Timelapse of Brisbane sunset -18th Sep

[naskies (Dave)]

Here's my first ever time lapse movie, taken yesterday on my family farm (market garden, to be precise) in Brisbane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6mcsS4y3Cw

A few novice mistakes (started too late, missed the setting of the Southern Cross due to full memory card, cat bumping the tripod, etc) but overall I was happy for a first effort.

I've also included a few stills from the movie here, plus two close up shots of the sun. The post-processing was aimed at making the photos look like what I observed yesterday - the intense colours of visible disc were due to the controlled burn-offs and grass fires in the area.

Thanks for looking!

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice one Dave, I enjoyed that.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Very nice. Thanks

[Osirisra (Ken)]

Sweet

[Sarge (Rod)]

Looks good, well done Dave.

Rod

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Nice work Dave. I'd like to try this myself one of these days!

Cheers,
Stephen

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Dave,

that's terrific. I'm just starting to become interested in certain aspects of photography, - timelapse being one of them. Would you mind explaining in a couple of sentences exactly what you did and your settings etc. Much appreciated

[naskies (Dave)]

Thanks for your kind feedback everyone The hazy skies continue in Brisbane - so rather than getting annoyed at not being able to see the stars properly, I decided to keep shooting time lapses.

Here's another effort from today (I've attached a few still frames) - every 4 seconds from 4.45 pm until 5.45 pm, Brisbane time. I highly recommend viewing it full screen in 1080p mode if you can!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF_UN2fwBF0

My goal was to capture what I've been seeing/experiencing these past few days: the transition from a harsh midday sun, to when the sun lights the sky on fire, the sun becomes a brilliant red disc, and finally sinks below the horizon. I'm quite happy that I managed to capture the "shrinking sun" effect

Thanks for looking!

Technical details: Canon 5DmkII and 24-105 @ 50 mm on a tripod, TC 80N3 interval release every 4 seconds, Manual mode with 1/30 sec at f/22 and ISO 200, shot with 5 MP RAW mode (instead of the full 21 MP).

Processing: Imported into Lightroom (Flash white balance & cleaned up dust spots - no colour manipulation), exported as 16-bit TIFFs, assembled into a movie with QuickTime 7 Pro (using "Open Image Sequence..."), added soundtrack in iMovie, finally exported as a 1080p H.264 video.

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by PCH

Hi Dave,

that's terrific. I'm just starting to become interested in certain aspects of photography, - timelapse being one of them. Would you mind explaining in a couple of sentences exactly what you did and your settings etc. Much appreciated

Hi Paul,

Sure - very happy to help but I'm no expert... I'm only two videos ahead of you

I added the list of steps I took to make the last video, above. Having some kind of remote-controlled timer is essential - both for your sanity and to keep the camera still between shots.

With regards to metering/exposure, I used Aperture priority for the first clip and Manual for the second, and didn't change the exposure compensation of either during the shoot. I had to manually increase the ISO / open the aperture in the first shot several times to keep the shutter speeds reasonable. With the second one, the sky just went dark well before it "really" was dark.

The software I used for processing / assembling / editing the still frames into the movie were just ones that I had handy on my computer. I know that there are lots of free tools that can do it, e.g. VirtualDub for Windows.

Hope this helps - feel free to ask if you have any other questions.

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Dave,

yep, I understand what you're talking about there. I have a 400D so that shoudl be capable. It comes with s/w that can be used to control the aperture and settings remotely, so that should be ok too.

I can get a copy of that VirtualDub presumably and have a play around.

Thanks so much for the info Dave. Happy snapping

[naskies (Dave)]

One more from yesterday. It looks like the smoke haze is finally starting to clear up - the sunset seemed more golden than red. Back to the telescope!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXlpsqR9IY

Frames were straight out of camera (except for cropping and dust spots): 1 sec intervals at 200 mm, Aperture priority @ f/16, ISO 100, EC -1, Flash white balance.

[naskies (Dave)]

Originally Posted by PCH

Hi Dave,
I have a 400D so that shoudl be capable. It comes with s/w that can be used to control the aperture and settings remotely, so that should be ok too.

Paul, just thought I'd mention that the EOS Utility (I assume that this is what you're referring to) can also act as an interval timer - you can program in a starting delay, interval between each shot, number of shots to take, and duration of each shot (Bulb mode).

There's the added bonus of seeing how the shots are turning out - when my 5DmkII is being driven by the handheld interval timer, I don't get to see how any of the shots are turning out until it's all over.