Spencer’s Sprouts - How to Time Lapse Photograph Seedlings - GoPro HERO4

A great subject matter for time lapse photography is watching seedlings break free from the dirt and turn into little plants via a time lapse video.

I was recently house sitting for a friend and he left us with the responsibility of watering his newly planted seeds that were basking in the sun on the kitchen bench.

I had never done a time lapse of plants before -- so what a perfect opportunity to put the new CamDo Solutions Blink GoPro time lapse controller through its paces again, coupled with a GoPro HERO4 Silver.

The results are not perfect, as I had to slightly move the camera position and I also didn't check the exact sunrise time so I missed some morning growth.But needless  to say, it's pretty interesting. I was really surprised at how much the seedlings grew overnight.

I used a combination of timing, the optimum of which will depend on the type of plants you are watching and how long you want to run your time lapse for (check out our handy time lapse calculator here). Initially I started out at 20 minute intervals, then narrowed it to 15 minutes then again to 10 minutes as they were growing so quickly. I would suggest doing it in the reverse order ie err on a more frequent interval so you don't miss out on footage.

One of the nice things about the Blink controller is the ability to set different modes at different times of the day. So I have a combination of shots in normal mode and some in night mode. Have a read here for our blog post re some of the features of Blink.

In the end this short time lapse clip shows about 3 days worth of plant growth.

Equipment used:

• CamDo Blink Time Lapse Controller
• GoPro HERO4 Silver

Settings:

CamDo Blink

• Schedule 1 between 6am and 10pm (7MP medium view, auto mode)
• Schedule 2 between 10pm and midnight (7MP medium view, night mode)
• Schedule 3 between midnight and 6am (7MP medium view, night mode)

• Day shot, 7MP medium view, auto mode
• Night shot, ISO 800, 20 seconds, auto mode