How to shoot a Timelapse - Matthew Kellett Photography

How to a Shoot Time-lapse

Shooting a time-lapse video is a great way to discover a new world of moving images. This technique is used to great effect in modern TV documentaries and films.

In short, it’s a simple technique in which a DSLR or mirrorless camera is used to capture images in a sequence (film rate) over time and then played back at normal speed. When the sequence is seen, it appears to be moving faster than normal and thus Lapsing. For example, a picture of a sunset can be captured at 5 frames per minute for 2 hours and then played back at 25 frames per second, the results appear to make the Sun move faster, than normal, through the horizon and set within a few seconds of watching. Much like a flower, that can take two hours to blossom in the morning. With a time-lapse, it is now compressed to take just a few seconds. In this scene I’m in a Hop garden, shooting a time lapse of a hop bine growing up its string and in the sunlight. I have decided to shoot three separate scenes at once to save time.

First I view the scene through the camera until I find I want to capture. I have a motion time-lapse device for this setup (Radian by Apline Labs) so I have to think about how a panning or tilting motion might affect my resulting time-lapse.

Once I’m happy with the view I then set up my tripod. It is very important to get it stable and level as it will be a moving (panning and tilting) time-lapse and will look crooked in the end video if it’s not.

I set up the camera to the radian time lapse device and program it to shoot a frame every 5 seconds for 35 minutes and to pan the camera 45 degrees counter clockwise.

After setting up and programming the camera to fire automatically, you have time to kill. Especially if it’s a long one and you have to stay with the cameras (which I highly recommend) I like to walk and enjoy the scene that’s around me, sometimes read and meditate to make the time move faster, as time can move very slowly if you just watching your cameras or in the wrong frame of mind.