When Recording Clouds...
 

...What is the trick? I have been thinking and thinking for a few days, and I just can't find a good way to do it!

I am trying to capture clouds disappearing/appearing.

As far as gear goes, I have an Elura 100, one battery, and one tape for the shoot, nothing more as of yet.

The sooner I get information the better (the rain is about to come back). Thank you very much for taking your time to read/reply.
~Gabriel

A technique that I've used goes like this:

Set up the camera on a nice piece of sky. Hit record and walk away for an hour (or however long your tape is).

Now, set up a batch capture list that will add five minutes of video, skip five minutes and record the next five.

But the five minutes segments on your timeline and put a one minute dissolve between 'em.

Pick and choose places you like and speed 'em up or use 'em as is.

What you are referring to is time lapse photography whereby one or more frames are taken every few seconds or minutes. Some cameras have this feature built in. If yours does not, use the advice Andy gave you or, use a firewire capture to a laptop using software as the time lapse recorder.

-gb-

Also, if you shoot into the wind I think you get a better chance of watching the clouds grow or fade away then if the clouds are moving across your field of vision. It looks cooler too. :)

Let me see if I can find some footage I shot this weekend of the clouds coming at me and I'll post a link.

Good point, Kevin. But remember, winds aloft are often from a different direction than what you experience at ground level. You might have to observe the clouds a bit to determine direction, or learn to read aviation forecasts.

-gb-

I usually watch the clouds in relation to an object on the ground like a tree etc to see which way they are moving.

Here's a little QuickTime file of some clouds I recorded this weekend for UWOL#2
I tried to upload it to the site but after about 1o minutes waiting for this 1/2 meg file to upload I gave up.

So, here's the link:
http://www.iowafilmmaker.com/Clouds.mov

Ok, thank you guys! I'll try and play around with these ideas.

Yeah, I plan on doing this for the UWOL#2 also.

Thats good footage, thanks for shearing that.

Should I worry about zoom? I only have a 20X on my Elura. Should I rush to the store to get a telephoto lens for it? Also, do I need any filters? Like an ND or Circular Polarizer?

Thanks for the help guys!
~Gabriel

Gabriel,
That clip I posted was as wide as the HVX would go. So, no real need for allot of zoom.

If you go wide and use a polarizer you'll get varying degrees of polarization. So, some of your scene will be very dark blue and other parts lighter as it is less polarized.

The clip I posted is just the plain old regular HVX lens with no filters.
Even with nothing on, you can still see part of the sky is darker.

Thats great! Thanks alot Kevin.
Now its time to go sit in the sun and wait for the clouds to come (I never thought I would say that).....

Thanks guys!
~Gabriel

Gabrial,

I shoot clouds and sunsets any time they look good. I shoot at regular fame rate. I then just compress the clip in post (really easy to do). I have taken as much as an hour of footage and compressed it into minutes and it looks just fine.

Thats sounds really neat Dale, thanks.

I have yet to find that "ahhh" moment, so I am still waiting for it to come.

Thanks for the info!
~Gabriel

Gabriel,

To get the really good sets you have to be out shooting all the time so your are actually out there when the majic happens. I am out 5 or6 evenings a week from sept 1 till february 28. then in spring I only go out two or three evenings a week. From Last spet1 til feb 27 I spent 107 afternoons til dusk. I do not shoot every day but we are out looking. I keep a journal so I know that is dead accurate. this winter did not have the skies that we saw last year. Northern lights were weak this year too, interesting. for sunsets May and then sept, Oct seem to give me the best skies.

I will look through my log book and see if I can post a clip on this thread.

Absolutely use a polarizer! It's an amazing filter for getting clouds on tape. Get a circular polarizer and spin it and you will see a huge difference in the color and the detail.

What do you use all that footage for??

Thomas,

I am out shooting video of wildlife, I would reckon I get half a dozen sets a year that I like. I use the footage I like best for ending most of the videos I make. I make them for myself and I share them with friends. I get lots of practice so when it is really important I get footage I can. I also bank real nice footage and keep a log of those files for future use. This last year I shot about 60 hours of video, I only use a small portion of it. Today I was shooting some footage of Mute swans that are just stopping by on their migration north. I was testing out my new 100/400 canon lens in low light conditions, will watch the footage this evening. In this country you can run into great things anytime so one must be prepared when that rare shot comes along.

do u guys increase the shutter speed? Seems to make the clouds move faster..

sean,

I use a slower shutter speed as when I use faster i do not like the look, when you speed them up in post it makes a difference. Also, shooting at a slower shutter reduces the aperature down so you have greater depth of field which keeps more of the sunset in focus.

I am open to suggestions on this anytime, always looking for a way to make them better.

I do not use colored filters that I know are used all the time in still photography to enhance the reds. My goal is to make them look as they actually did.

I'm going to be camping on an island in florida for spring break and you guys have inspired me to shoot a few sunsets. One quick question, when you're shooting sunsets does it damage the camera if it's pointed toward (directly at) the setting sun? I have a sonyvx1000.

Matt, I can not say from experience so this might not count at all. But, I have read that you should use a ND filter to protect the lens from the powerful about of light the sun puts off. I have seen people do it without, but I am not sure if its the smartest thing to do..

I hope you find your answer! And have a good time!
~Gabriel

Matt,

This subject has come up several times over the past couple years and the standard answer of recent years is that todays cameras are not overly effected by shooting into the sun. But, a sunset is a lot different than shooting in a bright day.
I shoot them alot with both of my cameras and neither show any wear for doing so.
I shoot flying falcons and other birds high in the sky and we scan across the sun often and have seen no real problem to date.
Using a polizer and a nd filter certainly is a more conservative approach just to be safe. Besides the combo can also enhance you sunsets.