Help with time lapse
 

I would like to capture a rose as it opens up. Have any of you done it and what would you suggest for my time lapse setting, and by this I mean how many frames and at what intervals?
Thanks in advance for your help.

I would try using its shortest interval, with the least amount of frames. I think its an interval of 30sec, with a capture of half a second. Sorry i cant remember off hand what those settings are for sure. I have done a bunch of tlaps in the past...never of a flower. How long does it take for a flower to open? Anyway, if u tape at that setting, you will need to crunch the footage down to get it to play right. because you will have about 15 frames of almost still footage every 30 seconds....so it will look choppy on playback, but if u crunch it in after effects or whatever to 6% you will get a very nice smooth video. However, this maybe to fast for your needs, it all depends on how long it takes for a flower to open and your needs. If a flower takes an hour to open, and u capture at those settings, u will only have about 4 seconds of footage. So what im sayin is, if u want it to be slower, u may have to just record the flower opening in realtime (no timelaps) and then capture it all and slow it down to your needs.

Hope this helps

Rich

If you have Premiere, it can do a frame capture based on intervals that you can specify.

As for the actual interval, here's one way of figuring it out:

First, determine how many seconds you want that clip to run.

Multiply that time by 30 to get the total number of frames in that clip.

Now, figure out how long it takes for the actual event to take place. Then divide that time by the number of frames in your clip to determine the interval.

For example, let's say you wanted to see the rose open up in five seconds.

5 seconds x 30 frames/second = 150 frames.

Now let's say it takes a rose six hours to open up. Convert hours to minutes to make things simpler: 6 hours = 360 minutes.

360 minutes divided by 150 frames = one frame every 2.4 minutes or every 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

Make sure nothing disturbs your setup, that it's free of drafts and breezes. And, ideally, set it up so the light never changes. If shot outdoors the rose will whip around uncontrollably and the shadow will move as though it's being illuminated with a handheld light.

Hope this helps.
Dean Sensui
Base Two Productions

Thanks guys, I will give it a try based on your recommendations and post back the results.