Popular Science Simple Project of the Month

Page 79 of the May 2012 edition of Popular Science.  Low cost kitchen timer
panning units have officially gone mainstream. My Ikea Stam kitchen timer hack
is Popular Science's May Simple Project of the Month. 
I don't know why but there is something about seeing your stuff in print that is always fun.
For those of you just finding my blog and wanting to build this project, my DIY video is
below along with links for other versions of my panning units.
Here is the link for my original Ikea Hack blog post.
This project is best for small point and shoot cameras with built in intervalometers.
I use GoPro Hero cameras with mine, they are cheap, light, durable and
have an internal intervalometer that will run until the battery dies or memory card fills up.
This Ikea Stam Kitchen timer is not strong enough for DSLRs.

Want to see the Ikea Stam in action? Check out this video
If you liked this video please check out my youtube channel and subscribe to Getawaymoments.
Here are a few links I would suggest watching if you want to make your own panning unit.
Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 1
Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 2
 Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 3
 Egg Timer Timelapse Panning Unit Part 4

$6 will add motion to your timelapse.

A GoPro shooting a GoPro Hero2 in action.

There are four different colors to choose from, $1.99 each..

Fun with Macro

I'm a big fan of extreme wide shots and incredible close ups.

To that end I want to celebrate macro.

Macro shows us another world, a microscopic world.

Below you get a glimpse of me using the afternoon sun to help capture

some macro stills and video with my Canon 7D and 65 MP- E.

Photo courtesy of that wicked eye on Mrs. Getawaymoments.

Our screened lanai provided the subjects of this shoot.

In macro, the screen looks like prison bars. 

Meandering Monarchs

It's Spring again, and I find myself neck deep in Florida Monarchs.

There are worse problems to have, and this one I made for myself.

All year round I keep some milkweed growing in my garden to attract and help

Monarchs find a place to lay eggs.  I also try to keep some parsley or dill

growing for swallowtails.  Both are butterflies, so you might expect similar behavior?

Oh no.  Swallowtails lay their eggs, turn to caterpillars eat everything, then find the closest

thing they can find and create a chrysalis.

Monarchs on the other hand are travelers and who knows where they may go.

Lets call it Monarch hide and seek.

Some are lazy and take the closest twig, while others hit the road.

I generally try to keep some on my lanai to protect them from predators, which creates

some of the silliest chrysalis locations.

The photo collage above was created by my lovely wife on PicFrame using her i-phone

posted to her instagram page, check her out  @sottpa

 The photos below are some of our favorite meandering monarchs.

Below that is a list of links to my various butterfly videos.

Enjoy.

Video Links

                  Monarchs caterpillar to chrysalis in HD

                  Monarchs caterpillar to chrysalis timelapse

                  Monarchs eat

                  Monarch birth

                  Swallowtail birth

                  Swallowtail feast

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Strawberry Fields Forever

What does this sea anemone looking thing have to do with strawberries?

Scroll down and see the secret life of a strawberry.

The last few months have taken me out to the never ending

 strawberry fields of Plant City Florida, the home of winter strawberries.

The Strawberry Festival is this week, check it out and the video I made last year.

Red strawberries get all the attention, so take a second and enjoy

the beautiful white strawberry flower.

Lido Beach Sunset with a Canon 7D

I can never get enough of a quiet evening on the beach watching the sun

slip away ending another day.  Our last few mini breaks we have stayed

on Lido Beach in Sarasota Florida.

On our last stay I broke out my under used Canon 7D and tried my best to

re-introduce my self to all the settings and difficulties of shooting video

with a DSLR.  One thing that is definitely hard is trying to follow

focus with a lens that was never intended to be used for video.

The results of my evening shoots are below, and a fun shot

my wife got of a suspicious beach walker and her dis-shoveled

husband.

Surf Sentinel

A quiet moment by Mrs. Getawaymoments.

Instagram users can find her feed @sottpa 

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GoPro Hero2 Time Lapse with a Twist

I have a lot of fun with my GoPro cameras.  Years ago I was amazed at how cool

a simple flying time lapse with my GoPro came out.  This past August 

I had a long cross country flight and decided to try something new, 

a flying time lapse with a twist.

And later a driving time lapse.

Is this a technique or shot I would do all the time? No.

But for the right project it could be very cool.

Here is how I did it. Video DIY at bottom of post.

You need to have a compact egg timer and a GoPro J-hook buckle.

Some of the egg timer "designs" are too tall to do this, I would recomend

a Golapse style , DIY here, or my original design.

I have read on many forums that folks have a problem with timers failing,

When you buy, you should pick a timer that "sounds" strong, crank it up and test it.

Also, when you run any of these units you should crank them all the way and then

set your shot.  To do the twist shot you need a strong timer, many timers may not work.

In my driving time lapse with a twist video you can see the timer slip at 1:03.

If you try this shot, use a new timer, the odds are it will have a much stronger mechanism

when it's new.

If you want to get this shot through a window I recommend using two Ultraclamp arms.

Ultraclamps are cheap and very useful for GoPro shooting.

Here is the video DIY  on how to twist you GoPro time lapse.

And a GoPro shooting a GoPro shooting a time lapse with a twist.