Making long term hyperlapse using a drone

[lukas123]

Hello. I am planning to make a long term hyperlapse video of a big construction site that just started if I get their approval. The construction will take anywhere from 1 to 2 years to complete and and I am dedicated enough to take some pictures from the same position, height and camera angle every single day. Does anyone here tried to do long term hyperlapse? Is this even viable option with a drone?

What are the most important things to consider when doing such long term hyperlapse?
Thanks in advance, any tips are appreciated.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

You might also consider using Litchi , or drone Link or step up to Drone Deploy for exact Picture and video taking.

You can have a lot of fun with the Change in weather , adding sound of the construction edit as you need to the non changing times. The more control you have the better the overall production.

The More Autonomous the flights the more precise and easier to edit as one clip can seamlessly blend into the next to capture that wow factor.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain and land on the Water.

 

[lukas123]

Thanks for the answer. Can you explain more about taking the footage and speeding it up? Do you suggest I take videos over the 2 years period and then blend them together?

Ideally, we would like to achieve something like:

Of course, on top of the hyperlapse, I will also be taking some normal videos/ pictures as well

 

[Phantomrain.org]

No I was thinking you can do both , where the video you are flying and everything is changing with your flight blending into the changes as you fly. Than qualify the Hyper Lapse and maybe from 2 different view points

 

[lukas123]

That sounds cool. However, I do not understand how can I possibly do that. From my understanding, I must stay in one exact place maintain same camera angle to do hyperlapse. How can I fly and make the construction progress while im flying? Would I just move the drone a few inches everyday or what?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

No this would not be the HyperLapse this would be the video blending.
So you could do it two ways you could fly and video record as you get closer to the subject and each time cut to a new flight to make it look like one continuous flight with the scene changing around you. so that would require video editing and cutting each significant change in weather and build,

You could also do a Perimeter flight around the site , editing the changes making it seem like on continuous flight each time passing around a change was taking place in the weather or build .

I think that was more of the lines I was thinking towards.

Giving this more thought I would take a video while flying the Perimeter every time there was a significant change in weather and than cut at each start the change and I think that would be an amazing effect , But you need to be able to fly in the Rain to capture the changes in the sky and the surrounding and i forget that not everyone fly's in the rain like we do., ? but I still think there is potential.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly your Mavic in the Rain and Land on the Water.

 

[lukas123]

Okay I think I am getting close to understanding what you mean. Let me double check one more time. So you are suggesting i setup a waypoints for my drone to automatically flight to and focus to an object so the camera stays focused on one thing throughout different videos. Then I take a video of the drone folowing the waypoints.

And then in post production, I would cut the video so it blends in with the previous one. For example on the very first video I take, I would just take lets say 0.5 second of the begining. Then on the 2nd video, I would skip to 0.5 - 1 second of the video. Then the 3rd video would have to be cut to start at 1second and end at 1.5 and etc.... Am I right?

I am slightly concerned about the slight difference in coordinates and whether I would be able to blend all individual videos in one single smooth video? I wont be able to ensure that the drone position and especially camera position and angle is exactly the same as it was the day before

Does it have any advantages doing this way than taking the images and then making a hyperlapse out of them?

Perhaps you have got any examples to show? Youtube videos of what exactly do you mean?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

No not like that, If i have time i will post an example. There is no advantage over a hype lapse its just in addition a separate video to make an another way to show changes though out the build and weather,

 

[lukas123]

Sorry for the confusion, I actually meant to say is there any advantages of doing a videos of construction site and then blending them all together versus taking images everyday and then building a timelapse. I imagine they would both have similar result?

Okay thanks it would be great if you showed an example.

 

[JackL]

I would find a good spot and bolt down a decent camera for the time lapse and supplement it with drone footage shot over the course of construction.

I can't see how a drone could nail the shot day after day for years and produce a result you would be happy with. GPS is good, but repeatable, MM precision is something I have never managed to get out of it.

 

[JackL]

You could also do a Perimeter flight around the site , editing the changes making it seem like on continuous flight each time passing around a change was taking place in the weather or build .

I like this. Sounds like quite a project but the results would be awesome if you could pull it off.

 

[lukas123]

The only problem with setting up a regular camera to shoot a timelapse is that I wont be able to get a required angle unless I am far away and high enough. Its quite big construction site ( Lets say like 300x300 meters area). In order to take the image to cover the whole construction site area, I would need to setup a regular camera somehwere very high which would be quite tough to do.

I recently found this video:

Which is not perfect but if I can pull off something like that and make it smoother I would be more than happy

 

[Kilrah]

From my understanding, I must stay in one exact place maintain same camera angle to do hyperlapse.

All images from the same point is a timelapse, a hyperlapse is when you move a little between each image to give slow regular movement in addition.

 

[JackL]

Which is not perfect but if I can pull off something like that and make it smoother I would be more than happy

Wow that looks great. If you got out there every single day and shot the required footage it would be spectacular. I think after a few passes it would become a second nature flight. You could also get the pics you need to make a true time lapse if yo could find something to line up with. It would take serious dedication. I tried something similar here with a construction site and they were too fast and I was a bit lazy with flying it.

 

[vfrailing]

Here is a stop action completed over 2 years, with two shots every month, programmed in Litchi. I used Phantom 4 pro, AEB x5, Photomatix for HDR blending, Photoshop stacking to refine differences in position over that time, and then Premier to assemble. Sorry, I missed the ending because they cancelled the project, so it was a little rough. I liked most of the result though.

Vimeo

vimeo.com

 

[Phantomrain.org]

That was a fantastic job, a lot of work and discipline with a great result.. When you say the project was cancelled do you mean they never finished ?

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain

 

[vfrailing]

Sorry, they cancelled my contract with them to make my bi-monthly flights. I think they just felt they didn't need them anymore, they were happy with the work. The animation was mostly for fun. I got upset that they didn't want to finish documenting the whole project, so I stopped shooting. I should have kept going just to get a decent clip, but I can get stubborn. It is cool seeing the landscape change over the seasons, and I was happy with how PhotoShop got everything lined up. I did lose a lot of the image in the correction. Originally I had included some horizon and sky.
Thanks for the comment, rain.

 

[robinja9876]

Heij,
actually I have to do a long term construction hyperlapse like you did. Ive filmed the site already 4 times and I really have some trouble with the precise flight route. I think thats because of the gps. I’m using drone link to save the path, camera yaw and drone speed but I still have slight differences between these 4 videos. Can tell me, how did you manage to get the pictures lined up??
it would be really help for me
greetings from Austria

 

[vfrailing]

Robin, when you bring the stills into PhotoShop, you can use stack and have the program register them. Be prepared for loss of some image as it stretches and adjusts the image, but it worked well for me.

 

[robinja9876]

Ahhh.. yeah got it. I know this command in photoshop works pretty well for photos.
but in my case I’m trying to combine videos with smooth transition between the different construction phases.