NORTH CAROLINA -- It’s been a few years since I wrote about capturing a time-lapse and of course, as it is nowadays, software and hardware change constantly.  I am by no means an expert and don’t claim to be one and I would love to hear from anyone else who would like to share their knowledge on the subject.

So let's start with the basics of what a time lapse is. A time lapse is when the frequency at which images or frames are captured(frame rate) is lower than rate at which the frames are viewed.  For example, if you take an image once every 60 seconds for an hour and render it to playback at 60 frames/second you will view that hour in one minute. This allows for subtle motion, like the sun or cloud movement, to be more pronounced.

 

 

So, what do I use?  Most of the time I’m using my smartphone; an iPhone 6 with 64gb. As you can imagine camera resolution and memory is important, I don’t overdo it with apps and I don’t save pictures on my phone for a long period of time so the memory is available to store the time lapse images and to render the videos. When shooting a time-lapse I have my phone in a tripod mount on a mini tripod.  I have LifeProof cases for both my iPhone and iPad to protect them from the elements. I can not say enough good things about these cases, yes they are expensive, but mine have paid for themselves many times over.
 
 
My apps of choice are SkyFlow and Lapse It. I’ve tried several and always come back to these two because of their flexibility. Besides flexibility over capture rate and render (playback) rate, you can lock focus, so it doesn’t focus on a passing bird and give you a few frames of blurry clouds. You can also lock white balance,  an important feature if you are shooting a sunrise or sunset when the “color temperature” changes. You’re going to have to Google this, I don’t have enough room to get into it here. There are a few other thing that can be controlled manually that gets into a more advanced level of photography. SkyFlow also has Low Light Boost and Noise Reduction options for low light condition. Also you can display a grid and horizon for framing and picture composition. A feature of Lapse It is the many filter effects you can render your playback video with, such as vivid color or black & white and a plethora of ways I would have never imagined wanting to use. Another app I like to use is Hyperlapse. This works well for quick things and can be done hand-held as it will smooth and stabilize your video.

OK, you have you device aimed at whatever you are going to shoot and all is safe and secure, what settings do you use? Generally when I am shooting a time-lapse of clouds my capture rate is one frame every one to two seconds. One frame every second if the clouds are moving fast.  If you want to get a time lapse of something slow, like a flower opening, you would set the capture rate at one frame every ten or fifteen minutes. Slow things require longer intervals between frames, fast moving objects require shorter intervals.

As far as what rate to playback your images at, you are going to have to experiment. My playback rate varies greatly depending on the desired effect and/or how long I what the finished product to be or how smooth I want the video to be and so on. Another great app I’ve been experimenting with is NightCap Camera. This app takes amazing low light and night photos, videos. Some of the interesting modes in this app include:

  • Light Trails which preserves moving lights – ideal for moving traffic at night, firework.
  • Stars is ideal for a starry sky or Northern / Southern Lights (Aurora)
  • Star Trails to capture stars painting circles in the sky
  • ISS Designed to take photos of the International Space Station and other satellites as they arc across the night sky
  • Meteor which will automatically take hundreds of photos, but only saves any that might contain a shooting star.

It also has a time-lapse mode that works well in low light conditions.

Checkout my Facebook page to see some of my work.  You are only limited by your creativity, I’ve done time lapses of traffic, people, birds at the bird feeder, frost melting on a leaf and the tides at the beach to name a few.  It is a way to see things you don’t normally see in a way you don’t normally see them. Play with it, try different settings and see what works for you and what you are trying to show, most of all; Have fun!