Extending single frame lightning bolt in a hyperlapse

[FlyingFilmmaker]

So a couple weeks ago I took my Air 2 up to film a storm that was moving through and decided to do a hyperlapse. It turned out OK, but I didn't think much of it and didn't get around to watching it on my computer until about a week later. When I did watch it on a bigger screen, I noticed that one single frame had a lightning bolt in it. I first found the JPG and edited it as a still shot.

Then I decided to see what I could do with the hyperlapse. I froze the frame that the lightning was in, layered it over the hyperlapse for about one second, masked it to only the area of the lightning bolt, then added a flicker effect to just the lightning bolt itself to make it "flash" something like a real lightning strike.

Results below.

Also did a quick tutorial showing what I did in more detail. Lightning

Does it look like a real lightning strike to you?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I completely missed it the first few times.
What you might try is getting the Frame and freezing it and than zoom into it for a nice slow motion effect .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Capture the Storm.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

I completely missed it the first few times.
What you might try is getting the Frame and freezing it and than zoom into it for a nice slow motion effect .

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Capture the Storm

It's still pretty short so it could easily be missed!! Also YouTube (at least on lower resolution) seems to make it less obvious. Are you thinking of keeping the whole freeze-frame frozen and zooming in?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

It's still pretty short so it could easily be missed!! Also YouTube (at least on lower resolution) seems to make it less obvious. Are you thinking of keeping the whole freeze-frame frozen and zooming in?

Yes , I think the video being as short as it is could benefit from some slow motion and freeze frame plus the zoom .
I may try something similar as I caught a lot of white flashes but just a few bolts last night.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain and Capture the Storm.

 

[brett8883]

So a couple weeks ago I took my Air 2 up to film a storm that was moving through and decided to do a hyperlapse. It turned out OK, but I didn't think much of it and didn't get around to watching it on my computer until about a week later. When I did watch it on a bigger screen, I noticed that one single frame had a lightning bolt in it. I first found the JPG and edited it as a still shot.

Then I decided to see what I could do with the hyperlapse. I froze the frame that the lightning was in, layered it over the hyperlapse for about one second, masked it to only the area of the lightning bolt, then added a flicker effect to just the lightning bolt itself to make it "flash" something like a real lightning strike.

Results below.

Also did a quick tutorial showing what I did in more detail. Lightning

Does it look like a real lightning strike to you?

I think you’ve got the right idea. Lightning usually flashes several times so maybe do what you did but have it flash a few times times first. And yea zoom in

 

[jspil]

I've watched the video eight times, and still didn't see any lighting.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

I've watched the video eight times, and still didn't see any lighting.

It's before 0:01 in the video. I'd like to do one that's more in the middle of the hyperlapse and easier to see. Maybe I should just add the lightning from scratch.

 

[jspil]

It's before 0:01 in the video. I'd like to do one that's more in the middle of the hyperlapse and easier to see. Maybe I should just add the lightning from scratch.

I have even paused the video and manually scrubbed back and forth between 0.00 and 0.02, and still don't see it. My eyes aren't what they used to be though. I guess I was looking for something like in the photo I attached. I took this with my cell phone camera during a big storm by where I live.

 

[BigAl07]

It's before 0:01 in the video. I'd like to do one that's more in the middle of the hyperlapse and easier to see. Maybe I should just add the lightning from scratch.

I missed it two times and THEN I read this post!

Very cool!! It would be better in the middle of the video to allow the eyes and mind take it all in before something dramatic hits for a split second. It's def a very good start. Now you've got me thinking of some things I'm wanting to try and get