Photo Monitoring
Photography is a powerful and affordable way to document all kinds of environmental issues. We'll be collecting different techniques and tips here -- stay tuned and pitch in where you can! We'll be starting with a focus on #timelapse photography:
What environmental problems might this apply to
Timelapse photography, or photographic monitoring is a good way to document the changes in a landscape over time, or an incident you need images of when you might not be there to capture them in person such as:
- sediment runoff in a stream from a disturbed site
- the changes in opacity of a smoke stack
- an explosion at a mining site
What limitations does the method have
- To set up the camera, you will need access to a secure location where your site of interest can be seen.
- Depending on how often you have the camera set to take photos, you could end up with a lot of images to go through.
- There have been documented challenges in capturing images with glare (from the sun, snow and water) (see Frequently Asked Questions)
Literature review
- has it been done?
- how?
- who has done it?
What is the design philosophy
- What decisions did you make while designing a method for approaching the problem?
- See Riffle's design philosophy
Where do conversations happen
- Discussions around photographic monitoring are happening on the Midwest group through a few on-going projects, as well as on publiclab.org through this page (see the Frequently Asked Questions, Actives and Updates sections below)
Midwest group: publiclab-midwest
About the data
Type of data This method produces data in the form of images. Most cameras are also able to timestamp images.
Addons:
- Some cameras also have the ability to capture GPS data.
- This monitoring method can be paired with weather monitoring stations for a richer data set.
- Sending images to the internet has been another add-on for these type of projects.
Uses for the data
- Government agencies often find photographic data useful evidence. Read more about this here..
- Photographs of events or land change are useful tools in persuasion for publications, or in public comment. Read more about this here.
How to get a timelapse camera
Timelapse cameras can be found at sporting goods stores and online. They are also called "trail cameras" or "game cameras." Public Lab has a few time lapse cameras that can be loaned out for projects. Interested in starting a timelapse monitoring project? Post a note about what you're interested in doing with the tag timelapse so we can learn about it!
Timelapse Activities
Timelapse photography is a way to automatically trigger a camera on an interval -- for example, every minute, or every hour.
Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.
Frequently Asked Questions
We're collecting and working our way through a wide array of questions about timelapse photography -- if you can contribute your own questions, or answer others', please do!
Ask a question about timelapse photography
Frac sand photographic monitoring
There's some good resources posted on this page which are specific to water monitoring or monitoring of frac sand sites -- check it out, and we're working to open some of these ideas up into questions and activities soon.