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First Art timelapse with a G9

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tranquilartist

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIMjT9VclZk&lc=Ugz996QPUe-Dc53gpnp4AaABAg

I filmed this in 4 k. The beginning angle didn't work since my big head obscured the art and I left autofocus on by mistake. So it focused on my head rather than art. Manual focus fixed that. When I changed the camera angle to behind my shoulder there was less of my head. Ideally Id like a straight on view but not sure where to put the camera that wouldn't interfere with me or be blocked by me.

I mainly filmed at night but would like to work during the day. Would I have to use autowhitebalance and some sort of setting to avoid color/light changes from the sun? Im in a sun room where you cant block out the windows. I used manual white balance but dont want to have to do that for ever light change during the day.

Is there a way of remotely pausing the timelapse so I don't have to cut footage of me leaving?

I have two 30 watts led lights with diffuse boxes aimed at the canvas roughly 45 degree either side. But it casts two shadows rather than just one. Not sure how to fix that.

I think I may try pictures every 2 seconds to make shorter videos. 1 second one generated 10000 plus images and about 113 gb of data.
 
When I tried to pause the Pana sync app in Bluetooth mode it didn't pause. I had to reach behind the camera. Also in remote mode it won't let you control a time lapse. Do I need a wireless remote to control it?
 
I thought that was very interesting and the final drawing was excellent.

When your head is visible, it covers the photograph, which does not change through the time lapse. One possibility is just to split screen the video, then place the photograph image on the left side without you in the way, say, on the left, and proceed with the time lapse on the right, with the left side of the artwork video track masked out.

Also, when you know you have a free area on the left that you can be in at will, then cover in post, it will free you up to choose the most comfortable position from which to do the drawing.

I think you can generate the left side from a screen shot from the video you linked to. I could try an edit for you from a screen shot short clip if that would help.

Joe
 
I'd appreciate that. It's quite a challenge filming myself in general. So definitely willing to try new things. I do lean into my drawing and will move left and right when measuring proportions. It might need a slight rotation to avoid that?
 
Let me see what I can do. My mother was an artist, so I did slide copy work of her watercolors and drawings so I understand what you are trying to do, but I never did a time lapse of a live demo. The live demos and art classes were her specialty, I wish I had done then for her what you are attempting here.

Joe
 
I'll modify my post above slightly to say use a frame grab of the photograph for the left side of the screen, then mask off the right side so that the art work shows through. It will be much easier to use the frame grab when editing the final video.

I had a problem at my end with screen capturing your video, so I went to my copy stand and made a 2 minute demo video of what I am suggesting is one possible option.





Maybe this will give you some ideas, at least.

Joe
 
As far as the lighting. The shadows are pretty distinct but not too distracting. The only way to get some softer shadows is to move the diffuser closer or use a larger diffuser. Also try to overlap the beams rather than have one on the drawing and one on the art work, as the overlap will also help reduce the shadows. You might try raising the lights some so the shadow is cast down low rather than across the drawing.

Sure, it would be best if you can set a custom white balance for the LED lighting and block out the windows, but a fixed white balance in the combination of daylight and the LEDs may be OK. Everyone is kind of accustomed to seeing white balance change through the day in a time lapse, so maybe it won't be a distraction, at least with the charcoal drawings. Watercolor is another story.

You probably have this in mind after you get the video side figured out, but, just in case you don't, perhaps consider adding a narration sound track after you get the video edited, perhaps describing what you are doing at each stage of the drawing development. It takes a little practice, but is very helpful to the viewer.

That's all I have for now. Keep up the good work, and share it!

Joe
 
Super helpful stuff! I will try the fixed Wb and hope for the best. In postni will see if the static image works well. In general I tend to stop drawing when the sun goes down when not filming. I have the g9 it set on A with an iso of 250. It's a Leica 12-60 lens. I have a few primes too but I think a slow f stop (low toneh?) may be good for keeping more things in focus.

When I get back from vacation i will post the lights and diffusers i have set up. Editing is done in lumafusion. The next update may allow the use of a external hard drive which would be great for speed and the massive file sizes.

Originally i wanted to just slap in the artists music but YouTube may strike the channel if I do that.
 

Here is the second time lapse. It's shot at 2 second intervals remotely using stop motion in image app. Not sure why timelapse doesn't work though strange app bug. The day light caused drastic color changes between times I shot. So lots of editing go fix that. Also the image needed to be color corrected a lot. Not sure if i should shoot flat to get nicer colors? I did manual white balance so may want to try auto next. What do you think compared to the first?
 
I've got a few suggestions that I will write up for you later today or early Sunday. I'm tied up until this evening.

Joe
 
tranquilartist said:

Here is the second time lapse. It's shot at 2 second intervals remotely using stop motion in image app. Not sure why timelapse doesn't work though strange app bug. The day light caused drastic color changes between times I shot. So lots of editing go fix that. Also the image needed to be color corrected a lot. Not sure if i should shoot flat to get nicer colors? I did manual white balance so may want to try auto next. What do you think compared to the first?
Click to expand...
Excellent!

I thought the narration was very good, just the right tone and speed and content, well done. The music selection was excellent, also, for this demonstration. What I did not like was the variation in music level and the overall levels. My suggestion is to increase the narration level a bunch and hold it constant, and reduce the music level relative to the voice over and leave it constant. My preference is for background music for a demo to remain in the background. Your audience wants to hear what you have to teach them about doing this type of drawing, the music is secondary. But I also think you should get opinions of others on this point. The overall sound level was way too low in the final video, as I had to crank the volume slider on YouTube nearly to the max. But I am also hearing impaired. Try for around -16 LUFS. You are probably 10 db lower than that right now. YouTube will lower the audio if you are too high, but won't increase it if you are too low.

I liked the framing from 0:57-1:42 much more than from 0:23-0:57. I would always try to frame to eliminate the background on the right side and not worry about the drawing not being centered. I would always try to include all of the photograph, but I see what you were compromising on here--back of head distraction versus photograph framing.

Here is another idea that may not be practical in your studio, but I thought I would mention just as something to try. Is it possible for you to increase the camera lens focal length and move the camera back some? That would allow you to reduce the keystoning effect a little and would also reduce the size of the artist in the frame a little. Just something to try. For this demonstration, I didn't think you being in the frame was very distracting.

Without seeing the variation in color balance from your original shots, it is difficult to make any recommendations on how to set up the camera. If you are having to do a lot of work in post, it may be better just to leave the camera in auto white balance, if you can't control the lighting. For a black and white demo, since the photograph is already black and white, perhaps auto white balance will be less distracting and certainly less to edit than a custom set. If the exposure doesn't change when the artist moves in and out of the frame, you could use a gray card to set exposure each time you sit down to work and maybe minimize the effort in post to hold the exposure constant. The drawing itself going from a white sheet to the finished drawing will change the exposure if set to auto unless the exposure measurement point is moved to something constant, like the photograph perhaps and not the drawing.

Overall, I think you have got your setup working pretty well, considering how difficult this is to frame. You certainly know what you are doing, and can explain it very well, so your content is very much worth some additional experimentation and tweaking.

I was able to get a screen recording of this demo, and I may try some things on my end later today or on Monday. I'll get back to you with any additional suggestions.

Joe
 
I took the screen recorder file from your demo video and found a frame where the photograph was unobstructed and then stretched that frame shot out over a second video track and masked out the right side so that the drawing side would show through from your video on the right side of the frame. Then I cut and moved the framing around some as your framing changed from one session to the next. Then, I cut the video down to 2 minutes for my demonstration of the picture-in-picture concept applied to your video. There is no audio in my file. See what you think. This would allow you to keep your drawing studio set up the way you like it to draw, but would remove most of the back of the head shots and keep the photograph clearly visible full size next to the drawing. And it is very easy to do in post.


This is a very rough cut of a screen recording, NOT precise, suitable just for demonstrating one way to get around your framing challenge.

Joe
 
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tranquilartist--have you had a chance yet to evaluate any of the comments/feedback above?

Joe
 
I'm going to try to the shift the image right and use the pip method. Was having some tripod issues and got a replacement one. I will also use a 25 mm prime lens. The new camera setting is cine v, with dialed down settings so I can make a lut, and avoid the charcoal black being crushed.
 
Ok, great! Thanks for the update.
 
Had some flashes in the latest footage where the exposure got blown out Going to be annoying to edit out. Had auto white balance on. Can that do that? My light source is a constant led
 
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