Time Lapse Tree shot

Here is something I tried out in September. I went to take a photograph in five different locations within the tree lined path close to Falmouth Town station. Keeping track of the time I took each shot I was able to make sure I had a photo for equally divided intervals throughout the day. I have managed to compile one set of images for one location as shown below.



I found this shot to work the best as I was able to rest my camera on the bench and line up the viewfinder perfectly with the edge of the tree. At some point and if I find time I would like to compile the rest of the shots.

Light painting = fun :-)

Had a go at this with my mate Carl and it was really enjoyable. Theres an instant satisfaction and reward factor which far outweighs the amount of effort required to achieve the result! We used a digital SLR and LED lights,bike lights, and a laser pen.

Here is my favourite thing we made:



Carl made a HDR image for the background(incorporating several different exposures into one layer - i.e. using a 2 minute exposure combined with a 1/2 second exposure.) You can make the HDR image afterwards using Photoshop (File -> Automate -> Merge to HDR.)

We took a sequence of images - all on a 10 second exposure. We used Carls Nikon D40 DSLR camera on very low iso settings mounted on a tripod. I then used a LED light to mark out each character. (Apparently you can get 4 LED lights for a £1 at poundsavers.)

Later in After Effects I was able to layer up the character walking on top of the HDR background.

Here is one by Carl - quite a funky idea:



And another by me.. I would like to try this again - only making it much smoother. Here I have removed the HDR background. This background is the same composition as above only with the 10 second exposure instead of the combined awe of many exposures.



Here are some stills of some other ideas we tried out..











I am very keen to do more and get better at using this medium. It's a great way to produce art and animation.

Furry Tangents

Over Christmas/New Year I have been working with my friend Nathan on producing a bit of a hands-on puppet animation/show featuring furry animals expressing their political viewpoints on the latest student protests and rise in tuition fees.

Check it out :)



The cool thing about doing this is that its very quick to produce - we did it over a week. Therefore it can allow for a topical script. Its also pretty fun as you are moving the puppets whilst doing their voices.

I did all the thread removal myself and it took longer then the pre production and production. Doing this allowed me to get a better understanding of After Effects as I gave myself time to go through several online tutorials.

Here I have recorded how long everything took so I can refer back to it in the future should I need too.

Arbressence logo

Here is an animated logo I actually designed and photographed 2 Christmases ago and have only just got round to putting it into a sequence! It is for my mate Nathan who is a sound designer and Musician and asked me to do a logo for his site.



Its a bit jerky and probably wants re-photographing now that I have a tripod.

My favourite experimental videos from the class...

Here I have commented on some of my classmates work that I felt was well done and appealing to me in some way.

I enjoyed Toms (both Tom Spettel and Tom Gamesons animations)

Heres Tom Gamesons

The Venetian Mask from Tom Gameson on Vimeo.

The lights are very effective at changing the look and colours of the mask. Its also nicely edited/timed with the music and has a strong atmospheric feel to it..

Here's a link to Tom Spettel's experimental piece.

Brilliant :) Love the smoothly animated movement of the characters and also the way it has been done. The characters have a lot of character!

I really enjoyed Ollys one as well..



I like the look of it. Very nice.. no lens flares though or motion blur.. Whats going on Olly? hehe :)

Also, the natural element of using water and plants gives it a nice earthy feel and I like the glowing addition of drawn plants and mushrooms. I think this has inspired me - I would like to do some glowing animation myself at some point.

Brians one was interesting too..

A variety of techniques and methods used resulting in a well synchronised piece.
I like the light painting - turning into smoke.. it suited that part of the music very effectively.

Heres a few more that stood out for me..

Rosi's - I like the idea of combining a 3d paper model with 2d characters. Very cool.
Joe's - Like the intergalactic feel to it! And of course the giant singing mouth.
Grethe's - The method worked quite well and it is also one of the only ones that carried a message.
Jake's - Cool ink effects and I like the bit with the birds..

There are many more that were cool but theres not enough time to write about them all.. Good effort everyone some very nice work ! Have a good Christmas and New Year :)

November 11 Second Club Results

November 2010 11 Second club competition

I got 244th out of 295.. Not bad. I think I would have got better if I added in more frames for the inbetweens.





Here are a few comments:

• Ruud Harbers 2 days ago

  Love the idea. To make it more smooth you could add more frames, it would deserve it.

• Kacee 3 days ago

  Great idea!

• Justin Rochon 4 days ago

  Great idea!!!

• J Richardson 4 days ago

  Funny idea, animation needs work, good poses

• Lorena 4 days ago

  really funny, the chicken face is hilarious

• Sam Caudill 4 days ago

  Great idea! Work on more breakdowns and add more keyframes and you'll have a good piece