Time-lapse photography is a classic technique that every photographer has tried. Whether it's photographing a car on the road, or a picture of a sky full of clouds, this method of photography may not be familiar to novice photographers. Let's take a look at the tips for time-lapse photography
1. Learn about time-lapse photography
Time-lapse photography is a shooting technique in which a photographer sets up a camera to shoot a series of frames at regular intervals, and then captures the image as a rapid succession, the purpose of this technique is to show the person a dramatic transformation of things from beginning to end.
Most of the time, things are captured in slow motion that the human eye can't see right away, such as sunsets, sunrises, the movement of stars at night, or the growth of trees, to name a few. But time-lapse photography can also be used to capture fast-moving objects at a much faster speed, such as cars where many people are walking in different places or on roads.
Second, the required equipment and equipment
The first is the camera, if it's a DSLR or mirrorless camera, some cameras have a built-in time-lapse feature that can make the job much easier. You don't have to carry a lot of equipment, but if your camera doesn't support this feature, we recommend using a remote control that allows the camera to shoot repeatedly at specified intervals** without having to press the shutter yourself.
Another essential one is a tripod, because our camera is going to be in the same frame for a long time, a tripod will help to keep the picture stable and reduce the risk of blurring the image, including filters like the camera ND because it has a function that reduces the amount of light transmitted and allows us to adjust the shutter speed more flexibly.
Finally, there are the large memory cards, because creating time-lapse photography requires a lot of high-quality shooting**, resulting in the need for quite a bit of space.
3. How to prepare before shooting
The first step is to find the right spot, as time-lapse photography takes a long time. So before we start shooting, we have to search and choose a good location, and think about how to compose the shot, how good the lighting conditions areAnd double-check if there is anything that interferes with you when taking pictures.
The next step is to prepare all the photographic equipment. And as mentioned above, time-lapse photography takes a long time for each shot. If you must shoot in hot weather, you should bring a hat or sunscreen, but if it's cold you should wear thick clothes or stock up on some supplies so you can sit down and eat while taking photos.
Finally, before you start taking pictures. Make sure the tripod is placed on a stable, sturdy, slope-free surface.
4. How to set up the camera
When shooting time-lapse photography, use it in manual mode or set it yourself. Create the best results because if you use Auto mode, the camera adjusts itself for each shot, resulting in uneven lighting and the picture may not be smooth, which may be an incomplete time-lapse.
The time-lapse setup itself may seem difficult, especially for novices, but this step will provide the right, soft light for our process.
Let's start with the aperture. Try to set an aperture that allows enough light to enter, keep the subject sharp and have the correct depth of field, including shutter speed, which should be chosen to suit what we want. If you want the subject to be sharp, you should use a fast shutter speed of about 1 100 or faster. But if you want to capture crowding of people or cars, try setting the shutter speed to 1 50 or lower, which will cause the image to appear blurry, and it does a good job of conveying the movement of the object. As for the ISO, the settings depend on the lighting conditions, but for time-lapse shots, the low ISO settings are best. Because it helps to reduce all kinds of noise, but requires plenty of light, or if shooting time-lapse photography in low light, set a higher ISO to add more light to the image, but more noise may also appear.
Set the camera and lens focus to manual to maintain a steady focus on each shot, and do not use autofocus. Because the camera tries to focus on a new subject while shooting, this is not suitable for time-lapse photography that requires fast-moving objects, such as people or cars.
And the most important thing is the time to interval each frame or shooting distance, which is considered as the number of frames per second, and the speed at which the object is moving should be taken into account to choose the correct interval. If you move fast, use a shorter amount of time (about 1-3 seconds);If the movement speed is slower, a shorter time is used. You can choose a longer interval, which can be adjusted to a maximum of 30 seconds.