degrees can remove the flare.
Creating Motion Streaks in Camera for Time-lapse Movies
On way to convey a sense of time is with motion streaks. I recently refined my approach and would like to share it with you.
© Richard Harrington
The key to streaks is to leave the camera open for a long time. Of course doing this tends to let too much light in the camera and can overexpose the shot. Here’s how to pull things off.
- Set the ƒ-stop very high. In this case I used ƒ/22.0.
- I set the shutter speed to 2.0 seconds. The actual time you’ll use will vary based on the speed of which objects are moving. The slower the speed the longer the shutter should be open.
- Adjust the ISO setting so you don’t get too much noise. For this shot I used ISO 560.
- Turn down the exposure compensation setting to recover the overblown shot. I pushed this all the way to -5.0.
- Tweak the ISO until you get a proper balance of the exposure triangle.
- Shoot Raw if possible to give greater flexibility in shadows and highlights after the fact.
Here is the end result. Keep in mind that this was shot on a wobbly platform (a cruse ship).
This post sponsored by iStockphoto.
An Abstract Time-lapse Experiment
I am currently on a boat… a platform that is wobbly and moving.
So of course one of the first ideas I have is trying to shoot time-lapse. (I hope you see the foolishness of my ways).
Of course I am stubborn, and I am actually finding that a little stabilization can fix the motion.
Last night I wanted to try an unlikely time-lapse. Here is the result.
Exposure 10 seconds
Shot Raw at ƒ4.0 and ISO 1600
50mm lens pointed at the skyline of the ocean. 4 AM coming into land.
Import into After Effects as a Camera Raw image sequence
Applied warp stabilzer
Layered with copy of itself, offset 1 frame and set to 50% opacity and screen blending mode.
Repeat the duplicate and offset technique and set second copy to 25% opacity.
Is this abstract… yep. But I kinda like it.
An Affordable Remote Controlled Time-lapse Camera
The Contour GPS has an easy on/off slider switch to start recording and a RED LED to let you know it's rolling.
If you’re looking for a new time-lapse solution, I encourage you to check out the Contour GPS camera (http://www.contour.com). This camera was originally designed to be used for sports enthusiasts (like skiers and snowboarders) but it has some unique features that make it a strong contender.
This suction cup mount opens up lots of options for shooting. Contour sells several mounting options for their cameras.
- The unit is very small (95x58x34mm) and can easily be attached to a variety of mounting points. It’s also super light, weighing just over five ounces.
- It has good battery life at 2.5 hours, plus you can swap batteries in it for a longer day.
- For its size, it offers a capable 5 Megapixel Sensor. It’s designed to shoot HD video in the H.264 codec, but it creates adequate JPEG files for still workflows.
- A 135 Degrees Wide Angle Lens captures a wide field of view.
A freely rotating lens and dual laser system make framing the shot easier.
- Freely rotating lens. You can rotate to line up the picture and level the frame. This is great as your mounting point may not be level.
- Built-in laser sights let you check if the shot is straight.
- A built-in GPS can tag your photos.
Remote Control
The image is a little choppy due to Bluetooth, but works well for framing the shot.
The camera also supports a Bluetooth connection. You can use native iOS or Android Contour app to connect to the device. This gives you a great live preview of the camera. If you’re an iOS user, be sure to pick up the Contour Connect View Card.
Hold the top button down for 5 seconds to enter pairing mode.
The preview only works when you’re not recording, but its easy to set up. Just hold down a small button on top of the camera for five seconds. You can then connect using a phone’s built-in Bluetooth connection. You can also change the camera’s settings easily. Changing frame rate, exposure, contrast,white balance, and more.
I’ve got the camera with me on a trip. I’ll post some shots in the coming weeks.
The Shutter Matters When Shooting Time-lapse
© scyther5 / iStockphoto
The shutter speed has an affect on your exposure when shooting time-lapse motion (and can serve as an additional exposure control). When shooting under bright light, you’ll keep the time the shutter is open very short. For low-light you’re going to need to open things up a bit.
However, shutter speed much more significant than just exposure control. The decision to use a short or long shutter can have considerable impact on the quality of motion in your image.
A short shutter (1/125 or faster) depicts motion that is sharp and staccato in its movement.
A longer shutter (1/30 or less) progressively elongates and stretches movement. This is the effect you see when the brake lights of cars appear as long streaks on a highway or running water seems fluid and without detail.
Short and long shutter speeds are techniques you use in your still photography, and they can work in time-lapse photography to stunning effect.
