Time-lapse videography
Ant lion: Time-lapse movies of trap construction
I found my pet antlion during a field trip with the entomology class to Colockum Research Station near Wenatchee in Eastern Washington. I've always been amazed by antlion traps and wondered how exactly the animals made them, and how long their construction took. Looking online, I couldn't find any really good videos of this process. Since I was eager to try out time-lapse videography anyways, I set my antlion in a small dish and let a DV camera snap an image every second for about 48 hours until I finally had the first movie. Building the pit only took about an hour, but I had a hard time to get the antlion to make one while the camera was trained on it (Shyness?). For the result, watch video #1 above.
About a month later, the antlion had grown substantially (see image on the right), and made much larger pits. I decided to do another time-lapse, this time with the animal in white sand. The result is movie #2 above.
Time lapse movies were made in Apple's iMovie HD 6.
High-speed videography
Butterfly dance
The sequence on the right was shot in the butterfly house of the Pacific Science Center. Filmed at 500 fps. This video consists of about 730 frames, which means the whole sequence took less than 1-½ seconds in real time. Shot with a Phantom Miro 4 color high-speed camera, which was graciously loaned to the Daniel Lab by its manufacturer, Vision Research.
Bumblebee take-off
The following bumblebee take-off scene was filmed at 500 frames/second in the university's herb garden. The complete sequence takes about 700ms, or 0.7 seconds in real time. Shot with a Phantom Miro 4 color high-speed camera, which was graciously loaned to the Daniel Lab by its manufacturer, Vision Research.
Megachilid bee
Another sequence from UW's herb garden. The movie on the right shows a megachilid bee hovering in front of a flower. Filmed at 500 fps. This video consists of about 700 frames, which means the whole sequence took less than 1-½ seconds in real time. Shot with a Phantom Miro 4 color high-speed camera, which was graciously loaned to the Daniel Lab by its manufacturer, Vision Research.
Praying mantis turns its head
A black-and-white sequence of a mantis head turn. The duration of the full sequence is 0.3 seconds in real time, and the head turn itself only takes about a 5th of a second. By filming at 500fps, and playing at 25fps I slowed down the action 20 times. Filmed on a Miro 3 camera by Vision Research.
Two cabbage-white butterflies
A longer black-and-white sequence of two cabbage-white butterflies interested in Kohlrabi flowers. The duration of the full sequence is about 1.1 seconds in real time. By filming at 1265fps, and playing back at 25fps, I slowed down the action about 50 times. Filmed on a Miro 3 camera by Vision Research.
Honeybee landing
A black-and-white sequence of a honeybee (Apis melifera) landing on a flower. The duration of the full sequence is about 0.8 seconds in real time. By filming at 1265fps, and playing back at 25fps, I slowed down the action about 50 times. Filmed on a Miro 3 camera by Vision Research.