Introduction
This is an exciting new combination of hardware and technique that is now available to everyone – from hobbyist to professional! Cool!
I enjoy experimenting and then sharing techniques and how-tos with people. I did the same thing with my HDR Tutorial, which you can have a look at if you are new to the site! (by the way, welcome!)
I first released this “video” called “The Moments Between: Episode 1: Japan” a few weeks ago. There was a very positive response to it, and I asked people for names. I got all kinds of suggestions, but, in the lack of anything better, I kinda like “Stuck in Motion”! Anyway, on with the story.
Interview on This Week in Photography
I was honored to be invited to guest host TWIP by Frederick Van. On that show, I talked all about the technique and the hardware. It’s about 50/50. To hear more, just go grab TWIP Episode 115.
The Moments Between, Episode 1: Japan
The Moments Between, Episode 2: The Kids
The Science and Math Behind the Technique
Okay, stick with me for a minute here. I think an important thing to “think about” is the nature of human memory. We live life a certain speed. We are only immediately, consciously aware of about 30 frames per second. However, our brain does not record and react at 30 frames per second. It can do a lot more than that.
Our brains record memories like tiny fantastic movie reels, networked together by feelings, associations, and experience. As a photographer, I always have to remind myself that the brain does not store memories like a computer stores JPGs. We DO NOT take millions of snapshots and file them away. Nor do we take hour-long TiVo recordings of the day and store them for later retrieval. The truth is somewhere in between — fleeting thoughts of moments that grabbed you and will never leave.
We do certainly sense the world at greater than 30 frames per second. You know by experience that you can pick up on the micro-emotions that appear on people’s faces when you talk to them in person. You lose a lot of that over TV or Webcams. Those means can suffice, but, given the choice, in person is always better. Case in point, I’d wager to say some of your deepest memories were experienced in person rather than on TV or over a webcam, which take an arbitrary 30 (or 24) slices of time.
Think in Orders of Magnitude
I’m fascinated by powers of 10. My background is in Computer Science and Math, so I got into thinking about numbers a long time ago. Orders of magnitude are commonly seen the Richter Scale and other scientific formulas, because they can help express patterns that are otherwise unwieldy to the human mind, which is only comfortable in one scale of space and one scale of time.
Thus, there are two things of math happening here. One, the video is shot at 10x time, and the camera itself moves at 10x the human head. When the two are juxtaposed, it creates something gripping that can hit the viewer on a deeper level.
What has been invented here?
Nothing! This stuff has been possible for a while, but you needed a tens of thousands of dollars, rare hardware, an experienced crew, and possibly an expensive set. This technology and technique has been democratized. That is, now, everyone with a spare $1,000 and a mind for adventure can do it. You can too! Let me show you how.
The Hardware
Here is an amazing little camera that has been ignored by almost everybody. It’s the Casio EX-F1. I bought mine at B&H photo for $999. It’s small, light, and about half as easy to carry as my big Nikon.
The EX-F1 is a regular camera and a video camera. The video camera has 3 modes of high-speed capture – 300 FPS, 600 FPS, and 1,200 FPS. The one I used for these videos shoots at 512×384 pixels. Now, that is fine, unless you are a mega HD-nerd. Really, think about it. 95% of your work will be viewed over the web. For the next 3 or 4 years, this will be fine. As you can see from my video, the last thing on your mind is how small it is. Besides, soon we will see another generation of these cameras that will shoot in higher res.
Now, you could probably up-res it to 1024×720 using something like Streamclip, but I did not find it necessary.
Another nice thing about this camera is it is quite small and handy! I had no trouble carrying it around along with my Nikon D3X. It was very handy whenever I saw something I wanted to grab!
The Technique
While there is no “one-way” to do this, keep the following points in mind:
1) Move the camera 10x as fast as you think you need to
This is a counter-intuitive technique. You’ll stop doubting when you see your results. Now, you are going to look like a damned fool doing this, so get ready! When you are shooting, you need to move the camera 10x faster than you think you need to! We are all used to seeing video cameras making nice, smooth pans. Forget that! Keep it non-shaky, but move it 10x as fast as you think!
2) Get at least 2 layers of independent motion (and have the 3rd layer in motion be the camera)
Here is a wonderful thing. Your brain lives in a 3D world and records it so. It uses cool tricks like parallax and relative movement to make sense of z-space. A photo has trouble doing that! A still video camera has trouble doing that too.
The best shots in that video, you wlll notice, are ones where there are many layers of motion. I think the top ones were shot from a car or a train, where there was one layer of motion on one plane, organic elements on another plane, and non-organic elements on a third. The brain wraps around that to make 3D sense of placement, and the brain enjoys that because it needs to figure out where the heck things are. You may also notice that I used this technique handheld a lot too. For example, the girl with the big watch, the water falling down, and a few others. I was moving the camera extremely fast in each situation.
3) Record humans, animals, water, or other objects that have Newtonian expectations
I’ve tried recording all kinds of things that I thought would be cool, but they just ended up boring. We expect humans to move in a certain way, water to splash at a particular speed, and horses to trot at an expected gait. When you slow these down, your brain has a wonderful time appreciating all the little things you’ve always subconsciously known.
At first, I tried shooting cars or panning landscapes. But, frankly, you can’t really tell if the car is in slow-motion or just going slow!
Now, if you are a videographer, you know a lot of these tricks already. I advise you keep doing this stuff, just speed it up by 10x.
4) Shoot in bright light
This camera does not record video well in low-light situations. It’s best to be outside or a well-lit interior. If you do end up in poorly lit areas, you get a flicker effect that you probably noticed. I happen to think that is really cool! You will probably deduce that the 300 FPS is capturing scenes faster than the light is flashing (interesting to think about… how some light sources work…). I look forward to future versions of this camera (and competitors), where the sensors get better and the resolution increases.
Conclusion
I hope you all can use this hardware and technique to make some amazing stuff! Please put links down below to your work. I post my stuff on Vimeo, since that seems to be a great community for serious video and experimentation. Do not post it on Flickr. The video quality there is really bad.
If nothing else, this may re-invent the way you capture your family. If you have kids or grandkids, this will capture those micro-emotions and small moments that stick with you. Better yet, if you have gotten those cool e-starling picture frames for your family, now tiny stuck-in-motion videos can show up in their picture frames remotely.
Any questions about the nature of these posts? Visit my Ethics Statement. It’s all quite simple!
November 9th, 2009 14:55 | Priyesh Photo
Good description! Can’t wait to see more.
November 9th, 2009 14:59 | Benjamin
Definitely a cool looking effect… but unfortunately isn’t truly “anybody can do”. In other words, though 1,000 bucks might not be “too expensive” for a few, the rest of us can’t just toss $1,000 to B&H for a cool new “Stuck In Motion” effect. Sure wish I could, but unfortunately not as “public” as some of us thought.
Thanks for the reveal Trey. Hope to see more Stuck In Motion videos from you in the future.
November 9th, 2009 15:05 | Kevin
Wow, truly fantastic, and much easier than I thought, however, Benjamin is right — $1000 is not exactly this easy to toss around for the majority of people, including me. Keep it coming Trey! great work!
November 9th, 2009 15:20 | Jan
How would this work with the Casio EX-FS10? It’s <$199, so quite a lot more affordable. Shoots 210 fps @ 480×360.
November 9th, 2009 16:50 | Curtis
Thanks for the info Trey. I had my money on the Sanyo Xacti HD1010. It shoots 300 fps and only goes for $350. Assuming the Casio isn’t much good over 300 fps, is there any reason to go with the Casio over the Sanyo?
November 9th, 2009 18:07 | Tarmo
I haven’t done any movies like yours, but after a while I found 300fps is not slow enough. So i started taking 600fps.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarmo888/3691938305/
You didn’t mention that Casio EX-F1 has 30-300fps mode, which enables you to switch between normal speed and slow motion by just pressing a button.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarmo888/3578840859/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarmo888/3692736144/
November 9th, 2009 18:31 | Stuck In Customs
That sounds really interesting Curtis — if you get it, let me know what you think.
What resolution does the Sanyo do at 300 FPS? That’s a great price!
Kevin – Yes $1,000 is not pocket change – but cheaper than the $10K+ cameras that it usually costs
November 9th, 2009 19:02 | Curtis
Looks like 448×336 at 300 fps on the Sanyo. Not too shabby. Less than the Casio at 512×384, but still decent at least for web deployment.
November 9th, 2009 22:42 | Rod Cole
I am a cinematographer and Indy filmmaker. Yes, $1000 is a lot of money, but when you compare the cost to that of even a decent camcorder or a Canon #5D2, or a #7D, the cost is reasonable. Compare the cost to a “real” high speed camera like the Phantom High Speed Digital Cinema camera
http://www.visionresearch.com/.
Like Trey says, it is not HD, 4K, or 5K but it is available now and it can do some incredible slo-mo effects at a relatively reasonable price.
November 12th, 2009 05:40 | Jackie Wu Hing Ki
for my clip that I tweeted about, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpNa0eoEywU (vimeo was not letting me upload anything…), I captured it in my Canon 500D and slowed down by 100 times with After Effects, it only interprets gentle motions so it wouldn’t actually create anything more than what was in between the frames… but still it was quite fun to play with
Still if I had $1000 to spare I think I’ll keep that and wait til I could get a 7D!
November 12th, 2009 05:51 | nabil za
“For example, the girl with the big watch, the water falling down, and a few others. I was moving the camera extremely fast in each situation.”
i dont get this one.the water falling down into the cup or the water scene falling down into the vase doesnt look like the camrea is moving. looks like it was handheld at a single spot.
enlighten me dear trey.
November 12th, 2009 06:29 | Giorgio
I was really thrilled by your slow motion video because the effect is very attractive. I was probably misled by thinking that you were creating the effect without using a very high fps camera (and in fact it really sounded incredible to me). I just gave a quick read to this post but I can’t find what’s so revolutionary about using a high fps camera moving it quickly and than slowing it down afterwards.
I may have missed the point here. By the way, I keep following your posts, which helped me to refine my HDR skills and I think your doing a nice job investigating these techniques!
November 12th, 2009 07:12 | Wes
I love it! Been waiting since you showed your first video to see how this was done. Someone guessed early on about the Casio F1, and I almost went ahead and bought one. I’ll be buying it this morning, though. So cool! Very interested to see how this progresses.
November 12th, 2009 20:15 | anon
The technique certainly adds another dimension – not quite a video and not quite a Ken Burns style slideshow, but has components of both. With a little training, the technique is within everybody’s reach. But what makes this so cool here is not the technique, but the composition of the shots, the subjects, the framing, the moments being captured. The collection of shots in these videos captures the viewer’s attention.
I showed these videos to my kids (8 yo and younger) and they were all captivated by the images they saw. And the video moved at their pace – they could ask questions about what they saw without the objects disappearing. Great work!
November 13th, 2009 06:39 | Stuck in Motion » A Simple Life of Luxury
[...] Check out more here: http://www.stuckincustoms.com/stuckinmotion/ [...]
November 13th, 2009 18:13 | Charlie
I like the technique, but I disagree that 640×480 is enough resolution. I’d love to see what this looks like in at least 720p. Maybe it’s the compression used, but the videos are very pixelated. More detail and more color would really help complete the vision.
With that said cool idea. The best shots are most definitely those that you are moving quickly on a train or car and the people appear to be stuck.
November 14th, 2009 10:55 | Stuck In Motion « WalstonPhoto
[...] outlines the entire principle and mechanics on his Stuck in Motion page, which also has a couple smaple videos that you have to check out. This trick of course has [...]
November 16th, 2009 00:09 | Stuck In Motion, the next video, listen to the technique live on This Week in Photography
[...] It has been revealed… you can see everything on the “Stuck In Motion” page here on the site. [...]
November 16th, 2009 00:10 | A New Kind of Photography – An Experiment in Japan
[...] It has been revealed on This Week in Photography… you can see everything on the “Stuck In Motion” page here on the site. [...]
November 16th, 2009 02:42 | Mahesh Telkar
So excited to know about the technique Trey! much awaiting one
I have few questions (consider me as naive 
1. Is it possible to shoot with my sony dsc h5 which supports video recording at 30fps (640X480) ?
2. How to edit them to slow motion.
Well, my question my sound too naive .. but I am so excited to learn more about this in detail
Thanks and Regards
Mahesh
November 17th, 2009 11:43 | James
I went to the Camera store and tried the Casio EX-F1 and the family of high speed Casio.: The FH20 and the FC100 have a smaller sensor, record at 210 fps and have a slightly less resolution. They also record in a Motion jpeg instead of an mp4. I just recorded an example in the store. You can tell the difference in quality suffers compared to the EX-F1. I tried the sanyo Exacti HD 1010 since we have some available at the University for check out. I think many would be more satisfied in the Sanyo more than the less expensive Casio models. The FPS, the file format, and battery would be more close to the Casio EX-F1 shot by Trey.
November 18th, 2009 03:18 | Matt
No video is available.. blank space where i’d expect to see vids.
November 18th, 2009 07:38 | Stuck In Motion - Stuck in Customs | Webnfoto.com BLOG zu Webdesign & Fotografie
[...] Die Technik dazu findet ihr hier beschrieben: http://www.stuckincustoms.com/stuckinmotion/ [...]
November 18th, 2009 08:00 | Minh
Trey, i think you should check out this great video shot in japan with a high fps video camera!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxgpHWtLC0
November 18th, 2009 10:43 | Facebook User
I love how you share new things with people, and to that end, I sent this page link to the cool guys at @beforethedoor, @ZacharyQuinto’s production company. They may find a use for it in future projects. I think it’s cool as hell!
November 18th, 2009 14:02 | Jason Grubb
Great Work… Love this. Hoping to add to my wedding photography in 2010
November 18th, 2009 21:08 | Chua Ang Lim
Finally revealed! Those are really cool videos. Bit disappointed that it came out as needing new equipment and not what I have. Spending USD1000 for this is way out of my priorities. I’ll invest it in nicer glasses. ANyway, thanks so much for sharing.
November 19th, 2009 16:33 | Erik J. Barzeski
Golf instructors have taken to using this camera as a fairly cheap way to record acceptable high-speed video of golf swings. Of course, there’s no camera movement there.
November 20th, 2009 11:56 | The Moments Between
[...] to TWIP episode 115. The photographer, Trey Ratcliff, describes his technique on his website Stuckincustoms.com. Trey also has a great HDR tutorial on his site also. Check ‘em [...]
November 20th, 2009 17:45 | John F. Opie
Hi -
Very cool: I thought it was something like this. I’ve just acquired the Casio EX-FC 100 to play with this technique: it was less than $250. Sure, smaller sensor limited zoom, but 1/4 the price. This is almost as much fun as time-lapse!
The key is moving the camera while doing this high-speed videoing…
November 23rd, 2009 12:29 | Al Perry
I purchased one of the first Casio EX-F1 cameras in April 2008 and have demonstrated it to photography organizations several times. I find the camera to be a very good all around point and shoot still camera, video camera and slow motion machine. One of the first digital cameras to bring about the convergence of still and video. I am surprised no other camera maker has introduced anything better in the last 18 months.
I really enjoyed how you used the camera to give us a look we don’t often see. I did not think to use it in the way you did. Thank you for sharing with us your beautiful video and technique.
November 25th, 2009 00:09 | GeekBrief.TV » Blog Archive » Cali’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009 | Dad Edition
[...] EX-FH20 and the EX-FS10. The reason these are so cool is what you can do with them. Take a look at Trey Ratcliff’s Stuck in Motion technique. Trey is the guy who shoots the pictures we use as [...]
November 25th, 2009 11:44 | KILLER FM.COM | The, Future Of Tech » Blog Archive » GBTV #662
[...] EX-FH20 and the EX-FS10. The reason these are so cool is what you can do with them. Take a look at Trey Ratcliff’s Stuck in Motion technique. Trey is the guy who shoots the pictures we use as [...]
November 25th, 2009 23:18 | The Power Geeks #26 - ThePowerGeeks.com
[...] Stuck in motion amazing video technique [...]
November 26th, 2009 02:12 | Dresden just after Dusk
[...] Gifts episode for the nice things she said about the website here. She mentioned the “Stuck in Motion” page here on the site. And YES, I do have a new video coming soon! I am thinking about [...]
November 26th, 2009 08:43 | Dybowski
I absolutely love this idea….
But there is some idea that cam to my mind… how a picture would look like if you would use stereoscopic effect so using 2 of these Casio’s and then disabling the red colour channel in post processing and merge the video… that could give amazing additional depth effect…..
I don’t have access to that camera but if you could try to work it out.. could be even better…..????
Many thanks for the Blog
Cheers
Michal
December 3rd, 2009 15:34 | Paul Ely
The Casio EX FH20 seems to have similar specs yet cost over half as much as the EX F1. It woudl seem that the same effect can be created using the newer version camera. Has anyone used the EX FH20? If so, what are your thoughts?
Paul
December 6th, 2009 23:12 | david
the casio EX-FC100 was recently reviewed in POP PHOTO, i believe, and received an outstanding rating. slow motion at 210 fps up to 1200fps. all reviewers i’ve seen agree that 1200 is worthless. also, like the EX-F1 it is poor in low light. cost = $300. it also shoots high def. i tried to purchase the EX-F1 through RITZ and was told casio isn’t marketing/making it anymore because of poor sales. i think this new little point and shoot fits the bill for experimental fun. thank you for your tips on shooting with slo mo, they are helpful with any system used. keep up the creative thinking.
david
December 8th, 2009 03:07 | Joseph Francis
I’d probably experiment with returning the footage to close to real time, but averaging in all the frames so that it’s more like a long exposure open shutter motion blur
December 10th, 2009 18:07 | Eric
I agree with david about about the EX-FC100, it looks great, not quite as fast as the F1, but WAY cheaper. I just got bought it from tigerdirect.com for 229 – 29 bing.com cashback, so only 200 bucks and am way excited to try it out! I am going to Israel for a semester and between this for fun video and my SLR for real photos I’m way pumped to see what I can do!
Thanks Trey!
Eric
December 12th, 2009 00:02 | The Moments Between Episode 3: 140 seconds in New York
[...] more info on this technique, and to see other videos, visit the “Stuck In Motion” [...]
December 12th, 2009 03:32 | Birgit
that sounds like fun and you have delivered a great description! Maybe 1000 $ is still a little expensive for a toy for most of us, but I’ll certainly give it a try as cameras get cheaper and better.
December 19th, 2009 09:49 | Martin
saw this on GBTV and had to share with my world… http://skatecreek.com
very cool stuff Trey!
thanks for sharing ….. Happy Holidays
December 19th, 2009 09:51 | Martin
I bought the Exilim EX-FC100, though not as good as the EX-F1, I have some pretty good results for only $239, and they even have a $179 model that will do HSV, cool stuff.
December 28th, 2009 15:38 | Daniel Peckham
For those thinking about which camera to get for HSV, check out this helpful gizmodo post which also shows examples of slow-mo video shot at different frame rates. Look at the bottom for a list of recommended cameras (the Casio models seem to be the best). The other thing to consider is that CES is coming up really soon, and there will most likely be new models announced.
January 7th, 2010 11:20 | Video technique ‘Stuck in Motion’ - iPaulo
[...] Moments Between, Episode 1: Japan from Trey Ratcliff on Vimeo. It’s a slow motion technique enabled by a $1000 camera capable of 300 frames per [...]
February 1st, 2010 00:11 | Paul Ryan
Trey
Thanks very much for the inspiration and tips.
http://gallery.me.com/paulryan21#100144
We’ll be using this quite a bit this season.
Thanks to your appearance on This Week in Photography – we discovered this great camera and great technique.
Regards
Paul Ryan
February 2nd, 2010 05:33 | Telemach
Fuji announced
FinePix HS10 that is expected to hit the market with $499 USD price
and features
at least something affordable for great stuck in motion videos
February 8th, 2010 14:54 | Joe
I appreciate your sharing of this technique.
To me, more than anything, the music gives an incredible feel in the first video.
Could you tell me what the music is at the stuck in customs intro and throughout the video? I’d appreciate it a whole lot. (Heh, I know I’m kinda late in asking this.) Both sound atmospheric and nostalgic, heh, and a little Phil Collins-esqe, and I’m a huge found of this sort of sound.
Thank you.
February 8th, 2010 14:55 | Joe
**”huge fan”
sorry.
February 8th, 2010 23:44 | Stuck In Customs
Thanks!
Joe — the intro 4-second bit is Vangelis — I forget the name of the song… I think Antarctic Echoes.
The video song is Patrick O’Hearn – Let the Truth Prevail