Friday 18 June 2010

Some more instructables fun... A variable neutral density filter in the cheapest possible way. This can be used to get shallow depth of field (wide aperture) or motion blur even under bright light conditions.


Simple Variable Neutral Density Filter - More DIY How To Projects

Friday 11 June 2010

Blooming

The movement of Oxalis triangularis is not limited to its leaves; a high definition timelapse of the opening of the flowers is really spectacular!

Monday 7 June 2010

Moving Plants and Distorted Time

Plants move a surprisingly large amount, whether it is phototropism (growth towards light), nastic movements towards or away from stimuli (eg. photonasty) or other rapid plant movements. Oxalis triangularis (also known as the love plant or purple shamrock) goes to "sleep" every night. The leaves are light sensitive and fold away as the light levels drop towards the end of a day in an example of photonasty.



Click through to see a high definition time-lapse - one image captured every 30 seconds for about 1.5 hours, played back at 25 frames per second; ~750x actual speed! The exposure time was progressively increased through the video so the drop in ambient light levels which triggers the movement can't be seen.