DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

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

Submit A Story

Time Lapse Mining Automatically Creates Flawless Videos from Photos Found Online

May 20, 2015 by Liron Samuels Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Time_Lapse_Mining

Time lapse is possibly the best way to show change over time, be it the construction of a skyscraper or an otherwise unnoticeable change that occurs over a long period of time.

The problem with this popular technique is that it usually requires careful planning, a single photographer or a dedicated team and a decent amount of editing. However, a team of researchers from the University of Washington and Google seems to have overcome these difficulties.

The method used by the researchers takes advantage of the endless amount of photos found online, automatically detects popular subjects and edits them into seamless time lapse videos.

Ricardo Martin Brualla of UW provides a brief explanation of how time lapse mining works:

“First, we cluster 86 million photos into landmarks and popular viewpoints. Then, we sort the photos by date and warp each photo onto a common viewpoint. Finally, we stabilize the appearance of the sequence to compensate for lighting effects and minimize flicker”.

After scanning the 86 million photos, the system discovered 20,672 time lapse from photos taken all over the world! Not bad for an automatic system, huh?

The video below includes examples of these time lapses, as well as several failed attempts. It also compares previous methods with the new one and the difference is incredible. As you will see, the final results make it hard to believe the photos were not taken as part of a dedicated long-term time lapse project.

Two things to keep in mind when watching the video:

  1. The video includes audio explanations, but the volume is ridiculously soft. You’ll want to turn it WAY up.
  2. Don’t forget to turn the volume back down after you’ve watched the video. Seriously, you’ll need to make the volume so loud that forgetting to lower it later could be very unpleasant.

This method and the resulting videos are absolutely incredible in my opinion, and just think that as time goes by and more people upload photos online, the system will get even better and will be able to create even longer time lapses.

I can see this method having commercial potential, but while the researchers’ use might have allowed them to use the photos they found online, I can’t imagine a business obtaining 86 million release forms.

On the other hand, chances are you’d never know if one of your photos was being used in one of these videos.

The time lapse mining method will be presented at SIGGARPH later this year, which is the same computer graphics research and interactive techniques conference where Microsoft presented it Hyperlapse software.

[via Reddit]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

New Luminar 4 will use AI skin enhancer to automatically make your portraits flawless This free app uses AI to automatically edit your videos for social media Mining company loses 9 surveillance drones – because of eagles SEC kills Kodak Bitcoin Mining “scam”

Filed Under: Gear Tagged With: google, SIGGRAPH, Time Lapse Mining, time-lapse

Liron Samuels: from diyphotography.net

About Liron Samuels

Liron Samuels is a wildlife and commercial photographer based in Israel.

When he isn't waking up at 4am to take photos of nature, he stays awake until 4am taking photos of the night skies or time lapses.

You can see more of his work on his website or follow him on Facebook.

« Olympus Goes After DSLRs Where it Hurts Most in Its Mocumentary DSL-ARM Campaign
DIY 7,500 Lumens 100W LED Flashlight That Only Costs About $10 To Build »

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