Have you ever seen those videos that show a building being constructed in just a few moments, or the clouds racing across the sky at an incredible speed, or a glacier sliding down a mountain towards an icy bay in just a few seconds?
Those videos use a technique called Time Lapse photography to capture a long moment in time, and compress it into just a few seconds. You will see how things are changing at an incredibly slow rate of time.
Those videos have always mesmerized me, they give you an ability to see how things change over a long amount of time. Humans can only experience something that happens fairly quick, but things that happen incredibly slow seem like they are not doing anything at all. But time lapse photography allows us to capture those moments that seem like they’re not doing anything at all, and speed them up enough so humans can experience them on a human level. Plus time lapse videos are really fun to make. It’s one of my favorite types of photography.
Here is a time lapse I created in 2012 of the Fleet Week ships sailing into Portland, Oregon for the Portland Rose Festival.
How To Make A Time Lapse
In order to understand how a time lapse video works, you need to understand how regular video works. Video is really many still images that flash on the screen for just a split second before moving onto the next frame. Our brains interpret those images as moving video when in fact they are a bunch of still photos one after another after another. Movies are shown at 24 frames a second, so 24 individual images appear on the screen all within one second. That is a lot of pictures for your brain to comprehend, but the human brain is capable of doing some amazing things. Time lapse video is just like a regular video, but instead of all those individual frames being created one after another, instead you let a small amount of time pass between every frame so when they are played in the sequence one after another, a larger span of time passes. This technique allows people to experience the passage of time in the way that our brains are not able to experience on their own.
What you need
- Camera – you need a camera that is capable of shooting time lapse video. Some cameras, with this feature built-in but others require an external device called and intervalometer that will trigger the camera after a specified amount of time.
- Intervalometer – A handheld remote that plugs into your camera to automatically trigger the shutter. Some cameras have a Intervalometer built into them so an external remote is not necessary. A remote is also handy to use when avoiding camera shake is critical.
- Tripod – To keep that camera locked down tight. You don’t want the camera to move unintentionally when creating a Time Lapse. Any movements the camera makes will be noticeable. But many people choose to have the camera move on a dolly or a slider so the video it’s just a smooth panning motion.
- An Interesting Subject – Just because you are creating a time lapse, it doesn’t mean you can forget the basic rules of composition. Try to create an interesting shots with some foreground and background interest.
- Time and Patience – Time is in the name “Time lapse” for a reason. Making a time lapse can take forever! Be prepared to wait around for awhile shooting a time lapse. Bring a chair and get comfortable.
Shoot in RAW, JPEG, or Video?
When you are creating a time lapse video, You have to make a decision of whether you are going to create your Time Lapse using still images or by using video and speeding it up during post processing. If you are going to use still images, you need to decide if you are going to shoot in JPEG or in RAW format. Learn why you should be shooting RAW here.
In all other forms of photography, I always recommend shooting in RAW format all the time, But the reason you might want to shoot in JPEG when shooting a time lapse is to use up less memory card space when creating your time lapse. Time lapse videos can take hundreds if not thousands of pictures to make a short video. Even with a very large memory card like 32 or 64 GB, your card can still fill up rather quickly.
Some DSLR’s create an image file that can be 20, 30, 40, even 50 MB in size for a single picture. And if you were shooting 500 pictures at 30 MB per picture, A 16 GB memory card would be nearly completely full. If you shoot in JPEG, you will be able to fit thousands of pictures onto a memory card. But if you plan on doing some heavy editing of your pictures, than JPEG will give you less control over the image.
You can set the picture quality to RAW small. RAW small gives you the same control over your image to adjust it during post processing as a large RAW file, but saves it as a much smaller file size.There won’t be quite as much information in the smaller RAW file as the large RAW file, but the difference is negligible.
I highly recommend you do not record the time lapse with Video and speed it up during post processing. The image quality will be much smaller with video, You have way less control over any edits you need to make to the image. And when you speed it up, it will look bad. I just wanted to mention Video because some people will want to know if its better, Its NOT!
Picking a subject
Because time lapse videos are great at showing change over time, they can be incredibly powerful if you choose the right subject. You want to find something that is moving, but the movement is almost unnoticeable unless you stand there for a long time and just stare at this object. Earlier this summer, I filmed a time lapse in Portland, Oregon during Fleet week where the Navy and Coast Guard ships cruise into the city and hang out for a few days before heading back out to sea. There are several bridges that need to open or rise to let the large navy vessels through. I knew that this would make for a great time lapse video so I grabbed my gear and headed downtown to get to work. The boats cruise up the river very slowly, and the bridges rise just a slow. But when you compress it into a time lapse video, The boats seem to rocket up the river, and the bridges open and close just as quick. Look for things that are changing around here, look for patterns that change, look for people going about their daily business, look for any kind of movement. These are things that can be a great subject for a time lapse video.
Preparing your shot
Before you shoot your first frame for the time lapse, there are some things you need to decide before you start. How long do you want your video to be? How long is the event you want to capture in your time lapse. What frame rate do you want your time lapse video to play at? 24 FPS is what I usually have my time lapse videos play at, this is because 24 frames per second is what movies play at to give that cinematic feel. Other countries around the world use different frame rates so it all depends on where your video is going to be shown.
Do The Math
Now it is time to figure out how many pictures you want to take, how long between each picture should you wait until the next frame is shot, and how long you should stand out there taking pictures.
- Start by deciding how long you want your time lapse video to be? Let’s pick 10 seconds.
- Next decide how many frames per second do you want the time lapse to play at. Let’s pick 24fps. If you want a 10 second video that plays at 24fps, that’s 10×24=240 frames that you will need.
- Next we need to figure out how long the event you are photographing is going to last. Lets say it is going to last 15 minutes.
- To calculate how long between shots we have to wait, we need to convert 15 minutes into seconds. 15(60)=900 seconds.
- Next divide 900/240=3.75. This tells us we need to take a picture every 3.75 seconds in order to create a time lapse that is 10 seconds long that spans a 15 minute time frame. Because most cameras do not allow you to shoot a picture every 3.75 seconds, you must decide whether to snap a picture every 3 seconds, or 4 seconds. I would choose every 3 seconds because you will have more frames to play with in post processing, and the final video will play smoother during playback because everything will be moving a little slower than they would if it were shot at every 4 seconds. Just ask yourself these questions the next time you are setting up your time lapse. How long do you want your final video to be? 10, 20, 30, 60… Seconds? How long is the event you are creating a time lapse of going to last? What frame rate do you want the time lapse video to play at?
Now you are ready to start taking pictures.
Now it’s time for the fun part. Once you have your composition set, the Intervalometer set, your camera on FULL manual mode, you are ready to start shouting. Press start on your Intervalometer get comfortable. It’s gonna take a little while. Once your camera is snapping away, step back and don’t touch it. Resist the temptation to make any adjustments to your camera, to review a picture, recompose, just leave it alone. Any little changes you make will be extremely noticeable to the viewer. I have made the mistake in the past of adjusting the shutter speed to compensate for Deming lighting conditions. I thought I would adjusted because it was getting dark out, and I wanted more detail in the dark areas so I slowed the exposure down a little bit but in the final playback of the video, there is a very noticeable flicker from one frame to the next where it suddenly gets brighter. This basically ruins your time lapse video, just get it going, and then sit back and relax and let the camera gear at work. Just enjoy whatever you’re filming.
Compose Your Shot
As with any ordinary picture, The rules of composition still apply. Just because you’re making a video it does not mean you can point your camera at anything and the video will be interesting. Use the rules of composition to create a beautiful scene. Have an interesting foreground, a non-distracting background, Use leading lines, The rule of thirds, negative space, balance, or any other rule. I’d like to compose my pictures so there is a strong anchoring object in the frame. Something to draw the viewers eye. Try having that anchoring object be something that moves or changes during the time lapse to make it extra interesting. Look for anything that is changing over time, things that are moving around, maybe show people interacting or doing something interesting.
Camera Settings
In order for your time lapse video to look good, You want your picture to look consistent from frame to frame. This is so the picture does not Flickr or change brightness during playback. In order to achieve this, you need to; Shoot in Full Manual (M) mode – You set the settings Once, and only once. If you change the settings mid-shooting, the image will change how it looks from one picture to the next resulting in a flickering picture. Do not set the camera to Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority. Set your ISO as low as you can (ISO 100 in my case) – For the cleanest image quality. Set the White Balance – Do NOT use auto white balance. The white balance can change if you use Auto resulting in a picture that looks warm in one pic, and cold a second later. Pick one of the presets such as cloudy, or sunshine. You just want all the pictures all the same. Turn off Auto Focus – You do not want the camera focusing on something else instead of where you intended it to focus. Set the focus once, and than switch it off. You can place a piece of tape on the focus ring to prevent it from turning and changing the focus. 1/40th, 1/50th of a second shutter speed will give a nice smooth look, but also provides a tiny bit of motion blur from any moving objects giving the sensation of movement in your shot. If you shoot with a slower shutter speed. One frame will blend into the next. The shot will also look smoother and less jittery.
Capture
Now that you have all the prep work complete, it is time to start the fun part. First you need to set up your tripod, mount the camera, compose your frame, and start taking the pictures. My camera does not come with a built in Intervalometer, so I have one that plugs into my camera that I bought from Amazon for around $15. There are nicer ones that you could purchase, but I prefer to use the less expensive ones that I might just lose or break one day. First I tell the Intervalometer to shoot a picture every two seconds. This is usually my go to setting because any slower and the video will move too fast, and any faster the action will move too slow. Two seconds is a good starting place in my opinion. Next I tell it to you either take a specific number of pictures, or if I don’t know how long I want to go for I will just tell it to go forever or until I stop it.
Post processing
Import your pictures onto your computer. I am an Adobe Lightroom user, so I will make all of my edits within Lightroom. I will have to apply any edits I make to one picture to all of the pictures in the sequence. Otherwise there will be a noticeable change in the look of one picture compared to the next. After you are finished editing the first image in your sequence, you need to apply those settings across all of the images in your time lapse sequence.
- Make sure you are in the Develop module inside Lightroom
- With all the images selected, and you are currently viewing the picture you just edited.
- Click the Sync (Synchronize) button in the bottom right of the Development panel in Lightroom. A window will pop up asking what settings you want to sync across all your pictures. Select every box and click OK. The computer will apply all those edits to every picture. Next export all of those pictures out of Lightroom in Jpeg format. I export the pictures at Full quality and resolution to get the best picture quality.
Select the Check All button at the bottom to select every box. Now click Synchronize.
Assemble the Time Lapse
- Now that you have all of your images processed , It is now time to assemble those still images into a video. There are several different programs you can used to build the time lapse, but I am going to use a free piece of software for Mac OS X called Time Lapse Assembler. There are many different programs you can use to compile a time lapse video, and they are all fairly similar. This guide should be a similar process for other programs.
- Open your Time Lapse Assembly program
- Load the images you just processed into the assembly software.
- Select the video codec you are going to use for your video. I recommend H.264. If you are unsure, leave it on the default.
- Select the frame rate you want the images assembled at. I usually select 24 frames per second. This is because movies are played at 24 FPS and I want my time lapse to also have that cinematic look and feel.
- You will have the option to you resize your images. I resize my pictures when I export them from Lightroom to whatever size I desire. So I just leave the option set to Full or Max when assembling a time lapse. I don’t want a bunch of low resolution time lapse videos cluttering up my computer.
- Select what video quality you want the time lapse to be rendered at. A lower quality will get done quicker but the image quality will be lower. If you are just assembling the Time Lapse to see what it looks like, use low quality. But if you are creating your final video, use high quality or maximum quality.
- Select where your time lapse is going to be saved to you after processing. Click encode and let the computer do it’s thing. It might take a little while, so go for a walk or get a cup of coffee. It will be done soon.
There you have it. That is just about everything you need to know to get started creating a time lapse video. I want to see what you create, head on over to the Photo Lowdown Facebook page and let me know about it.
BONUS TIPS:
- The battery will drain fast when shooting a time lapse. Your camera can be on for hours, and that drains the power really fast. Keep extra batteries with you and remember to keep them someplace warm like a pocket close to your body so the spare batteries don’t die from the cold temperature. If at all possible, try to hook up to AC power to keep the camera powered on.
- Your memory card will also fill up rather fast when shooting a time lapse video. Because you are creating hundreds if not thousands of images, your memory card can fill up without you noticing. The worst part is if you don’t notice your card is full and your camera has stopped shooting until some time has passed, and you insert a new memory card and continue shooting. You will have a large gap in your time lapse and objects might move clear across the frame from one image to the next. Just try to keep an eye on Matt remaining shutter count on your camera and be ready to swap The memory cards when your card it’s full or just about full.
- Using a tilt shift lens or tilt shift effect during post processing, you can create a toy like look to buildings and cars. Its a really cool effect. The Intro music for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has an awesome example of this tilt shift time lapse photography technique that gives that toy like look. Check it out on YouTube
- Watch out for any dust on your camera sensor or on the camera lens. Those dark spots will be consistent from one frame to another and will become very noticeable because the picture will be changing but that little black dust.will never move. It is easy to remove A dust spot from a single image, but when you have to remove that dust spot from hundreds if not thousands of images it quickly becomes a headache. I know this from experience.
- Don’t be afraid of using a longer focal length lens when shooting time lapse. Longer focal length lenses give a different distinct feel from shorter focal length lenses. A longer lens can help you get closer to your subject and give you a more interesting shot.
- Use multiple cameras, when shooting a time lapse, if the action moves through the frame you have a choice to make, you can either follow the action by recomposing your shot and continuing the time lapse or you can keep the competition you’re using and continue shooting that spot even after the subject has moved out of the frame. I have started to bring my old back up camera with me so I can film multiple time lapse videos at the same time showing different perspectives. Having multiple camera angles gives you more footage to piece together during editing to create a more interesting video.