How to - flower opening ?

Probably wrong forum .
I would like to make a video of a flower opening .
Since the smaller flowers open faster , I will start with one of them .
I will be using the sigma 180 and intervalometer , tripod , XTI [I have the battery thing that runs on 12o volts - so battery won't die] etc .
Would like advice on how long to set intervalometer - every hour , 1/2 hour .
Do edit out the night / dark time or just unplug intervalometer from camera ?
What is an easy program to use to put together frames into video ? [free - cheap]
Probably use the laptop [mac book pro]
Would like to do Brugmansia [angel's trumpet] but the one I have in pots don't bloom till they are at least 4 Ft tall . I am working on cuttings so I can take pot into house .
TIA

Umm never done it before
But I would assume its the same as time laps
as for the night if your brining it into your house, just set up a lamp next to it
and then you wont have to deal with an extra ~12 pics of darkness (if you set it at one hour)
you have a mac, iMovie should work just fine.

good luck would love to see what you come up with!

Thanks . After searching around , I found out it is called time lapse .
Not really about the settings yet , but probably at least one every 15 minutes . At 24 fps [I hope that is frames per second and not feet per second] say 7 hours of dark would equal 28 frames or a little over a second a second of darkness .
Not really sure about the length of time from beginning of bud to flower . I checked 14 of my angels trumpets this morning , none had buds but a few days ago another had a small bud , nine plants had already flowered .
I will be doing the whole thing in the house .
Sorry for long post - skip this if you want - it is just one of the reasons .
In case you are wondering , I am going stir crazy - had a total knee replacement [LEFT one] on the 20 of March and will have the right one done next month . So far I have 32 note books with pictures from negatives - big family , brothers , brothers - in - laws , sister in - laws , nephews , nieces , weddings churches , baptisms , 1st communions , Old black and white , 'NAM / work . Then they all have to be scanned and named

Dang! That's a lot of old images to sort and scan. Good luck with that.

As for your time lapse, there is a calculation that you'll need to do. How long do you want the video to be? What frame rate do you want the project to be? And yes, 24 fps means 24 frames per second.

The calculations you need to make are to figure out how many frames you'll need to take to make your project x amount of seconds long and then how long it takes for the flower to fully open.

I tried doing one a few years ago with the opening of an orchid flower. I think I took too many frames too often and I never really got the flower fully open. It took more than 24 hours to open and my wife got tired of the project and turned off the light I had set up on the plant and I lost the last part of it.

It was a bit of a PITA, but if done right, it's an amazing capture of time and beautiful. If you have the time to spend on the project, then you should try it!

Also, if you have a Vimeo account, check out a channel on Vimeo called "Time Hunters." there are some amazing time lapses on there with lots of discussion and how to's.

Thanks , I thought I might start with a fast flower .
I want to do the flower on a brugmansia , probably at least 3 days from developed bud to open flower .
I took a few cutting last year , they are 3 to 4 foot tall now and no buds yet . [yes , the cuttings were taken after they Y-ed .
Not sure how important the light on at night is - if flower keeps growing [Seems to or what effect 3 days of light would have on flower / plant .

Well normally a plant would get a nature Day/Night cycle for sure, but this would only be a 3 day set-up. I'm sure the plant would be fine in the long run. But are you concerned that the bud might be effected by the constant light? Maybe, only one way to find out I guess.

have you ever seen any of those behind the scenes films of any of the BBC crews that shoot the time lapse segments for shows like "Blue Planet" or "Planet Earth?" Those set-ups are amazing and very well thought out. And of course they have massive budgets, but they get the shots of vines and plants growing and covering stuff. Some of it is CGI, but some of it is simply time lapse or motion control time lapse. Maybe a bit more sophisticated than what you have planned, but similar in idea.

Yes , there is not that much on TV anymore , so I watch a lot of educational channels stuff .
Just not sure about the effect of light 24 hours a day . The ones on my porch ,[wife's orchids] don't seem to mind - the porch light has a photo cell that turns on and off - but it is a cheapee florescence .
[Just enough light to see if it is a cat , raccoon , skunk or possums .
Yesterday - a little more research - so far --
camera and flash in manual
lens either my 50 1.4 or the 17-55 - IS off not sure about the 180 macro - not one seems to use a macro lens
An F stop of F 8 is to small - can cause shutter flicker
looks like a speed of 1/30 - faster can cause shutter flicker
probably need an ND filter
shoot large JPEG - I will probably do RAW + JPEG going to have to figure out the size memory card I need I have a 16 GB - should be big enough
since I want to do an angels trumpet [Brugmansia] and flower hangs down - the flash should be under camera - pointed up - shadows
get WB as close as possible .
I took a few measurements yesterday
bud closed - about 3 inches long - hanging at about 30 degrees
a fully open flower is about 14 inches long 6 inches wide[not counting tenicals] and hanging at about 70 degrees
If it seems like I am over posting , sorry - this is for me [I have lost notes , gotten them wet had them scribbled over [visiting kids] and the next guy that want to play with time lapse , slow motion flower opening , Doing a search should bring this / these post up


http://content.photojo​jo.com …o-time-lapse-photography/

http://www.lightstalki​ng.com/timelapse

google search -- Timelapse Photography: A Complete Guide for Beginners

If this is getting boring , you may want to unwatch thread and no I have not talked to wife yet about using one of the spare bedrooms .

Don't worry about the over posting. You're not. Sounds like you're going about this very methodically and that's good! Because this is a video forum I automatically thought constant lights, but in reality, you're just taking a butt ton of images and then stitching them together to make a video, so yeah, a strobe would be the perfect solution to your conncerns about the plant being in constant light for three days.

But you need to make sure that your flash unit has enough batteries or an external powering source so that it doesn't stop working half way through. do you have any studio type strobes, something that can be plugged into an AC outlet for power and then linked to the camera via the external flash port? Then you'd have no worries about power or lights.

be sure to post a link once you are done

Thanks
I have the external battery pack for the 580 II . I need to check and see if it still holds a charge .
I have not really looked at the 580 II for years . When the airlines changed the allowable suit case from 2 77 lbs and 2 carry ons to one 77 lb and one carry on , the 580 and battery pack stayed home .
Now it is one suitcase at 35 lbs and a 23 lb carry on . From Calif to Mexico .
Last year my nephew played with the laptop , the 7 D and 70-200 was around my neck . After weigh in the laptop went into camera bag and the 50 1.4 went on camera .
I have the battery adapter for the XTI that plugs into wall - so should be OK there . I only used it twice in 5 or 6 years , so I have not bough one for 7 D .
The bad thing is , most of the stuff is buried in closet under behind stuff used more often [tripods , monopods , document shredder , camera bags]

UPDATE --
It looks like the battery in the quantum turbo battery ate the big one . Need to buy a new battery
I was looking at the opteka ring light and it has a place to plug in a wall wart [the little thing that goes from 120 ac to whatever voltage you want .] now to find a 3 volt one .
Anyway this is where I am at now - none of the smaller plants have buds yet - so a little more time to figure out .

Right now -5-23-12
Camera and flash in manual on Bogen tripod – may have to use gimbal head from Benro tripod , may use ring light instead of flash - have to figure out if constant light on bud will look funny at night with no sun light - maybe the lamp idea or leds ?

Lens = 10-22 – set around 14 mm for DOF at 5 to 6 feet - tripod to flower bud .

An F stop of F 8 is to small - can cause shutter flicker = F 4 OR 5.6 do test shots for DOF
Looks like a speed of 1/30 ,

May need an ND filter to compensate for sun during day – do a few test shots if no answer to posed question

Shoot large JPEG - and RAW - I have a 16 GB - should be big enough - May want one or 2 single shots later - just take longer to batch - cropping probably needed with the 10-22 at 14 mm

Since I want to do an angels trumpet [Brugmansia] and flower hangs down - the flash should be under camera - pointed up – shadows or the ring light under bud ?

Get WB as close as possible for JPEG . Shoot in raw , and then check shot for WB that looks best and set

I took a few measurements yesterday [5-14-12]
bud closed - about 3 inches long - hanging at about 30 degrees
A fully open flower is about 14 inches long 6 inches wide[not counting tenicals] and hanging at about 70 degrees – for just flower and bud in focus = at least 2 feet DOF . Same plant - different flower

Set intravalometer [TC-80N3] at 1 shot an hour infinite shots
So far from fully formed bud to fully open flower a little over 3 days + = one shot an hour = 72 shots at 24 frames per second - a 3 second video . So if I start when bud starts to form - I think a week to reach flowering stage - would add 7 seconds .
Plant in house at least 10 days at 24 shots a day = 240 shots - check CF card - probably big enough .