A Tale of Time Lapse

Over the past few years I have been shooting quite a bit of time lapse photography. I have always been fascinated by being able to see more than what you can usually see with your eye. Time lapse photography allows you to do just that; see what would normally take minutes or hours or even days in just a few seconds.

I have posted many time lapse videos and have had people ask how it was done. So here I will explain how to shoot time lapse photography.

First, you should understand exactly how film and video is made and viewed. Essentially all film and video is made up of a number of individual pictures or frames. Typically for film there are 24 individual pictures in every second and for video it is usually 30 frames per second. As proof of this fact watch a movie on your TV. Press pause. You will see one individual picture. Then use the frame advance button to go ahead frame by frame. You will see the next and then the next individual picture. Twenty-four to thirty of these in every second when played back at normal speed.




Now, under normal circumstances these frames are photographed at full speed. That is 30 frames shot per second and then 30 frames played back per second. If you were to shoot more frames per second (fps), say 60 fps and then play it back at 30 fps then you would see the motion played back at half speed or in slow motion. Time lapse is the reverse. You are shooting less frames per second and they are being played back at the normal frame rate so you see the motion happening faster. For example if you shot 15 fps and played it back at 30 fps the motion would appear to be twice as fast. If you shot 1 frame every 2 seconds, then the resulting playback would show 1 minute played back in 1 second.

So what do you need to shoot time lapse photography. Essentially you need two things. A camera and lots of patience.
Actually to do it right you need a few things.
First you need a camera that will shoot individual pictures. Some video cameras can take individual pictures, but any still camera will do. One thing that is important is that you have manual control over focus and exposure. I'll explain why in a little bit.
Second, you need a tripod or some other way of securing your camera so that it does not move. (there are exceptions but for now we'll deal with a locked off camera).
Third, it is convenient if you have an intervalometer (a device that automatically takes photos at set intervals). It may be built into some cameras or be a separate device that plugs into your camera. If you have one of these then great. If not then you will just have to trigger the camera manually.



Now decide what you want to shoot. The obvious things are things like clouds, sunsets, cars and city lights, but the possibilities are endless. Be creative. Once you have decided what you want to shoot, lets assume a sunset, then compose your shot as you would if you were taking a single picture. Now you should have your camera on a tripod. You need the shot to be steady for a long time.
Next set your camera to manual focus and focus the shot. With your camera set to manual exposure find the correct exposure (do a couple of test shots). It is important to have the exposure set manually. Automatic exposure would change from shot to shot resulting in flickering when it is played back.
Now decide how many shots per second you want to shoot and how long you want the shot to be when played back. Remember that there are 30 fps for video. So if you want the shot to be 10 seconds when played back you will need 300 frames or 300 individual pictures. If you wanted to compress an hours worth of sunset into that ten seconds then take the number of seconds in an hour (3,600) and divide that by the 300 frames in 10 seconds. The answer you get is 12. So that means you would take on picture every 12 seconds for a whole hour. An intervalometer is handy here. Just set it to take one shot every twelve seconds. If you don't have an intervalometre then you will have to trigger the shot yourself every 12 seconds.
If you are triggering your camera manually, be very careful not to move or vibrate it when you press the shutter. The slightest movement will be noticeable when you play it back.

Keep in mind a few things. If you are shooting a sunset, do not stop taking pictures as soon as the sun goes down. You will need to shoot at least a seconds worth (30 frames) at the end so your shot doesn't end too suddenly on playback.

The time in between taking pictures should be appropriate for what you are shooting. Slow moving clouds or a sunset or sunrise could be anywhere from 1 shot every 2 seconds to 1 shot every 10 - 15 seconds. Faster moving clouds or cars at night would be shot at shorter intervals, say 4 a second up to 1 shot per second. If you are shooting stars moving across a night sky you might be shooting as few as 1 frame per minute with exposures for each shot being up to 30 seconds each.




Now, what to do with the individual shots.
When you download the photos into your computer be sure to put all of the shots from each set-up in their own folder. So if you shot a sunset and then some cars on the same card, make sure that the sunset shots are in a different folder to the car shots.
Next, you will need some video editing software. I use a professional suite, but I'm sure any of the consumer editing software will also work. Be sure to import your photos as an image sequence. This way you will get one file on the timeline where each photo represents on frame in the order that they were taken. Once you place this on the timeline and play it back, you will see the result of your patience. Beautiful time lapse.

One final thought. I have mentioned that patience is a requirement. It really is. It can take a long time to get a few seconds worth of footage. You may only get two or three complete shots for hours worth of shooting. But if you take your time and have patience, the results can be amazing.

Why Hire a Professional

A good question.

When should you hire a professional and when should you do it yourself?

As is true with most things, whether it be fixing your car, renovating your bathroom or producing a video for your business, anyone can with the time, the tools and some learning, do it themselves. But you have to ask is the finished product worth it?

There are plenty of reasons that you might hire a professional. First, they have the tools. When it comes to video production the tools include professional cameras, lighting and audio equipment.
Second, they have the knowledge and skills. In video production, this means that they know how to properly light a scene, get good clean audio, and get the best performance out of people that are on camera.
Third, they have the time. Video production can be very time consuming. Then there are the hours spent in editing.

When I look at video that people (non-professionals) have produced for themselves, the quality ranges all over the place. Sometimes it is downright awful, with horrible lighting and barely audible sound. Other times it is great with perfect lighting and good sound. Most of the time it falls somewhere in between. Today anyone can get hold of an HD camcorder or DSLR which will give them great picture quality (in good lighting) so often the video looks quite good. What usually gives away the fact that it was produced by a non-professional is the audio. The on camera microphones just are not ideal for picking up good clean audio. You can almost always hear too much room tone or echo in the shot.

When I shoot a video for someone, it can be a simple 30 second piece or a 10 - 20 minute full blown production, I have the time, the tools and the knowledge. The time of course, because I have been hired to do the job. The tools are very important. A professional camera for the highest quality picture, along with proper lighting and good audio equipment to make sure that the sound is right. Also, if the size of the production calls for it, there will be a crew of skilled people. The knowledge and skill is very important. Under perfect conditions, an amateur can very well make a good video. The problems usually arise because conditions are rarely perfect. Knowing what to do when things aren't perfect or when things go wrong is where the knowledge and experience is really an asset.

I don't want to discourage anyone from trying to shoot video for themselves. There are times when it is much more economical to shoot yourself rather than pay a professional. For instance, if you do a video blog once a week it would not make sense to have a pro come in once a week to shoot it for you. (You could hire a professional to come and shoot 10 or 20 video blogs in one day which is much more economical and then release them one a week. I have done that for people and they were happy with the result.) Even if you are going to shoot them yourself, it may be worth asking a professional for advice on how to light and how to get good audio. I have also helped people create a set-up with a good camera and simple lighting etc.

For any video that is meant to promote you and your business it is worth hiring a professional. Firstly you need to be focused on how you and your business are coming across and not on the technical aspects of production. It is your image that you are putting out there. Do you want to promote your business with an amateur looking video or a well produced video? You need someone that knows how to use the tools to produce a product that professionally and creatively shows off your business. You need to hire someone that knows how to not only shoot but edit (sometimes a rather cumbersome process) the footage into a clear story about your business. You need to hire someone that knows what works and what doesn't and why.

Video is an incredibly powerful tool that all businesses should be using. Keep in mind the points above when you are deciding whether you should hire a professional.