In recent times, countless videos made with a very curious photographic technique called Time Lapse have begun to appear on the Internet, more specifically on pages such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
These are videos of spectacular landscapes or situations in which everything happens very fast. In a few minutes you can appreciate, for example, the sunset, a sunrise or even the course of a whole day.
Have you ever wondered how they do it? Don't worry, in today's article I will explain step by step how to do it and what you must take into account so that you can make your first Time Lapse without dying trying.
WHAT IS TIME LAPSE?
Time Lapse is a sequence of photographs taken with a time interval between each other and joined, with a program or video software, to create a final video in which the action takes place at a higher speed.
Have you never seen one? Take a look at the following and you will understand better what I am talking about:
Although it may seem like a really new technique, in reality it is not so much since there are short films from the beginning of the century made in Time Lapse to show a slightly faster version of reality.
TIMELAPSE VS VIDEO
Surely you are wondering why take hundreds of photos to make a video if your camera films in Full HD? The answer is simple:
The video mode of your camera , despite using the same sensor and filming in Full HD, is much more limited in terms of the configuration of the metering and exposure parameters and the resulting quality than if you use your camera simply to take pictures. This means that, no matter how good your camera is filming, the video modes do not process noise, capture light, or work with the quality with which your camera is capable of taking a picture.
Think about it: a 16-megapixel camera takes photos at a size of 4928 x 3264 pixels while in video mode it is capable of capturing 1920 x 1080 pixels.
If you were thinking of making a video and using software on your computer, speed it up to achieve the same effect, it is very likely that you will be disappointed when you see it.
TYPES AND USES OF THE TIME LAPSE TECHNIQUE
TYPES OF TIME LAPSE
While you can make a Time Lapse video of anything you can think of, if you take a little time to research the different types of videos shared on the Internet, you'll see that not all situations are ideal for Time Lapse. amazing.
In general terms, we can say that there are 3 main types of situations with which you can obtain amazing videos:
- Nature photography: this includes all kinds of flora and fauna that inhabit nature. From the blooming of a flower to the creation of an anthill.
- Landscape photography: sunsets and sunrises, storms and lightning, winds, clouds, sun and stars, etc.
- Others: everything that does not fall into the two previous classifications but that can be attractive to document: traffic on a street, the construction of a building, and everything where something attractive is created or transformed over time.
While in the first two classifications (Nature and Landscapes) the fluidity and continuity of the video is key to its impact, in the third (others) it is not so much since it does not matter to lose some intermediate sequences because what is important is not It is not evolution but the transformation of the chosen elements.
USES AND APPLICATIONS OF TIME LAPSE
This technique, currently booming, is used by many media, agencies and photographers where power is sought:
- Show long duration events, such as the path of the stars in the sky, in a short video.
- Show different subjects moving at different speeds in the same scene.
- Any other kind of artistic work.
THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT TO MAKE TIMELAPSE
CAMERA WITH TIMER
The key to being able to take these types of photographs or videos is to have a camera, whether reflex or not, that allows you to take pictures every certain amount of time that can be programmed. In any case, if your camera does not have this option built-in from the factory, you can try to get an intervalometer or external remote shutter release.
TRIPOD
As you can imagine, the stability of the camera is an essential requirement when making a quality Time Lapse. To achieve this, the ideal is that you get a good and firm tripod. As you gain experience, you may also need a slider base or rail so that you can pan your camera around a scene, while still taking pictures steadily. I recommend that you read the following article: "How to Correctly Mount a Tripod" if you do not want to waste hours of work and hundreds of photographs.
By the way, if you're thinking of buying a tripod, don't miss this comprehensive guide with tips and recommendations to find the best one for you.
AIM
The lens you are going to use will depend on the scene you are going to photograph. If what you want is to photograph a landscape, it is recommended that you use a wide angle lens (8 to 25 mm). But for the blooming of a flower, for example, a macro lens would be ideal. In any case, you can do it with the objective that you have at hand, it does not have to be the most expensive, far from it. While quality is important, in Time Lapse it is not so much.
CHARGED BATTERY
Battery charged to 100% and as far as possible, have more than one. If you have a grip that allows you to use more than one battery at the same time, great. Ideally, the photo session ends when you want, not when the batteries decide.
HIGH CAPACITY AND SPEED MEMORY CARD
Memory cards of the maximum capacity and speed possible. If you run out of space in the middle of a shoot, you may miss frames crucial to the continuity and flow of your final video. It's better to prevent than to cure.
A GOOD BOOK
Despite being a very exciting process, it is extremely boring. Imagine sitting around for 4 hours with nothing to do but listen to the camera shutter take a picture every 30 seconds. You can go crazy! Take something with you that you can entertain yourself with while the entire shooting process lasts.
LOCATION AND FRAMING
The location you choose to mount your camera on the tripod and the elements you decide to incorporate into the frame to dress up the scene are essential for the resulting Time Lapse to achieve the impact you are looking for.
Choose your protagonists well and take your time to decide how you will arrange all the elements that you have available within the frame to achieve the desired impact. The less you improvise the better. Keep in mind that changing a location element means redoing hundreds of photographs.
Take your time to study the location and framing well.
HOW TO MAKE A TIME LAPSE
Once you have arrived at the place you chose to take the shots, you must not only place the tripod and the camera in their place, but you must also adjust all the parameters of the camera to take each of your photographs. That is, carry out a good measurement and exposure of the scene to be photographed , and then configure the intervalometer so that it automatically takes a photograph from time to time.
Depending on the scene you are going to photograph, the interval between each photograph will vary:
- If you want to photograph a sunrise, for example, it is recommended that you use an interval of approximately 30 seconds since the sun will not vary much in position from one to the other.
- On the other hand, if what you want to photograph is a highway full of cars, it would be advisable to use a much shorter time interval, otherwise the continuity breaks and the fluidity of the resulting video will be too noticeable. Try to use intervals of 5 seconds or less.
- To make a Time Lapse of a landscape or a starry sky, as fluidity is essential, you should use a much shorter time interval between shots, from 1 to 5 seconds. However, these are general recommendations. Do all the necessary tests until you reach the result you are expecting.
SHOOTING MODE
Although I always recommend using the manual mode to take each and every one of your photographs, in this particular case and depending on the length of the video, it is recommended that you use the aperture priority mode . Why? The "amount of light" available in a scene can vary from its beginning to its end, so if you use manual mode, you should adjust the exposure accordingly. Instead, using aperture priority mode , once the required depth of field is established , the camera will adjust the exposure automatically.
RAW OR JPG?
The ideal format to work in photography is the digital negative or RAW because it saves in each file, all the information of the shot for its subsequent post production. Now, in a Time Lapse that lasts several hours, shooting in RAW can consume all of your camera's memory, let alone its battery. I recommend you shoot in JPG mode. After all, after a session of more than 300 photos, the process of developing the digital negative could take forever.
THE USEFUL LIFE OF THE EQUIPMENT
If you have an SLR camera, I'm sorry to inform you that they are not immortal. In fact, using the Time Lapse technique will cause your camera more wear than normal. Unfortunately, photo by photo your camera will slowly approach its sad end: the funeral. According to the manufacturers, the life expectancy of most DSLRs is around 100,000 shots depending on the manufacturer and model of the camera.
This is why you must carry out a serious planning process in order to waste as few photographs as possible when taking your shots, since after a long Time Lapse session, you will have consumed a small but important portion of the life of your camera.
Don't despair! 100,000 photographs may seem little, but it is not: take a look at the following article and you will understand it better: “The Life Expectancy of your Camera [or The Funeral of your Camera]”. And if what you want is to prolong its useful life as much as possible, follow the following recommendations: "The Complete Guide: Cleaning Tips For SLR Cameras".
STEPS TO GET A TIME LAPSE
Now that you have everything ready, it's time to take your things and start making your first Time Lapse. Sure, after reading the following steps:
- Get ready for the adventure: although it is possible that you make your first Time Lapse from the window of your home, if you plan to do it outdoors, I recommend that you not only pack your photographic equipment, but also take a coat with you, an umbrella , a flashlight, sun protection and everything you consider necessary so as not to end up having a bad and long time. Check that everything is in place, clean lenses and charged batteries so you don't have to interrupt the session for anything.
- Do not improvise: as I mentioned before, the more time you dedicate to planning the scenes and choosing the framing, the less amount of time and photographs you will waste. Imagine that after 4 hours of photos every 10 seconds, you realize that the sunset has been left out of the frame!
- Duration of the final video: to get a second of filming, approximately 25 photos are required, so if you want to get a video of approximately 30 seconds, you should take around 750 photos. Keep in mind that, to take 750 photos with an interval between photos of 10 seconds, the total shooting time will be 2 hours (750 photos x 10 seconds / 60 minutes = 125 minutes). Review your action plan again after calculating the total session time.
- Compose your photos: the moment to place the camera on the tripod is essential to take a correct Time Lapse. Make sure that the camera is securely mounted and that all the elements of the scene are well arranged on it . Keep in mind that any unwanted movement can ruin hours of work, so you must make sure that nothing and nobody will move your camera. Also, make sure to be organized when using your equipment. If you leave everything scattered, it is likely that you forget something when you re-edit the video.
- Configure the parameters for the shot: depending on the characteristics of the scene to be photographed, you must adjust the different parameters for the shot, such as: the shooting mode, the format of the photos (RAW or JPG) , the time interval between each photography, depth of field , etc. Read again how to configure the equipment if it has not been clear to you or ask your question in the comments at the end of the article. Depending on the speed with which the elements move in the scene, you must choose which time interval to use. The higher the speed, the lower the interval, and the lower the speed, the longer the interval between photos can be.
- Focus manually: if you let the camera focus automatically, it may decide to change the focus in some shot, for example when a cloud passes by, it decides to change the focus. To prevent the camera from getting confused and changing focus, once your scene is in focus, change the focus mode to manual . In this way, all the elements that you have focused on will no longer be modified.
- Get comfortable and start taking your photos!
I ALREADY HAVE THE PHOTOS, NOW WHAT?
Once you have finished taking each and every one of the photographs that will make up the final video, collect all your things and make sure you don't leave anything lying around as the field of action moves to your computer. It is there where the magic happens and the photographs come to life!
To unite all the images, editing software is necessary that allows them to be exported to a video file once they have been united and ordered. You can use any slideshow program (Proshow, Powerpoint, Movie Maker, etc), if you don't want the final video to have the best quality. Or, use professional video editing software such as Adobe After Effects, Sony Vegas, Final Cut, etc., if you want your final video to be more professional and of higher quality.
Once you've sorted all the photos in whatever software you're using, all you have to do is choose the interval between photos and adjust it if the fluidity of the resulting video doesn't convince you.
Here is an explanatory video on how to join the photographs using Adobe After Effects in a simple way:
WAIT, ONE DETAIL IS MISSING: THE MUSIC ?
Did you think that music magically appeared in your video? No way. It is essential that you take the trouble to select a song that reinforces the message of the video. Take your time, do the necessary tests and you will find the ideal music for the video you have just created. Nothing is written about tastes, but instrumental music tends to give more room for reflection and allows viewers to focus on the photograph rather than the lyrics of the song.
Once you have found the ideal music for your video, you can incorporate it into it using the editing software used to join all the photographs.
THE FINAL RESULT
I hope I have piqued your interest in dabbling in this type of animated photography! Do not hesitate and go ahead and make your first Time Lapse and share it with all of us! If you have enjoyed reading this article (as I did writing it) I would appreciate it if you would give it a vote/recommendation on your favorite social network.
