[Mik3ymomo]

So I just did my first time lapse video. There are a few ways to do time lapse (showing time speed up from reality)
You can do it with video where you just increase the speed in post production but I am doing time lapse using photos.

So how is it done? Well the short of it is you take several photos from a camera (any camera) from a fixed position like a tripod. Take these photos from 1 second to say 30 seconds or longer apart and after several mins, hours, days, months etc you take the compiled photos and put them into a program like iMovie or Adobe Lightroom and set a frame rate of 24 frames, 30 frames per second and it turns the compiled photos into video.

Here I took photos 30 seconds apart for 2 hours. That's 240 photos. So I chose the 24 frames per second rate and it made a 10 second video clip seen here.

There is plenty to discuss but what basic equipment is needed?

1. Camera
2. Tripod
3. Software to convert the photos to Video
4. Intervolometer (this will fire the camera for you at the duration you choose.

Some basic techniques to the process

1. After setting the camera up on the tripod set the focus and then turn the focus to manual with on the camera or on the lens. This way it won't hunt between shots ruining the effect.

2. Take test shots before you begin to get the correct exposure, shutter speed, Aperture and ISO settings. This can get technical when doing a light to dark scene and I can explain more as we progress. Manual mode on the camera is preferred

3. The exception to manual settings would be on a light to dark or dark to light scene where AV or Aperture Priority mode may be preferred. This will allow your shutter speed to change as the light changes. Otherwise you may end up with a black scene once it turns dark or a blown out scene when it turns light out.

4. Try not to touch the camera once it's begun the process

5. The closer in duration you take the photos the slower things like clouds will move across the sky. The thing to keep in mind is if doing a light to dark time lapse. You may end up with a multi second exposure and if your durations between shots are shorter than the exposure time during the night scene occurs it will hose up your Intervolometer as it can't take the next photo if the previous one hasn't finished.

So that's the basic technique explained but there is plenty of nuance stuff to think about and that we can talk about.

So share what you have done or if you have any questions. I found that YouTube is full of tutorials about the process. There are some really nice time lapses that have been done as well.

My time lapse is short but it is just going to be a scene in an overall video I am working on.

[ahero4eternity]

Big fan of time lapses. Props to those who shoot 5 min+ videos! haha

My roommate and I just built a motorized slider for time lapses. It's awesome.

[Mik3ymomo]

Originally Posted by ahero4eternity

Big fan of time lapses. Props to those who shoot 5 min+ videos! haha

My roommate and I just built a motorized slider for time lapses. It's awesome.

I would love to hear specifics on this motorized slider as I am seriously tempted to buy one. The one I was looking at was the Konova. It can get seriously expensive for such a novelty item. I'm trying to decide how often I am going to be doing these so I can make up my mind if I want to spend the $$. The effect adds much more interest to a time lapse for sure.

[allachie9]

Great write up Michael.
Can I ask which software you chose to use on your projects please ?

[ortho281]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing!

[Mik3ymomo]

Originally Posted by allachie9

Great write up Michael.
Can I ask which software you chose to use on your projects please ?

Allachie,

I use Lightroom 5.7 and a program I downloaded called "LR Timelapse"