Panoramic & Time-Lapse Photography for Libraries Pt. 1

As Community Relations Coordinator for my current library system, part of my job's duties consist of being the chief photographer for the system as well as maintaining our social media presence. When our system was forced in August of 2012 to replace the carpet in one of our branches I had the idea to take before and after panoramic shots of the carpet and to make time-lapse videos of the whole "renovation" process. There are several ways in which you can apply panoramic and time-lapse photography in a library setting, from architectural photos to time-lapses of library use. Below I will briefly introduce you to what panoramic and time-lapse photography are, and in Pt. 2 I will provide a simple how-to for creating your own.

The finished presentation video from our 2012 carpet replacement (my tattooed leg makes a cameo while I was painting on a ladder):



While my library system does have a couple of "point and shoot" digital cameras, I prefer to use my own Canon DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera and lenses for different events (oddly there is a DSLR on the cover of our textbook but not really mentioned). One of the major advantages to using a DSLR vs. using a point & shoot, apart from the image quality, is that I can use a lens with a higher aperture and a higher ISO setting to allow for natural light shots.

Aperture in digital photography generally refers to the size of the hole in the lens that allows for light to travel through to the camera sensor (a lens with a 1.4 or 1.8 aperture would be able to shoot in darker environments than a lens with an aperture of 2.8 or 4 because of the holes being larger, but generally the higher the aperture the higher the cost of the lens).

In digital photography ISO generally refers to an exposure index, while in film photography ISO would refer to the film speed.The higher the ISO setting, the more darker the environment you are able to shoot in, albeit with the introduction of digital artifacts (or noise) into the image.

What this simply means is I am often able to get more candid event pictures without the distraction of using a flash

Such as this:

So what are panoramic photos and timelapse videos?

Panoramas

Panoramic photos are, for the most part, multiple photos taken sequentially with a tripod, and then stitched together using specialized software (such as Adobe Photoshop or Hugin) in order to present a wider field of view. While the majority of panoramic photos you will find on the Internet are of natural landscapes, you can utilize panoramic stitching in any setting.

As an example of just how versatile panoramic stitching is, this is a macro shot I took last year of a Rosy Maple Moth made by stitching together nine separate macro images shot at a 1:1 ratio:

In the context of a library you can construct 360 degree images of interior rooms, capture large events (note that movement might cause artifacts in the stitching process), construct Facebook cover photos, or take exterior building shots.

This is an example of one of the 360 degree interior images featured in the presentation above (to see it larger click here):

Time-Lapses

In general, time-lapse photography consists of several photos taken in sequence incrementally (1s, 5s, 10s, etc.) over a set period of time. In order to construct a time-lapse video you would convert the sequence of photographs into a video file using specialized software such as Adobe Lightroom in addition to LRTimeLapse.

The standard video frame rate is anywhere from 24 to 30 frames per second, so at 24 frames per second you would have to take 1440 photographs in order to have 1 minute of video. This would mean that if you were planning on capturing 1 minute of video over a 4 hour period you would need to shoot at 10 second increments.

Here is one of my first time-lapse videos of an Orb Spider constructing a web:

Professional time-lapse videographers utilize several different techniques to construct their videos which might include automated dolly systems, computer control systems that can adjust camera settings over time, and external lighting to highlight subjects (especially for night shots).

Here is an example of a professionally shot Time Lapse:

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

For the purpose of shooting a time-lapse in a library setting, while an automated dolly would be nice, a simple set-up should be sufficient. Examples of potential uses for time-lapses in libraries could include footage of daily computer use, a library building project, shelf maintenance and shifting, creating murals, or daily/weekly library use in general.

To be continued.