AN OVERVIEW
Alright, so it’s not time-travel. However all time-lapse photography is, really, is shooting photos of the same thing, spread out over a period of time, and editing them all together into one video that plays back in a shorter amount of time, which looks as though it is moving. So time lapse maybe showing something growing over a long period of time, like a plant or tree, or it could be a series of photos showing something being built, or it could even be something simple like watching a city over the period of a day!
Time-lapse lets you see the natural progression of time, while not having to wait through the actual length of it.
Here’s an example of a time-lapse, it shows a seed rooting and growing out of the ground:
Created by 'newscientiststvvideo' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BtKAkP5xOk
A few basic steps-creating a time-lapse film:
here are a few suggestions that I have found online for what Time-lapse could entail:
- Fruit rotting/ice melting
- Grass growing
- A cross-country drive
- Sunrises or sunsets
- A busy city street over a day’s time
- Opening of flower buds/nature
- Pregnancy
- A construction site
- A self-portrait-aging over a number of years
- Life cycle of a tree over a year’s period
- Baking in the oven
It obviously depends on the time span, it could be taken over a matter of minutes, hours or even years!
STEP #2: FIGURING OUT EVERYTHING
The length of the event: Work out how long it will take to shoot the event/subject, as somethings are going to takes years/months, and consider if there will be any intervals in the process. How smooth is the final video going to appear? These are the things that potentially need trialling before hand!
How the Final Movie Appears: The final video can end up two ways: blocky or smooth and seamless. With blocky, shots will seem to abruptly change into the next, so for example in a city time lapse, a person might appear in one part of the screen and then they'd suddenly appear halfway across the screen in the next frame.
Blending the interval shots together will make the video appears smooth and seamless. This can be done in two ways: drag the shutter speed when shooting, and shoot the subject more often using at shorter intervals.
STEP #3: SHOOTING STILL PHOTOGRAPHS
It really doesn’t matter what camera is used to shoot the photographs: SLRs, point-and-shoot cameras, and webcams.
Whatever is used, it's recommend to mount the camera on a tripod.
Set up the camera:
- Set the camera to record JPG, to save on space.
- Set your camera’s white balance to manual auto-white balance can change and fluctuate, especially if shooting something over a period of time, the light will get brighter or dimmer. Setting it to manual helps to ensure all of the photos have the same look.
- Set the camera’s exposure manually For most of the same reasons, take the camera’s exposure off automatic as well.
Sometimes there will be a batch of photos that need just a little tweaking before anything else. Maybe the exposure or levels could use some nudging.
- One quick tip: Automate Everything.
In Photoshop, practice on one photo from the bunch, adjusting it, then close the photo without saving, then use Photoshop’s Automate Batch command. Select the folder of photos and create a new folder for where the edited photos are going to go. Resulting in ending up with a batch of photos, all edited, ready to be put together!
STEP #5: START MAKING The video
Use any programme to edit the video, it could be imovie, windows movie maker, quick time, or final cut! Any editing software is appropriate. Then add music, titles and any other effects.
Information edited from:http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/ultimate-guide-to-time-lapse-photography/
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