Weekend Wanderings – Experimenting with Time-lapse Photography

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This week has been strange and while I have been out many times to take photos, it hasn’t been the usual sort that I normally do. So, today for The Weekend Wanderings post I thought I would do one on the experimenting I’ve been doing with time-lapse photography.

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Weekend Wanderings – Experimenting with Time-lapse Photography

As I’ve said before, learning how to use the Syrp gear has been a lot harder than I thought. I’ve done time-lapses before and they have been alright, but when you add something that pans or tilts, it is a whole other thing.

This is one I did earlier this year, with the camera sitting still on a tripod. I took lots of photos around the city and then put them all together.

There are problems with it, but overall I was happy with it.

Experimenting with the Syrp Genie mini

I was loaned two of these from the Australian distributors Blond Robot to try out along with some other gear. However, I’ve concentrated on the mini so I can get my head around how it all works first.

The Syrp Genie mini just pans. I’ve been using my Benro tripod, the FGP 18C, because it is easy to remove the head from it. The Genie mini sits between the tripod and the head.

One of the hardest things has been working out how many images to take, for how far it pans.

Banyule Flats and the area around me seemed to be the perfect place to use.

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I have been going down there quite a bit. It is easier to see if the time-lapses are working. I don’t have to travel far, and the conditions there are always changing, especially as the seasons are now changing.

This is, perhaps, the first semi-successful one I have done.

Princes Pier

Last Monday I went down to Princes Pier early for some photos, but also to do some more time-lapse.

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I took 6 different ones, and then put them all together. Most of them worked well, but I am still panning too much. I should also take more care and look at the scene before I take the photos. There were things in the scenes that I should have given more time to. If you pan too quickly, and don’t take enough photos, it moves too fast making it hard to see.

Here is the Princes Pier time-lapse.

Back to Banyule Flats

Storms and wild weather were the forecast for this weekend. It seemed like a perfect time to head back to Banyule Flats to get some images for another time-lapse. Clouds moving through the sky definitely make for a much better one. It seems it is like long exposure photography, you have to have something moving in it.

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This time, a lot more care was given to how much panning would be done, and how many images. Still not perfect, but by far the best I’ve done so far.

I am quite happy with how it is all progressing. Now I am ready to start adding the tilting feature to it, along with the Genie and the magic carpet to glide it from side to side. It is also pretty clear to me that I am going to want some of this gear and do a lot more time-lapse photography. For now, I think I will just get the Genie mini and when I am really happy with what I’m getting, then I might look into other options.

My fine art photography has stalled a bit, but by doing these, and with my membership site, the Fine Art Way, I am really starting to see what I want to do. The time-lapse can be used for that as well. I need to get into the city to do some more work, but with time it will all come together. I may need to get another camera for it, one that is lighter and the file sizes not so big. I’ve been looking at the Fuji range so far. We will have to see how serious I get with this first.

Syrp

Syrp are a New Zealand company and have a lot of gear for time-lapse photography if you would like to check them out, click here.

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Further Reading

Weekend Wanderings – Melbourne Flower and Garden Show

Weekend Wanderings – Tesselaar Kabloom Flower Festival

Weekend Wanderings – St Paul’s Beach Late in the Day

You might be interested in …

20 Comments

  1. Hi Leanne. It was great to watch how you progressed with each attempt. The clouds look amazing. I’d like to eventually try some time-lapse during astro photography.

    1. Yes, that would be fun, I wouldn’t mind doing some of that as well. I have some gear, or at least I hope I will soon of my own that I will be able to do it with. The timelapse is a whole new thing to learn, I’m still trying to work it out.

  2. Hi, Leanne. I enjoyed your experiment with time lapses! I think my favorite is the last one too. There’s motion and drama in the scene, which really has an impact on the view. Hope all’s well!

    1. Thank you Patti, that’s good to hear, I am really enjoying doing them now. I think I am going to be spending some money soon. I thought the last one is probably the best too, especially now that I am getting better at doing them, or know what I am doing more. Yes, thank you, all is well here, very busy, but seems to be good. I hope you are well too.

  3. I think your time lapse images are superb. I like the fact you pan the camera as most time lapses I have seen involve a stationery camera. I especially like seeing the stormy sky in the final Banylule video.

    1. I really like the panning, adds another dimension to it, I think. It is kind of interesting to see all that you can do with it. The stormy sky was a great subject for it, thank you Laura.

  4. Hello Leanne,
    I think this is a really interesting piece….I had no idea such panning heads existed – bit of a Neanderthal here, and since we have huge satellite data limitations, uploading videos has always been a bit off limits ( I’ve just done my first ever cloud scene one coincidentally) – but the effects with clouds you’ve captured here are really lovely for showcasing a landscape scene – will you do any more posts with more specific ideas on numbers of fps, say? I do hope so …and thanks for the link – I’ll have a look at the Syrp site now…best wishes
    Julian

    1. I only just recently found out about them as well. They are really amazing. These videos aren’t too bad because they are really small and short. Clouds do seem to make a massive difference, I think anyway. I will do more posts as I learn, I can work on some of that as well. Thanks Julian.

  5. A very pleasing effect comes from having clouds in motion while the camera is being panned through a landscape panorama. So naturally your last time lapse turned out to be best. Very interesting post, Leanne!

    1. I agree Peter, it really adds to it, I love the clouds. Thank you Pater, I think the last one worked best too. Thank you.

  6. I’ve always found time-lapse interesting. Perhaps, someday, I’ll indulge. But, yes, it requires some serious equipment.

    1. I have too Disperser, I love watching them. I hope you do give it a go one day. It can, but you don’t have to go that far. YOu can do them with a camera on a tripod.

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