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Tips on capturing hi-quality night time-lapse video with your DSLR camera
(continued from Tips - page 5):
At this stage in the process you're working with a GIGANTIC super-resolution video and your computer system may not be powerful enough to
play it properly. So, save your new video in a workable format that isn't so resource intensive. QuickTime Pro gives you lots of choices
and options. Here's just one quick example:
* Select "File" from the top-level menu, then click "Export for Web"
* Use the default selections and click "OK". This will take a few minutes to process (depending on your PC)
* When the QuickTime Pro progress window disappears then processing is complete
* Look for a new folder on your Windows Desktop, one with the same name for the video that was showing in the default selections
* Open the folder and double-click the larger of the movie files listed there to begin playback
This is the point when your patience is rewarded and you finally get to see how your video looks and plays. You'll also get to
see how well you planned for and captured the video frames, and how well your camera and tripod systems performed. You may even be surprised
at having caught something on camera like meteors, satellites, or wildlife - things that you may have missed seeing firsthand. For some,
including the author here, you may occasionally discover a technical flaw in your video that forces you to re-shoot the scene (if possible)
or resort to some serious editing. It can and does happen, so don't expect everything to work perfectly every time out.
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Conclusion:
Shooting time-lapse video of landscapes and scenery at night is not everyone's cup of tea. It requires a lot of patience and some experience
with having shot nighttime still photos - at least so you have a good idea of what to expect. This endeavor also takes a good deal of planning
and preparation. Once you begin a sequence then you are committed to that location for hours, and you may only have time to shoot from one or
two different locations per night. A degree of luck is involved as well. You have to anticipate favorable climate conditions over the course of the
night and hope that you don't have equipment failures.
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* Click image for choices: Flash (SWF), Windows Media (WMV)
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Try not to be discouraged if your work doesn't meet your expectations at first. It will take practice, refinement, and a little cooperation
with your gear, road conditions, and the weather to make everything come together for you. When it does, though, the visual results can be
breathtaking!
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Tested
