How can I stabilize a solar eclipse timelapse so the Sun stays fixed in frame?
Asked 8/26/2017
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I shot a timelapse of the 21 Aug 2017 solar eclipse without a tracking mount, so I had to re-aim the camera about every 15 minutes. In the resulting sequence, the Sun drifts across the frame and jumps whenever I repositioned the camera.
I’d like to process the images so the Sun stays stationary and only the Moon appears to move across it, as if the camera had been tracking. Is there an automated way to do this, or do I need to align each frame manually?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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This can be done with most video editing software with an aptly-named feature called tracking. It does not always work perfectly but can be very effective and should be quite accurate for your purpose.
First you will need to create your time-lapse as usual. The sun will move across the frame with jumps for every time you moved the camera. Once you have your time-lapse, load into a video edition S/W.
With the tracking tool, select the object to track - in your case the sun - and let the process run. It will take several minutes, producing a track of control-points and the video will be anchored to those. Play the video to see where it lose tracking and, if so, adjust the control-points manually. The intermediate points will automatically follow for smooth tracking.
It is possible that each time you moved the camera, software tracking will stop. In that case, you must run the tracking tool again from the first frame where tracking is lost. Repeat as needed until the video is smooth.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. The usual approach is to first assemble your images into a timelapse, then stabilize it by tracking the Sun in video-editing software.
Most video editors have a motion-tracking or stabilization feature. Track the Sun, anchor the clip to that track, and review the result. If tracking slips at any point, you can usually correct key points manually and let the software interpolate between them.
If automatic tracking doesn’t work well, manual alignment is straightforward in a layer-based editor such as Photoshop: place each frame on a new layer, reduce opacity, move it until the Sun matches the previous frame, then restore opacity and continue. Once all frames are aligned, export the sequence as a video.
So: automated tracking may work, but manual frame-by-frame alignment is a reliable fallback for an eclipse sequence like this.
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