Time Lapse Photography

Time lapse photography equipment

To get started with time lapse photography, investing in expensive equipment is not compulsory. If you are starting, you can use whatever you currently have to get started and then progress slowly to more advanced equipment if you desire. The basic requirements are a camera, an intervalometer, and a tripod. You might also require post-processing software to create your time lapse photos into a video.

Camera

You can photograph time lapse video with the help of any point-and-shoot camera or smartphone. However, DSLR or mirrorless cameras are the most user-friendly as they are most-likely able to convert the photographs into a time lapse video in-camera. To take excellent time-lapse photos, it is better to opt for a camera that has an in-camera intervalometer.

Intervalometer

The intervalometer of a camera is used to take photographs at regular intervals. Thus, it is advantageous if your camera does already have time-lapse capabilities. An intervalometer can be programmed to take pictures at predetermined intervals. It will then instruct your camera to begin capturing photographs.

Tripod

A tripod is an essential tool in when creating a time-lapse video because the camera must remain entirely motionless to highlight the subject’s steady movement and prevent excessively blurry images.

Time lapse videos

For timelapse videos, 24 or 25 frames per second work well in most situations. Normal high-definition video has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels. 4k video has a size definition of 3840×1920 pixels. So, depending on your preference, and memory card size you could take advantage of either.

Time lapse photos

For photos make sure to set your camera to manual while still taking photographs. Then, select the parameters that you desire. For sharp results, a large aperture is required. Any aperture in the range of can f/11 to f/22 is ideal, but the actual aperture will depend on lighting conditions and the look you want to create in the time lapse.

Calculating time lapse video length

When creating a manual time lapse, you will need to have an idea of the length of video you want to create, and you will then need calculate the number of photos required for the video.

Calculating number of photos in a time lapse

To create a time lapse that runs for 30 seconds at a 25 frames per second frame rate. Multiply 30 seconds by 25 frames per second. The result is that you will need to take 750 photographs to produce that 30 second video (30sec x 25fps = 750 frames).

Calculating how long it will take to photograph the entire time lapse

Now you also need to consider how long it will take you so photograph those 750 frames. If you are planning a night time lapse of a city scene, each photograph may be a long exposure in itself. You can experiment with different lengths of photos, but the math behind a time lapse will always be the same.

If each photo is a 2-second exposure (to capture light trails), the calculation will be Number of Photos x Exposure Time. In our example: 750 photos x 2 seconds each = 1500 seconds, which is equal to 25minutes on-site photography time (1500 seconds/60 = 25 minutes).

Time lapse with longer exposures

If each of the 750 photos is a 10-second exposure it will take just over 2 hours to take the required photos (750 photos x 10 seconds each = 7,500 seconds, which is 125 minutes, or just over 2 hours).

Either way you will need to allow for a short period between photographs when the camera stops one photo and begins the next. This can be up to 1 second.

Time lapse feature

Now, after you have set your camera, you must enable the timelapse feature and choose how many photographs you wish to take. In the camera specify the breaks between the photos. Your desired shooting situation will determine the interval, as calculated above.

As shown in the calculations above, if you want to capture the dynamics of fast-moving cars, you can set the interval at one second. You can set the interval between photographs at 30 minutes or even 60 minutes for slow activities like flowers blooming. Press the shutter once everything is in place, then wait. Once it has captured the desired number of photographs, the camera will immediately stop recording.

Tips for taking a time lapse video

Once you know the equipment you are using, use these tips to get a better understanding of the device, be it a camera or a smartphone

First, it is essential to know what your device can do. In manual mode, you must maintain uniformity from shot to shot for shooting a time-lapse photo. Before attempting time-lapse, try making other kinds of videos to understand better all the resources you’ll need to shoot an original time lapse video.

Know your material

The second crucial piece of advice is to learn about your subject. It is best to do some study before shooting the scene. What emotions are you attempting to stimulate? Is it tranquillity? Calmness? or mayhem?

You must become familiar with the location if you want to do an outdoor time lapse photography video in nature, check the weather forecast or see if any animals are common in the area. Investigate and identify the ideal places to position your equipment for uninterrupted filming. Planning will help avoid having your time-lapse video footage influenced by camera movement and other outside factors.

ISO

The ISO setting can make or break a good time lapse. Setting the ISO to auto mode is not recommended. Most DSLR type cameras, when in auto ISO mode and photographing time lapses, will produce a noticeable jump in exposure once all the photos are stitched into a time lapse video. This can be very distracting to the viewer and detracts from the overall experience of the time lapse. So, it is recommended to always have the camera set to manual ISO. As always, if you are unsure, then experiment yourself and see the difference in the final time lapse.

Give time lapse a go

Failure is the most exemplary teacher for all of us! So don’t be scared to start recording, and even if your time lapse photos or video does not come out the way you want, then that’s okay because time lapse photography is a technique that even video specialists require years of trial and error to master properly.

Time lapse images and video are unusual and will always be well-received on your website and on your socials such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

Time lapse photography ideas

Many subjects are excellent for time lapse photography. A cityscape is one of the best subjects to photograph since daily life activities may make for an entertaining video. However, there are different subjects and time-lapse photography ideas that you can use.

Capture nature and landscapes in time lapse

Photographers love taking time lapse photography of the landscape because it enables them to depict the passage of time in a way that is not feasible with conventional photography.

For instance, you could utilize time-lapse photography to record the varying seasons in a single video.

Astrophotography: The sky, the stars and the moon

With your time-lapse photography skills, the splendour of the night sky can be captured using astrophotography techniques. Using a series of long exposures, you can create a time-lapse video depicting the stars moving across the sky. The results are beautiful, but it can take a lot of patience to master.

Cityscapes

Time-lapse photography of cityscapes is a method for documenting how cities change over time. You can produce magnificent visuals of how cities change and expand by capturing a series of pictures at regular intervals.

Daytime time lapse

Daytime time lapses can be created to beautiful effect by increasing the time between photos to create an almost time-stop effect, or if you have a Neutral Density (ND) filter you can slow each

The whole story

Summing up, with time-lapse photography, you can demonstrate how a scene can drastically vary over time, either due to weather conditions through from one season to the next, or over a matter of minutes, and everything in between.

A single photograph may not be able to convey the whole story, but time-lapse photography likely can. If you’re new to this genre, it will take some practice to perfect your craft, but the results will be well worth the effort.