How to shoot time-lapse videos
If you’re curious about the techniques used in shooting time-lapse videos, this tutorial on timelapse photography covers a lot of ground, including the cameras and other gear I currently use. Most importantly perhaps is the section on getting smooth motion in your timelapse videos. There’s a specific formula or algorithm in getting timelapse footage that is smooth, and not jittery. It’s all in the choice of Frame Interval. Check the video out!
Photo District News (PDN) was one of the premier photography industry magazines in the USA. It was a big honor that the team at PDN asked me about how I shoot time-lapse videos, and what equipment I use, as well as tips on camera settings and such.
We discuss the techniques to shoot time-lapse, as well as the gear. The photo above here is of one of my rigs. It shows a Dynamic Perception Stage One Dolly with a Motion Controller. This motion controllers gradually moves the camera along the rails. This creates that cinematic movement. Of course, the positioning of the tripods help too, in slowly elevating the camera as the progression unfolds.
Here are the two interview clips. Hopefully they are informative, as well as entertaining, and give you a glimpse in what I do (and how I do) time-lapse photography.
Time-lapse photography has a number of interesting applications for commercial work and with construction. With time-lapse photography you condense the timeline of whatever is happening, into a much shorter time. Instead of an event that takes hours or days, you can now show the event in a minute or two. This makes it easier for your clients to see how an event unfolds, or perhaps how a process on an industrial plant progresses. There are many ways that time-lapse can help explain your business to potential clients. Contact me if you have a project that you’d like to discuss with me.
Summary
Hopefully the videos have some useful info, and hopefully might even inspire newcomers to time-lapse photography to try it out.
Related articles
- Camera settings for Time-lapse photography
- Time-lapse photography project with multiple cameras
- Time-lapse photography tutorial
- More articles about Time-lapse Photography
- For more videos, follow me on Vimeo / YouTube
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