Skip to content

Random Connections

A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Photos
  • Resources
  • Other Voices
  • Post Archives
  • Home
  • Local
  • Time Lapse at the Farmer’s Market

Time Lapse at the Farmer’s Market

Posted on August 31, 2014August 31, 2014 By Tom No Comments on Time Lapse at the Farmer’s Market
Local, Photography

I’m slowly collecting my little snippits of time lapse video from around Greenville. So far I’ve been limited to 10-15 second bits. That might be enough if I string a bunch of them together.

Regardless, Saturday morning I decided to do a time lapse at the downtown Greenville Farmer’s Market. I headed down early before the crowds arrived so that I could get set up. I was armed with my larger tripod, and my newly acquired selfie stick, which has a tripod mount in the bottom of it. Extended, it would put my GoPro nearly twelve feet in the air. Not to shabby.

I set up toward the upper end of the farmer’s market so that I would have a view back down the hill toward the Poinsett Hotel. I found a great place right across from Port City Java, so I got a large cup of coffee, then set up the tripod, on the street where I thought it would be out of the way.

image

Here’s a still of the scene that I captured:

Downtown Farmer's Market

My last time lapse attempt was cut short by some grounds keepers, and I only got ten seconds worth of video. This time I decided to use a five second interval, not only to get me a longer video clip, but also so that it might follow individuals a bit better.

I set the video going, settled in with my coffee, and watched the shoppers walk past. I had my laptop with me, so I caught up on blogging using free wifi while I waited for the images to collect. A few curious folks asked about the camera, but most ignored it.

Turns out it was a good thing I had set the interval for five seconds. About thirty five minutes after I started the time lapse someone came over and said that I would have to take it down. They said that setting up to video downtown events was not allowed, and that I would need a permit. She also so that as the crowds increased, the tripod would be in the way. I complied. I got about 310 images from the session – useable, but still short.

I’ve had someone mention that the official’s request could have been an infringement upon my rights as a photographer. While I’m a bit proponent of photographer’s rights, I don’t think this was such a case. The concern was more over a tripod in a set location for a long period of time. There were plenty of people walking around with cameras that were not stopped, and I’ve never been stopped when I had my camera with me. They don’t even question casual video.

Anyway, I took what I had and processed it. I imported the images straight from the camera into the GoPro app and processed them at 23.9 FPS at 1080HD. I did use the fish eye correction because I didn’t like the curved trees.

Even though it was short I liked it. I like the light moving down the buildings, as well as the erratic movements of the shoppers.

I decided I had to see it in tilt-shift. This time I imported the raw images into Lightroom. I ran one of my tilt-shift presets, then corrected for the fish eye effect. After exporting the new versions, I brought them into my GoPro app and processed them. Here’s the result:

Once again this turned out to be a series of lessons learned. While I like the results, I can see some improvements. First, I would eliminate the tripod so that I don’t get hassled. The GoPro can easily be strapped to a lamp post or tree. One of the biggest problems, though, is with battery life. Thus strapped, it’s almost impossible to change the batteries without altering the view. I guess I’d either have to rig a way to get continuous power, or be satisfied with whatever I got on one battery.

I would also move the camera closer to the vendors. I think I would have gotten much more movement there. The image below shows the changes I’d make:

Farmers-Market-Edits

Even so, I think I captured some cool stuff. I know I’ll have to come back another time.

UPDATE…

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do panning without having to purchase an expensive dolly setup. I think I have found a workaround. The GoPro app lets me save the video in its full 4000 X 2000 resolution, which is much higher than 1080P. I did that, then applied a “Ken Burns” effect from left to right. On this particular video I’m not sure I like it. It cuts out the creeping bits of sunlight that I liked so much. It might work better on larger scenes.

I also decided to create a GIF from the video. This looks fairly good, but somehow…incomplete.

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Paddling Boyd’s Mill Pond
Next Post: Labor Day Week Rambles ❯

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories

  • EdTech (200)
  • Entertainment (202)
  • Family (121)
  • Gear (115)
  • General Technology (99)
  • Geocaching and Maps (208)
  • History and Genealogy (266)
  • Internet (144)
  • Local (451)
  • Miscellaneous (550)
  • Music (196)
  • Paddling (250)
  • Photography (779)
  • Podcast (6)
  • Rambling (227)
  • Rants (161)
  • Recipes (34)
  • Religion (48)
  • Restaurants (165)
  • Science (48)
  • Things Overheard (29)
  • Travel (411)
  • Uncategorized (129)
  • Washington Sabbatical (113)
  • Weirdness (60)

Recent Posts

  • Paddling Up the Long Nose
  • A Bates Old River Two-fer
  • In Search of the Road Builder
  • The Phoenix Riots and Dr. Benjamin Mays – An MLK Day Ramble
  • An Obsession with Steak Knives

Recent Comments

  • Jim Culley on An Obsession with Steak Knives
  • Tom on An Obsession with Steak Knives
  • Jim Culley on An Obsession with Steak Knives
  • Walter Kokoszka on Mysterious Mayucha and The Wolf Pit
  • Elizabeth on The Temple of Health: Ground-Truthing in Antreville

Tags

blogging cemetery Christmas Columbia Edisto River edtech Entertainment family Flickr Florida Furman Furman University gear Georgia geotagging Ghost Town Ghost Towns Google Earth Google Maps GPS Greenville Greenville Chorale history Instructional Technology kayaking Lake Jocassee LCU Lowcountry Unfiltered maps Music North Carolina Paddling Photography rambling restaurant Restaurants review singing social networking South Carolina time-lapse Travel video Washington Washington State
April 2023
S M T W T F S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« Mar    

Copyright © 2023 Random Connections.

Theme: Oceanly by ScriptsTown