The "driving" force (pun intended) for this clip was a request by a YouTube visitor, asking if I had any driving time lapses that took place during the daytime. I actually never really thought about doing one up until now, you don't really see too many of them out there... and I now know why. They are HARD to get.
I initially had to wait for good weather conditions. The next part was mounting my camera somewhere that would move naturally with the car and not shift or have the potential to shift while driving. I ended up using a magic arm with a clamp to mount my T2i to my rear view mirror upside down. I then flipped the image in post. Those 2 testing points made up the first few failed attempts.
The dynamic range between the really bright sky and the detail in the road and cars was also an issue, especially when you try to drag your shutter for almost half a second in order to get some much desired motion blur. This meant I had 2 ND filters stacked on the front of my camera (a ND 2.1 and a ND 1.8). I had to cut a lot of light out to keep my iris wide open to reduce the "strobe" effect that presents itself when doing time lapses on a DSLR. When you shoot with the iris closed even a little bit, there is a slight chance you will get an inconsistency in exposure between two shots.
This was actually my 8th attempt at getting something I felt was useable. Many times, the light couldn't be cut back enough or the cars (which are the main subjects) were too dark when I tried to expose the sky. I am going to do a LOT more testing to see if I can get something I am REALLY proud of, but I do like this one and felt it might be useful to some of you. Hope this helps in your projects!
You can preview and download the clips by clicking "read more" below. Happy Downloading!
As always, please e-mail, like us or share this on facebook, tweet, google plus, pinterest or do whatever you can to spread the word about this site. Thanks!
This video was shot using a
Canon EOS Rebel T2i and a
Canon EF 50mm f1.4 USM Lens