a Sunrise timelapse

C

crazycatz

Well-known member
hey,
so tyomorrow morning, well, more like 7 hours, im planning on shooting a timelapse of the sunrise with my dvx. i was just going to let the tape run for an hour since i find that gives me the best results. one question i do have though, is what should i set the iris and nd filters to? i dont want to adjust them once i start recording since you will be able to notice that, but i dont want everything to be overexposed and washed out once the sun rises, but i would also like some detail in the dark areas too... i was thinking of putting it on maybe the 1/64 nd filter and have the iris about half open, maybe at f11...
anyone have any suggestions?

thanks!
 
Well, since tomorrow morning has come and gone...

What did you do and how did it work out?
 
Only point your camera at the sun, at sunrise or sunset. Never at midday, as that would damage the CCD's.
 
Hey ,
I shoot into lights & sun all the time, maybe a 10k wide open would be not a great idea close-up, but I love and use lights in the shot 'kinda shots all the time.

1/8 ND @ f/11 or so would be my guess on exposure. But see as the morning has come & gone, try an exposure test at the lightest point in the shot and use that for next time...

Steve
 
I agree, every time I have done it, I set the exposure for the final look, and let the sun bring the light up to that level as it rises. That seems to look the most natural when sped up in post. Although if there are successful alternative methods....
 
Shoot a sunset instead- expose for the most pleasing image and then the rest will darken without any adjustment as the sun goes down. Then in post play in reverse. Cause a sunset is just a sunrise in reverse.
 
seejay1031 said:
Shoot a sunset instead- expose for the most pleasing image and then the rest will darken without any adjustment as the sun goes down. Then in post play in reverse. Cause a sunset is just a sunrise in reverse.
Click to expand...

Depends on what else is in the scene, of course. Cars or pedestrians moving backwards as the sun "rises" might look a little funny:) .
 
seejay1031 said:
Shoot a sunset instead- expose for the most pleasing image and then the rest will darken without any adjustment as the sun goes down. Then in post play in reverse. Cause a sunset is just a sunrise in reverse.
Click to expand...
So not true!

Forget about the opposite direction (you could argue that sunset on the southern hemisphere is just a sunrise in the north in reverse - I guess), but the quality of the atmosphere is totally different. You have more moisture in the air in the morning (dew and stuff), and generally calmer air. At sunset, you have more particles in the air, especially near cities. Totally different picture.
 
hey, i started out filming with the 1/8 nd filter and f16, but as the sun rose, and got higher, i had to switch on the 1/64 nd filter because everytnig was getting washed out. next time if i do this, i would probally use the 1/64 from the begining and maybe an f stop of 11. ill post some clips of what i got when i get it onto my computer.
 
hey!
sorry it took me so long to post this, but i've been a little busy. here is my timelapse of the sunrise! the image changes a bit at around 20 seconds, which is when i had to switch on the 2nd nd filter, and again at about 35 is when i switched tapes. other than the switching of the ND filters about halfway through, i think it came out rather nicely.
take a look!

http://people.uleth.ca/~matt.babinec/dvxuser.mov
 
crazycatz said:
hey!
sorry it took me so long to post this, but i've been a little busy. here is my timelapse of the sunrise! the image changes a bit at around 20 seconds, which is when i had to switch on the 2nd nd filter, and again at about 35 is when i switched tapes. other than the switching of the ND filters about halfway through, i think it came out rather nicely.
take a look!

http://people.uleth.ca/~matt.babinec/dvxuser.mov
Click to expand...

Yeah that really didnt turn out good in my opinion. The switching on of the ND filters blew the most crucal scene in my opinion. And in the beggining there was massive noise. When I shot sunrise and sunset timelapse I would try to find a good average between everything, then tweak the settings in favor of magic hour, you arent gonna get a perfect shot all the way through, so focus your efforts on the getting the more important part of the sunrise.
 
why limit yourself to only one sunrise per day? you can get several unique scenes by varying the exposure for each one. in other words, try shooting the first one wide open. then, when it gets too bright, stop it down until the viewfinder is nearly dark again. repeat this process until the sun is fully up. you can probably get 2 or 3 unique scenes this way. turning down the master pedestal helps darken the dark areas in the skyline and raise the saturation in areas that matter (such as the sky). i have also used ND grads in various densities to adjust exposure for bringing down the levels of the lower skyline and a polarizer for getting a nice deep, dark blue sky. these methods also work great for sunsets, which i have done more than sunrises! (not an early riser here) also, if your desire is to capture cloud movement, mid afternoon is probably better because the exposure does not vary as much from minute to minute like a sunrise or sunset. anyways, have fun shooting and i hope these ideas are helpful.
 
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what if one day you shot one that was over exposed. then another under then another just right then super imposed them?
 
Sunrises or other timelapse videos can also be created using certain Canon still cams. Canon provides capture software for free that works VERY well using a laptop.
 
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