This is a quick little time lapse video of the Larkspur ferry ride from Larkspur to San Francisco. It’s also an experiment in creating a time lapse using digital photos instead of a video camera. I captured each of the images using my Canon Powershot G3. I simply took photos every 20-30 seconds.
The next step was to import the photos into the computer and place them in their own folder. In addition, I created another empty folder for holding scaled down versions. With Photoshop, I used the Automate Batch functionality to scale the photos down to DV size (720×480). The resulting scaled images are placed in the empty folder. It’s important that they are in their own folder for the next step.
Then I created a Premiere project and imported the folder of scaled images. I did this by selecting File->Import and then selecting the first image filename. Before clicking Open, I clicked the Numbered Stills checkbox. This will import all of the images as a single video rather than individual images.
From there I was able to place the video, create the titles, and generate the final video.
NOTE: I have done plenty of video and still photo time lapses. This was specifically a test using digital photos, manual capturing, and moving while capturing. So, the results are not as pretty as still versions. But it has given me some ideas. Oh, and it’s a bit fast when played. Try manual stepping through at your own pace (keyboard with Quicktime works great for this).
Enjoy!
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