Picking up from where I left off in the last post, I’ll be bringing you the night scenery of Yokohama with the high-sensitivity GZ-HM860 and GZ-HM650 Everios. This time, I’ll try something a bit more challenging. I’ll use a slow shutter speed and focusing in to create variations on the night view images. For the finale, I’ll even shoot a video of city lights from a car!
Unique Effects with Slow Shutter Speed and Focusing In!
First, I tried to create a streaming “light tracks” effect by using a slow shutter speed.
Using a slow shutter speed lengthens the exposure time, so captures come out brighter; however, that slower speed makes it very easy to pick up camera shake. This time, I put the camera shake to work, using it to create an effect instead. When you set the shutter speed to 1/3 and zoom in or out in one movement, the lights stream out in rays; it’s really neat! Then, if you pan in one motion, the lights in the image stream sideways as though you’re warping. When I did this in town, in places where there were lots of cars and foot traffic, the images were filled with the flowing movements of passersby and the lights of the cars, and it gave them a vaguely dreamlike feel.
Next, I used focusing in to manually blur the beginning of the shot for a unique transition effect. I set the Everio to use auto focus, then held my hand up close to the lens, letting it focus on my hand. Then I just whisked my hand out of the frame, making the camera lose focus, and began to capture! That way, the video started out blurred and gradually came into focus. It felt as though the beauty of the lights came through even better this way than with the normal night view capture.
JVC Everio GZ-HM860:
Yokohama Night Views – Slow Shutter and Focusing In
Through clever use of effects, you can create impressive images that could easily be scenes from a television drama!
Attempting a Time-Lapse REC Video of Night Scenery from a Car!
Then, for the finale, I shot a video of the city lights from a car! To capture, I fixed the Everios firmly to the car’s dashboard.
First I used the GZ-HM860 and shot a Time-Lapse video, using one-second intervals.
I used Night Mode in Manual, and I fixed the focus. When capturing video from vehicles, the surrounding scenery changes at terrific speed; the focus has a tendency to become unstable, such as settling on the windshield, so you really need to fix it! It’s easy to do: first, go into Manual Mode and set it to “auto focus” to let the camera automatically adjust the focus, then return to “manual focus” to lock the focus.
The 29.5 mm wide-angle lens captured the night scenery around the car perfectly, and I got a clear video that’s bursting with power and the feeling of speed.
I also used the Everio MediaBrowser 3 BE to add background music!
JVC Everio GZ-HM860:
Time-Lapse REC Video of Night Views from Car
Night View Video Shot from Car Heading for Tokyo Tower
When we got close to Tokyo Tower, near the city center, I used the GZ-HM650, set at normal speed, to capture a video of the city lights from the car. As with the GZ-HM860, I fixed the focus in Manual before I started capturing. We were heading straight for Tokyo Tower, and the video caught the approach beautifully!
I used jazz as the background music this time, to play up the atmospheric city lights.
JVC Everio GZ-HM650:
Normal Speed Video of Night Views From Car
All right: including the previous post on “It’s the Best Time of Year for Capturing Night Views!”, I’ve used two posts to introduce several mini-techniques. I hope you’ve enjoyed them.
When you see night views, you often want to capture both the sight and the emotions you feel when you look at it so you can take them all home with you. However, I’m sure many people have had the experience of not being able to capture quite the way they’d like.
I think you can preserve the scenes and atmosphere you want to capture more attractively by using different modes for different situations, and by adding effects to enhance them. I hope you’ll all try your hands at capturing night views, too!
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