You might be familiar with timelapse shots of different events that make an interesting output when combined in one place. This may make you wonder how to make a timelapse of a flower or plant? To get a close look at how well your plant is growing, you have to utilize the time-lapse feature on your camera to document the minute growth over a period of time.
In this post, we’ll provide you with some helpful hints to make the procedure go more smoothly. It will take many days to make a time-lapse movie of plants sprouting. The key to a superb time-lapse is not to reposition the camera and to keep the lights steady throughout. You will be shooting a great timelapse if you can balance the camera and lighting in one place.
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To help you with the right settings and a proper way to make a timelapse of a flower or plant, we have some quick settings along with an easy setup procedure explained in this article.
Quick Camera Settings for Timelapse
AV mode (Aperture Priority):
This setting works best when you’re shooting in a location where your subject is maintained fairly static and you don’t mind capturing components of motion blur outside of the focal point (moving objects in your background etc).
TV mode (Shutter Priority):
This mode is best used while photographing a distant subject. Regardless of the depth of field, the focus will remain on your subject.
Auto ISO:
This is one of the most recommended option for a consistent time-lapse output since it allows you to attain the right exposure without changing the aperture value (keeping the same depth of field) or using a shutter speed that is too slow.
You can choose the lowest shutter speed that will result in a clear photo free of motion blur, and the camera will not use any shutter speeds slower than the capped figure.
Materials Needed
- Seeds (garden cress)
- Tripod
- Planting soil
- Pot
- Watering can
- Camera with interval recorder
- Grow lights with clamps
- Power strip Materials
- Power supply
How To Make Timelapse of Flower or Plant – Step by Step
Here are the instructions to make a timelapse of a flower easily.
Keep Lighting Consistent:
The place where you will be shooting the flower or plant must have a proper lighting setup. Consistent illumination is required for great time-lapse videos, especially for recording a multi-day plant timelapse. When you’re setting up your time-lapse, make sure there’s no sunlight in the room and only use specialized artificial lighting.
Your timelapse will be off if your room receives any additional light from the sun, even if the curtains are closed. Photos taken during the day will have a higher contrast than those taken at night.
Consider your living area in this way. If you visit the location during the day and the artificial lights are turned off, you should be unable to see anything. For such reasons, only specialized, artificial lighting must be set up and used to illuminate it.
Adjust Camera Settings:
Using your camera, use manual exposure and focus for recording the time-lapse. You can get a Canon or Sony camera for this purpose as they have good battery timing and they have more versatile settings than other cameras.
Make sure you’re in ‘Manual Mode’ with your camera. You must not allow the camera to alter between photos in any way. If you’re recording at 25 FPS, your shutter speed must be kept around 1/50. ISO, Exposure, Aperture, and Focus will all be included in your settings. All of them must be adjusted manually, and they cannot be changed during the shot.
With this in mind, you must carefully examine your exposure and keep it stable with a fixed focus when you are recording a plant or a flower. Dirt, for example, is quite black, whereas seedlings are relatively pale. When the shoots arrive, you may blow them out of exposure if you set your camera to expose for dirt.
Start Capturing Shots While Locking Your Settings
Lock your settings for the camera and be ready for taking photos in a timelapse at various intervals. Here is an example of what you can do.
• 1 photo/20 minutes = 3 photos/hour
• 3 photographs/hour * 24 hours = 72 photos/day
• 72 photos/day * 16 days = 1,100 photos total
Creating a Timelapse by Combining Photos
The plant’s development cycle will assist you to figure out how many photographs you want to take each day or an hour. Naturally, increasing the number of photographs you shoot each day/hour will smooth out the movie, but it will also lengthen it. Experiment with the interval until you find something that works for you.
A Software for Editing
It’s time to build your timelapse video when you’ve completed all of the calculations and collected all of the photographs for your time-lapse. You can locate software that allows you to generate time-lapses from images on your computer. You will be able to get your hands on most of the free and available tools for time-lapse editing.
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As you can see, there are a lot of factors to consider while taking a plant time-lapse. These factors include the plant’s development cycle, the recording interval, and the required frame rate and duration of the final tape when played back.
FAQ’s
What considerations must be kept while making a timelapse of a flower or plant?
When creating a timelapse, these considerations are a must.
- You’ll need to secure your camera in a method that prevents it from moving. You can get the help of a tripod to keep your shots stable.
- You’ll need to purchase a separate power supply for your camera that can long for a longer duration while capturing time-lapse.
- You may use autofocus to set up the initial frame, but for the time-lapse shot, switch to manual focus.
- By placing a huge rubber band to wrap around the lens, half on the focus ring, half off, you will be able to stop the ring from spinning and keep the focus in place.
- You will need a memory card with more space. Get a large card that can hold all of the photos you’ll need. Reduce the resolution of the photographs if necessary to fit more on a card.