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Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Dec 26, 2012 by Udi Tirosh Add Comment

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Photographer Colin Mika was hired to shoot a sequence of time lapses for McCarthy Tétrault LLP. Instead of going the usual route of shooting different locations, he used a snow globe to encapsulate the timelapse while using the narrow depth of field to “play” shaped bokeh around the snow globe.

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

In this post, Colin is breaking down the process of making the movie. (Which you can see right after the jump)

The Rig

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

The rig is made up of 15mm rods and support brackets. It holds the camera at one end, and using a magic arm, the snow globe at the other.

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Due to the snow globe acting like a lens, the image is inverted inside and so the only way to get an upright world inside the snow globe, the globe must be flipped and shot upside down. This makes the background bokeh inverted from the motion in the globe, but it also adds an interesting effect. As an example, the freeway shot with traffic shows the bokeh snow flakes rising up and out of the globe, while the traffic in the globe is traveling towards the bottom of frame.

Focusing

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

To obtain focus I used a Canon Macro 50mm 2.5. This allowed me to bring the globe as close to the camera as I desired. The bokeh shapes act like an aperture and when they are used in the shot, they increase depth of field and allow more to be in focus inside the globe. For shots without bokeh shapes I stopped the lens down enough to get the depth I needed, usually closed down to f5.6 or more. I disengage the lens from the camera while holding the depth of field preview button to lock the aperture and reduce any flickering that is a result of slight variations in the aperture closing during timelapse sequences. My 5D mark II has Magic Lantern firmware installed which gives me a internal intervalometer.

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Shaped Bokeh

The bokeh shapes were hand cut with a stencil cutter and cut to size to fit in front of the glass of the Canon 50mm lens. This can be rather tedious as the shapes must be just the right size.

Setting Locations

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

The cities chosen were based on the office locations of McCarthy Tétrault. I had two days in each city to find iconic and breathtaking views to capture. Most of the time I could use google earth to scout ahead, but other spots came from locals’ recommendations and sometimes even looking at postcards and then tracking down the locations where they were shot.

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Creatively Using A Snow Globe In Time Lapse

Thoughts For The Future

If I do another video like this I will have to try to add “snow” inside the globe. I experimented with different liquids and oils to slow down the snow so that it would fall slowly for a timelapse, but I still have to figure out how to get around gravity, as the globe is upside down :-) Magnets perhaps? Ill save that for the next version!

P.S. way back we featured the grandfather of this project, An L.A. time lapse encapsulated in a snow globe.

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.net

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

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Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

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