My first timelapse dusk-night timelapse. Disappointment.

[CuriousMike]

Yeah, I had visions of awesomeness.

This is not that.

Lots of talk about "adjusting exposure" as you do a day to night - it just isn't that easy.

I suppose you could do the "aperture priority mode + auto iso" -- but even that will have issues.

I ended up hand-tuning the exposure on most of these frames... and the exposure warbles like mad.
I tried LRTimelapse - it actually produced a better smooth exposure than I did, but had a hand-behind my back with the types of edits I could do on the images.

While the first, and second, and third versions of this video I created all look decently "bright" on my machine, each time I looked at them on my phone or my macbook, the video looked dark. After my fourth (and last) pass at boosting exposure, I just called it quits and I present to you my first hot mess.

I need to really do more reading/watching on how people create these smooth day-night timelapses -- cuz I don't have the mojo.

This is the result of ~ 445 frames.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgQnuUe_1Ns

 

[Syborg1211]

Not bad! The moving stars are pretty awesome. The most distracting part was the frames that had lens flare in them from I'm guessing car lights?

 

[CuriousMike]

Cars, in two forms.
1. Driving through the main "Tunnel View" road
2. Car in the parking lot - people coming in, taking off, or maddeningly idling with their lights on.

 

[Spoooon]

Still cool man, especially for someone who isn't doing this for their job. Way better than me anyway.

I think they have software that can help correct the exposure stuff.

 

[Nohr]

That's super cool! You're braver than I am. Worrying about one still frame is enough trouble for me.

 

[Syborg1211]

That's super cool! You're braver than I am. Worrying about one still frame is enough trouble for me.

Truth.

 

[Thebobo]

Pretty cool, those lights are folks bivouacking on the side of, Half Dome? Looks like someone descended in the dusk as well.

 

[zCypher]

I agree with Syborg1211, the most distracting part is really just the lens flare. I actually thought it was pretty cool too, and you did say this was your first timelapse. So pretty damn good as far as "hot messes" go. I unfortunately have nothing of value to offer as I haven't done it myself, but you should definitely keep at it. Anandtech demands it!

I feel that you probably suffer from the same syndrome that so many of us do, which is just that we've set the standard for ourselves to be quite high, and so it's easy to be disappointed when trying something new and not getting as good as what we were hoping.

 

[Rottie]

Wow it looks good. I am jealous. I don't know if my aging Canon Powershot SX50 HS can do it?

 

[luv2liv]

good try. when i see the pros do it, i know they have mad skills to make it looks so easy.
then theres this guy who takes it to whole nother levl.

 

[bigi]

Great one OP. Just get rid of car lights and you'll be good to go. The sky/stars look great even for single exposure, but the movements are really cool.

The pro level stuff is actually much more work in terms of multiple exposures and tracking.