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A random collection of rants, reviews, and miscellaneous thoughts on everything from instructional technology to local restaurants.
A Day on Samish Island
The view from Mrs. Wright’s living room is constantly changing. The lighting changes with the rising and setting of the sun, clouds and weather roll in, and there is the constant shifting of the tides. Throw in a couple of eagles, herons, and humming birds, along with some boat traffic, and you’ve got a constant spectacle.
I wanted to try to capture a bit of that, and it seemed like a time-lapse video was the best way to do it. I first tried with a little application on my netbook that uses its webcam. The results were OK, but it didn’t have the resolution I wanted, and I couldn’t find a good safe place to set it up for a long series of shots.
I decided to see what was available for the iPad. I downloaded the iMotion app, which let’s you do time-lapse with exposures at various intervals. It looked like it would do the trick.
The next step was to figure out some way to mount the iPad safely. In the workshop I found a clamp with a place to attach the head of my tripod. Perfect. I found the right sized screw and used a was cloth to cushion the device, and I was in business.
Since it wasn’t supposed to rain, and since we were going to be out in the yard working most of the day, I set up the iPod under some trees on thick grass. That way, if it did fall over at least there would be some cushion. I set the interval to 30 seconds and let it go while we did our chores.
Here’s the result of that first test…
While this was able to catch the tide change and the late evening, I really wanted an entire day from dark to dark. for that I needed a more secure location. I found that the front window of the master bedroom had a great view albeit obscured a bit by overgrown shrubbery. It would have to do.
I set up the tripod so that it was ready to go. I got up early at 4:00 am and started it running. Sixteen hours and 2851 images later I shut it down at 10:00 pm I finished the process. Here’s how that video turned out…
I like the view from the first video better, and I wish I could have figured out how to keep the iPad secure. As it turns out, the day with the long exposure started with rain, so it was a good thing I brought it inside.
A couple of the older Nikon cameras I’ve used had and interval mode. A smaller camera like that would work better than something as bulky as the iPad. Even so, I like the results. Someday I’ll find another point-and-shoot that that has interval mode, and I’ll try this again
Posted in Photography, Travel
