The popularity of time lapse photography is growing day by day. Now, most photographers are interested in making time lapse videos. But it can be a little tricky if you are doing it for the first time.
Nowadays, many cameras support the time lapse feature. If your camera does not support time lapse, then it’s good knowing that you can still do it with the help of software. I will share ten tips that I find useful for doing time lapse photography:
1. Proper Planning is Essential
You must have proper planning before going to any location for a time lapse. As a start, you must check the weather at the location on the day and time of your visit. There are many good apps, like Photopills, that you can use to get this information. Getting the right gear is also essential in planning.
2. Battery Power
When you are doing time lapse for a long duration, then you need to ensure that the battery power is full. If the charge in the battery is less, then you won’t be able to complete the time lapse. You can also go for an additional battery grip if your camera model supports one. A battery grip is a good investment if you are planning to capture time lapse regularly.
3. Use Intervalometer
You do not click thousands of pictures manually when creating a time lapse. So, you need to make use of an intervalometer. Some cameras come with an inbuilt intervalometer. If your camera doesn’t support one, you can easily get one under $20.
4. Right Selection of Shutter Speed
One of the important parameters to be set is the shutter speed for the pictures. When you generate the final time lapse video from these series of images, you must be able to get a smooth video. So, you need to set the shutter speed accordingly.
You can follow the thumb rule of shutter speed selection that is used in the case of a normal video. If you are planning to create a time lapse at 25 fps, then you can go for a shutter speed of 1/50 of a second. In other words, you can double the frame rate to get the required shutter speed.
5. Setting the Time Interval
The success of the time lapse photography is also dependent on the selection of the right time interval. If you are a beginner, you may find it tough to get the time interval right. The time interval is the duration between two successive frames. You need to account for the motion of the subject in the frame to set the time interval.
The subject can be the movement of clouds in the sky, sunset, sunrise, or blooming of a flower. If the total time duration of the whole process is long, then you can go for a higher time interval.
If you want to play on the safe side, then you can go for a small time interval and capture pictures. Once you take these pictures for generating the video, you can delete some of the frames if needed. But, remember, this process will drain your battery and will also use up the space in your memory card.
6. Use A Tripod
Any slight undesirable camera movement can make your time lapse shots go wrong, and it will be tough to fix it during the editing stage. So, always mount your camera on a tripod when capturing high-quality time lapses.
7. Add Music
You can make your time lapse video more interesting if you add appropriate music to it. You can easily find many good sites online that offer free music. You can use the audio from any of these websites. When you combine the time lapse with proper audio, then it will have more impact on the viewers. So, give it a try.
8. Recommended Software
Once you have captured all the frames required to create a time lapse, you will need good editing software. If you are a Lightroom user, then you can consider using the plugin, LR Timelapse. You can also use video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro to generate the time lapse video. Other software options include the SkyStudioPro and Time lapse Tool.
9. Try Using a Slider
Some scenes can get boring if you do a time lapse by just mounting the camera on top of a tripod. You can make use of a slider in such cases to bring some extra motion to the video. A motorized slider can do a good job of capturing good time lapses.
10. Invest in a Good Time lapse Equipment For Long duration Time Lapses
If you are planning to use your camera for a time lapse for a very long duration, say a couple of days or more, then you need to get good time lapse equipment. Such a piece of equipment is needed to provide a long duration of power as well as protection for the camera from dust and rain. Make sure that your camera is compatible with the time lapse device.
