Sunday, April 5, 2015

Dusk Time Lapse - 1

I wanted to create time lapses from daylight all the way to when the stars are up. After some search I found a great tutorial by Michael Theusner. It took me several attempts to try this out, but I
  1. Frequency: I am taking an image every 35 seconds - this allows me to take up to 30 second exposures. I am using the intervallometer just to initiate the photo - I am setting the exposure time on the camera itself.
  2. White balance: Don't use automatic - otherwise it will be changing. I am using 4000K.
Phase 1: During the day
Use full automatic and low ISO (I like to start with ISO 100). Watch aperture: when it hits the minimum (with my 14-24mm lens, I can go all the way down to f2.8 - with other lenses I need to stay 1-2 stops above the minimum), switch to full manual. 

Phase 2: Sun is setting
Use aperture semi-automatic, keep ISO as it was in phase 1, set aperture to minimum. This should result in the same exposure time as the last image from phase 1 (maybe slightly longer as it gets darker). For some reasons, when I switch to apperture automatic with the same settings (ISO and apperture), it results in a shorter exposure time then what I have at full automatic. Strange. Soon, the exposure time catches up and then I use apperture automatic.
Now increase the ISO setting every few shots trying to keep the exposure time roughly the same (will this result in brightness not going down???!!!) 
When you get to the max ISO setting (I usually go up to ISO 1600), get to

Phase 3: Sky is almost dark
Switch to fully manual, keep ISO, keep aperture, set exposure to last exposure from phase 2. Now, increase exposure every ~6 images until you reach the maximum that you want. Now keep everything and keep taking photos.

Here is my first result:

Not too bad, but some problems:
  • The transitions are pretty jerky
  • The 14-24 lens is fogging up again
But for a very first try...

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