If you’ve spent anytime watching the time-lapse films on OPTV ( you’ve probably noticed that the camera is seldom stationary. That’s where we add motion to the motion. Once you’re comfortable with the fundamentals of motion capture, it’s time to kick things up a notch. The heavy-duty Libec Swift Jib50 is incredibly capable as long as you’re not trying to carry it into the backcountry. Motion capture can be frustrating when it doesn’t go right, so take your time to increase your chances for success. You can try doing some simple pans (side to side) or tilts (up and down), but don’t go too crazy until you’re feeling comfortable with all of your camera settings and handling the files in the computer. At this stage, keeping the camera anchored to a sturdy tripod is fine. You’ll be dealing with enough technology just getting the camera settings dialed in and learning how to handle focus and exposure properly. But modern HDSLRs give you a much more powerful tool for telling those stories.Īs you get into motion, whether it’s time-lapse or standard movie shooting, your first projects are probably going to be pretty static. A multi-hour time-lapse that reduces a day of cloud formation into a few dramatic seconds of wild skies or a real-time clip of a waterfall tumbling over a cliff are examples of scenes that single still frames can’t adequately capture. Motion capture is ideal for recording the way light changes a landscape. Motion capture doesn’t have to be limited to a sprinting gazelle or a surfer catching a tube. What’s less obvious is how that entire exercise was really a perfect motion project. How many times have you set up a camera in predawn quiet and watched patiently as the sky slowly changed, ultimately revealing the scene that you previsualized? You take the photo, then pack up and move along. You can see it at OPTV in the OP Daily Blog section.Īt first blush, landscape photography seems like a poor fit for motion, but when you look a little deeper, you begin to sense the extraordinary opportunities for showing a landscape. Shawn Reeder’s “Magical New Zealand” shows some incredible camera movement footage. Once in the computer, there was a considerable learning curve in getting to know the editing process, but if you were interested, it was certainly something you could learn, with plenty of resources to help. And, third, the process of getting the motion footage into the computer for editing was relatively familiar to most photographers and it didn’t require any additional hardware. Consumer-level camcorders were good, but the look of footage coming off a Canon EOS 5D Mark II was a revelation. Second, the image quality was incredibly good. First, still and motion capability was in a single camera. But with HD video DSLRs (HDSLRs), a couple of things changed. Certainly, video cameras had been around for decades, and anyone who wanted to embark on motion projects had access to tools that could do the job. Simultaneously, DSLRs with HD video capture functionality came on with a rush. Like so many aspects of photography and filmmaking, what started as a niche endeavor developed by dedicated enthusiasts in the quiet confines of little-known Internet forums quickly went mainstream. Major manufacturers also made remotes with intervalometer capabilities, and several DSLRs came out with the function built in, which further simplified the process of image capture and automatic time-lapse creation. A few years ago, time-lapse projects began showing up on YouTube and Vimeo, and intrepid engineers popped up on forums and eBay selling intervalometers that allowed a photographer to set up a shot and program the camera to take a prescribed sequence. The expected retail price is $900.Īlthough landscapes are fundamentally static, many nature photographers are discovering that you can use today’s sophisticated DSLR technology to create breathtaking motion projects. It was available fully motorized for $795 at Kickstarter. The slow rise of the camera contrasts beautifully with the fast-moving clouds.Ĭinetics is a young company that recently had an enormously successful Kickstarter campaign for the Axis 360, which is shown here. This frame from “Magical New Zealand” is taken from the middle of a camera move.
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