Time-lapse Photography

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography. Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced.

Time-lapse - Basics:

If you are interested in Time-lapse photography and want to give it a try, you will need to buy, make, borrow a few bits of gadgetry and have a shed load of patience!

The most important ingredient, after inspiration of course, is the camera. You can use a compact camera or a SLR, digital is preferable but some people do use film cameras. You can't just use any camera though, because there needs to be an automated way of releasing the shutter at set intervals, every 10, 20 or 30 seconds for example. There a very few off the shelf compact cameras that have an Interval timer built in - this is not to be confused with a Self-Timer.

Many time-lapses last only a few seconds when stitched together on the computer, typically well under a minute, but will consist of many hundreds of pictures (or frames). So you'll also need to ensure you have enough battery power and space on your memory cards.

Time-lapse - Equipment:

To take the pictures, edit the frames and create the time-lapse, as a minimum you will need:

Time-lapse - Cameras:

To make things simple, ideally the camera you choose should have an Interval timer (or Intervalometer) mode built in. There are only a handful of digital cameras that boast this feature, like the Pentax Optio W30, W50 & W60 compact cameras, which have a minimum Interval of 10 seconds but are limited to 1000 frames. Some Nikon Coolpix compact cameras also have an Interval timer, but are limited to a minimum interval of 30 seconds. Then there are several DSLR's like the Nikon D300.

If you have another brand of camera then it is still possible to make time-lapses with an additional piece of kit. For example many Canon DSLR's are compatible with plug-in Intervalometers (Canon TC-80N3). There is also an aftermarket solution for many other cameras called Pclix. I am lucky enough to have a Pentax Optio W60 and a Canon EOS 40D with a TC-80N3 so cannot comment on any other camera or Intervalometer.

Timelapse Kit

Finally, for the die-hard geek or electronic wizard, there are several articles on the internet detailing how to use Scientific calculators, electronic components and bits of wire to make an Intervalometer. Be aware that some involve dismantling your camera which will void your warranty!

Time-lapse - Tips:

Setting up the camera is fairly straight forward, each frames exposure needs to be as near to exactly the same as possible. A basic starting point would be:

You should read the manual that came with your own camera to find out how to apply these settings. If you can lock-down as many (or all) of the above then you should be able to produce great time-lapses. The aim is to have no 'flicker' or other annoying variations in each frame.

Time-lapse - Static vs Panning / Motion:

Whether you choose to make a static or panning time-lapse, your camera needs to be mounted securely to something. A sturdy tripod will give the best results, however you could also put your camera on a tabletop or on top of a wall. For static time-lapses you DO NOT want the camera to move, the subjects can and should move, but the camera must remain perfectly still for the whole duration.

Panning or Motion time-lapses are slightly different and add another dimension to the finished movie. Between every frame the camera can move a fraction of a degree or millimetre, it needs to be this small a movement to appear smooth and steady when played back at 24 frames per second. There are a handful of people on the interweb who have devised ways to mount your camera and achieve such a small, steady & controlled movement. One of the best sources of knowledge on panning time-lapses I have found is Milapse. He has used a Clock for left to right horizontal motion and adapted a Telescope motorised mount for vertical & horizontal motion in his time-lapses.

Time-lapse - Software:

So you now have about 4000 frames of your time-lapse subject and need to stitch them all together. You don't need to spend 000's on expensive Video editing software to create basic movies. The simplest and cheapest way is to use either Picasa 3 (free) or Quicktime Pro (20UKP)

Both pieces of software are easy to use and offer the quickest way to create your time-lapse movie. Click here for a video tutorial on how to create a video in Picasa 3, and it is just as easy for Quicktime Pro.

You may want to add music, transition effects and text to your time-lapse, if so then you will need something like Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas or Adobe Premier. These video editing packages will enable you to jazz up your finished movie.

Time-lapse - Hosting the movie:

Pleased with your finished movie? Good, now you probably want to share it with the rest of the people on the Interweb? Well this is simply a case of uploading the finished file to a video sharing website like YouTube or Vimeo. The sites have certain requirements of the file you are uploading, such as size, length and more recently, whether the music in the movie violates copyright. Handily, YouTube offers a feature called Audioswap which allows you to search a selection of music that they deem acceptable and apply it over the top of your video - replacing the audio layer of your original file.

Time-lapse - Other resources:

This is nothing new, and I haven't really 'invented' anything here, just collected together some (hopefully) useful info from inside my head and also around the web. Spend 5 mins in your favorite search engine and you'll find there is plenty of interesting stuff.