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This stunning timelapse of a sunflower opening took 10 days to film

Sep 7, 2021 by Alex Baker Leave a Comment

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Time-lapse videos can be absolutely mesmerising, and this one of a sunflower coming into bloom is no exception, showing an almost intimate glimpse of something we rarely see with our own eyes. Neil Bromhall created this incredible video in a darkened studio and took 10 days to film it.

Now we all know that plants need light to flourish, so how exactly did Neil go about filming this?

“Plants require periods of day and night for photosynthesis and to stimulate the flowers and leaves to open”

Neil had to recreate this day-night cycle using a grow lamp and then shooting with his Nikon D500 and a studio flash, had to engineer a blind to cover the lamp for every single exposure. The light from the lamp makes the plant grow, the light from the flash exposes every single photograph.

He uses heaters or coolers and humidifiers to control the studio condition for humidity and temperature. “You basically want to recreate the growing conditions where the plants naturally thrive,” he says.

Neil draws upon his botanical knowledge to predict where in the frame and when the plants will bloom. It can be fairly unpredictable and somewhat frustrating to spend so much time setting up a sequence and finding out that the culmination of the film (ie. the flower) is out of frame. He uses a track to raise the camera as the plant grows, the trick is to raise the camera at the same rate. Not easy, but Neil has plenty of experience as his fascinating YouTube channel shows and he isn’t afraid to employ a few extra tricks.

“I know from previous experience that the sunflower head will bend down as it fills and exudes its nectar,” Bromhall says. “So to stop the head from bending down I’ve used a sturdy wire hidden behind the flower head to stop it bending due to the extra weight.”

I can’t stop watching this timelapse, there’s something strangely compelling about it. Perhaps it’s the photographer’s patience to shoot this material over so many days with such attention to detail.

[Via Petapixel]

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Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: flower, Nikon, timelapse

About Alex Baker

Alex 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

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Alex 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

Dave 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 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 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.

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