There is a flower, native to the area that I live in that I have dug up from my garden and replanted in a pot and is now sitting inside my window about to open. It is a beautiful small blue gentian and they are quiet rare. It will take approx 1 week or 10 days to open. I have never done a time lapse like this and I am not sure which way to do it. The conditions outside the window are varying a lot, from clouds to rain to sunshine and from day to night over the next week.

Should I film once a day
Take stills at intervals each day
Long or short shutter spped
etc

Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks

Ok, i have no idea what to do here but i'm going to guess.
I'd put in it a garage where the light cannot change, maybe under a grow light inside a white cardboard box or something. If it's near a window the light conditions will vary way too much like you said and look terrible. You'd probably want a 20 second timelapse or so yeh? So playing back at 24fps that would be around 480 or so shots. Over 10 days that would be 48 shots a day. I don't think plants would grow much over night in the dark so if you light in for 12 hours a day that would be one shot every 15 minutes. I would shoot Raw, use a nd filter so you can set the shutter at a second or more. If you use a wide aperture and blur out the background it might look ok too. Manual focus incase a bug flies in the way. Make sure you change your battery in between shots and don't bump the camera in the process, or connect to mains. Unless the flower dies due to being dug out of the garden it just may work.
What camera are you using anyway? Like i said i have no idea but this is how i'd try.
I think pixelbot in here is an expert on this so i'd like if he would let me know how my suggestion sounds?

Owen

That won't work, Owen. Katrina doesn't have a garage. She lives in a condo.

I have to get a new battery for my TI programmable calculator so I can figure out how long you'd have to drag to shutter to get motion blur on a flower growing. We're probably going to need a SERIOUS ND filter for this job

Yes true, my bad.
Tell me more about this calculator, this is new to me.
Maybe a 10 stop nd at 30 second exposure might be the go if possible.

Owen

Shoot in an room that you can close off the window - use ac power if possible. And daylight rated CFL. A long shutter will never catch the motion blur of growing - if you are looking for that use something like real smart motion blur for after effects.

I kicked this time-lapse off this morning with a hopeful wish.
I am using the EOS 5D
I don't have lights and can't get them, so it's sitting midway between two windows, neither of which get direct light.

Here's what I,m doing, using 100 Macro lens
Focused on a single bud, background blurred
Aperture priority set at f8
Time interval 2 mins
It actually looks ok so far, as in the shutter is adjusting and the light on the actual bud looks the same as the day is passing, it has even opened a bit. When darkness falls I'm going to load the pics and have a look at today's performance.
I'm still open to more suggestions as there are 3 more buds to go.

Would you recommend a longer shutter. I went it f8 to ensure the petals would stay in focus.
Thanks a lot
k

Make sure Auto Focus is off.

A photo every 2 minutes seems like a lot. Over a week that's over 5000 photos.

As has been suggested, I would find a room without window and use artificial light. I use my bathroom, but it's a pain not being able to use the bathroom for a week. Luckily I live in a large apartment complex with bathrooms next to the fitness center that I use while I do a time lapse. Or I time my time lapses for when I'm going to be out of town for a few days.

I would also do the Canon Lens twist trick to help minimize flicker. You will see flickering since you are not using full manual. Artificial light is the best. But either way I would be interested in seeing the finished product. Please post.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=435&p=17041&hilit=twist+trick#p17041

You don't need to spend a ton on light - I used clamp lamps from home depot and daylight rated CFL bulbs - daylight is going to cause a ton of flicker.

TT

All you lads are right, except about San Fran.... I live in Ireland
The day a time-lapsed with natural light was awful - flicker!!!! even thought it was a plain old over cast day...
So
I got an empty fish aquarium/tank with a light, which was sitting a long time in my attic and the job in going fantastic!
Without duobt, artificial lights are the only way to go.

Thanks for all your help
K

Thanks , lots of good info and a few questions answered .
I will just start a new post of other questions .

Katrina -
Did it work ? I am working on one to . waiting for a bud to form on a potted plant .