DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Crowdsourcing Bullet Time

Dec 12, 2011 by Udi Tirosh Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Eeeeveryboy loves Bullet Time. Bullet Time is that magical moment in a movie when everything freezes and the camera makes a circle or a semi circle around an object. I guess it is called bullet time cuz the camera moves at the speed of a bullet.

By now, you probably know that this effect is achieved with a battery of stills camera that will set you back a small house. To achieve Bullet Time, the photographers (or Bullet time specialist) places cameras in a circle and use both a green screen and clever triggering software.

The big number of cameras are used to maintain smooth motion as the point of view moves from one camera to another.

The Triggering mechanism is used to trigger the camera one after the other in very close succession, so it would seem like time is still flowing while the POV changes.

And the green screens is used to eliminate any interference and gain control over the set.

Or….. You could crowd source it all.

Photographer Guy Viner really wanted to make a Bullet Time sequence but lacked the 24+ DSLRs that would be needed to pull of this stunt. (He also lacked the 60 feet of green screen and the software), Instead he called some friends. Before we go into the details, here is what they pulled off.

Kicking Off The Project

The first hurdle was getting the 20+ cameras that this project would require. So a few months back Guy put a call on his blog and 24 photographers showed up to a local photography club meeting.

The initial results which you can see in the video above were promising, so a second date was set, and this time it was during a photography convention which promised a bigger scale production. The movies below are from the earlier attempt and a bigger, better movie is on the way.

Challenge 1 – Cameras

While the hardest part of getting a few dozen photographers (and cameras) involved was successful accomplished, the crowdsourcing part of the project yielded a few technical issues that needed to be addressed.

What, didn’t you all showed up with a 60D and a 50mm 1.8? Well, no. within the 43 photographers there was a huge range of cameras, tripods and lenses. This meant, different base ISOs, different focal lenses and distortions, different maximal and minimal tripod length, different color hues – well, you get the point. (click the image to see a bigger version of the mess)

Crowdsourcing Bullet Time

The first thing to do was get everyone into position. A white ping-pong ball was hanged where the action would take place and a rope was used to create a circle. Tripods were carefully set at the edges of the circle from low to high, creating an arch. The ball was then used both for focusing and calibration.

Crowdsourcing Bullet Time

To overcome the messy camera situation, a few settings were set and a ping pong ball was shot. To get everyone on the same line, all ISO, white balance, and aperture were manually set. Focal length was set at 55mm since it seemed to be common enough.

A shot of a white ping pong ball carefully placed at where the subject would be. The nice thing about ping pong balls is that they look the same from every angle, so it can be used to calibrate the cropping and align the images of the action sequence photographs. (simply place ball over ball, I know it sounds bad, but, really, this is how it works).

 

Crowdsourcing Bullet Time

Challenge 2 – Synchronization

It’s hard to sync 43 cameras. Dedicated software like DSLR Remote Pro Multi-Camera can trigger tens of cameras in sync, yet we were dealing with a low-cost setup. This is why we opted to not precisely synchronize the cameras. A long exposure of 5 seconds was used on all cameras (good enough so everyone can open shutters) and 2 SB900 strobes will provide a lighting quick exposure.

Since the only light will be coming from the strobes there is no risk at having the shutters open in slightly different timing.

But, how will the strobes know when to fire? A cameraAxe with a sound trigger was used to pick up the sound of the popping balloon and trigger the strobes.

Crowdsourcing Bullet Time

Challenge 3 – Environment Control

As I mentioned before we had no green screen to control the environment, so two measures were taken to assure control.

We had everything done in complete darkness so the background would be black. The only light came from a small flashlight signaling the photographers to open shutters, and once all clicks were heard, the actors know they had about 3 more seconds to pop the balloon.

The second measure was to point the cameras slightly upwards. This ensured that camera will not pick up the photographer on the other side. This kind of cross fire avoidance will not hold for a shooting range, but definitely works for a Matrix style bullet time.

Walking The Scene

And if all that was not enough, the nice guys over at Rotary View made a 3D controllable slider for it:

Conclusion

I know lots of you guys don’t own 20 camera (even Joe McNally travels with dozens of strobes, but probably not more than a few bodies). If you are a part of a photography club or a group, this is just the kind of project that you could put up in one afternoon or a rainy day. Please share your results if you do anything like this.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default Thumbnail(kinda) Crowdsourcing Bullet Time Dancers PIXEO uses crowdsourcing to show you the best photo spots around the world Default ThumbnailUsing A Go Pro Array For Bullet Time Effect Using the Chronos high speed camera with motion capture rig for bullet time effects

Filed Under: Inspiration, Tutorials Tagged With: Projects

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.

« High Speed Primer – Better Trigger And Cherry Drops
How To Bake A Nikon Cake »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Here’s a bullet time video booth you can build yourself
  • Ricoh has discontinued the HD PENTAX-DA 21mm F3.2AL Limited silver lens
  • This “stellar flower” unravels the twilight’s evolution in 360 degrees
  • Strobes vs Continuous LEDs – Which is right for you?
  • Wave goodbye to Apple’s My Photo Stream next month

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.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy