Time-Lapse Techniques and Tutorial

AwakenedFilms

AwakenedFilms

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http://awakenedfilms.com/media/af_demo_timelapse090310-big.mov

I seem to gravitate towards using time-lapse photography in my productions. Sometimes they help express hours of events in just a few key moments. Sometimes they are simply eye candy for a lack luster production. Sometimes they are just plain overused!

I thought I would share a few key techniques on how to shoot time-lapses and will continue to add to the thread if there seems to be interest.

Rule 1: Manual EVERYTHING. (all standard settings should be set manually)
- Manual Focus
- Manual Exposure
- Manual Shutter
- Manual White Balance

Rule 2: Manual EVERYTHING ELSE. (DSLR cameras can try to sneak in a few auto menu settings)
- Manual Sharpness
- Manual Contrast
- Manual Color Saturation

Rule 3: Drag your Shutter. (long shutter speeds are your friend)
- 1/2 second is the minimum shutter speed
- 1 second to 30 second shutter speed are optimal depending on the event

Rule 3: Calculate the length of your event and the desired length of the final time-lapse
- 12 seconds is a good finished run time
- 30 seconds of total runtime will give you the all important 'handles' for speeding up and cross fades in post
- at 24fps final run time, record at least 720 frames (1000 is better)
- 12 minutes @ 1 frame every second, 720 total frames captured = 30 seconds TRT, 24fps

Rule 4: Lock down your camera
- lock all tripod latches
- sandbag your camera if wind/vibration might be an issue

Rule 5: Practice, Practice, Practice
- Learn your camera's optimal settings for different types of events
- Learn from the things that ruined previous attempts at timelapses
- polarizers, NDs and Grads / Attenuators are your best friends


Here are a few starting points for capturing different types of events YMMV:
- Sunset (Expose for dusk and start early, first frames will be blownout) ISO 100-400, f8-12, 1/2 second shutter
- Sunrise (Expose for daytime and start early, first frames will be black) ISO 100, f12+, 1/2 second shutter, ND 1.2
- Nightime Highway Cars Trails ISO 100-400, f4-8, 1+ second shutter
- Stars ISO 800+, f1.4-2.8, 5-30 second shutter


Jason Schuler
www.awakenedfilms.com
 
Zblock said:
Do you have any tips for time lapsing a setting sun?
Click to expand...

Hey Zblock.

For sunsets, I find it best to decide whether to expose for daytime or dusk in advance of shooting. Exposing for daytime is easy - there is no guessing and no pre planning that needs to be done, just set your exposure for the frame as it is at the beginning of the sunset and lock it off.

Is challenging but rewarding to expose, instead, for dusk. Its a little harder and may require some testing in advance or pre-planning, but when you nail it, the sunset is great and the frame does not immediately go black once its down. Sometimes you can even catch city lights beginning to turn on.

The problem is that if you want to go the dusk route, you risk blowing out the actual sun. I try to assess the sunset in advance. What makes this one beautiful? Is is the sun coming in and out of the clouds? Then, I have to expose for the sun. Maybe, its the colorful clouds after the sunsets behind a tall mountain. In that case, I would expose for dusk and let the sun blow out and only use the colorful clouds.

Graduated NDs and Attenuators are great for sky time lapse. Reverse Grads are amazing for sunsets. They go smoothly from clear to dark to clear. BTW - screw on grad filters are pretty much useless, as you would have to place the horizon dead center for best effect. Use cokin or 4x4...etc.

Final two 'advanced' tips:
1) Shift your white balance towards blue (6300+ degrees kelvin), you can also white balance through at blue / cyan gel. This will make your sunset even more red/orange.
2) Shoot your time lapse exposed for day, then when your exposure goes black after the sunset, reset your camera and expose for dusk/night. Then, seamlessly cross fade between daylight sunset and city scape night in post. Be sure to lock your tripod completely. If you move things around while setting up your second time lapse, things will not go so smoothly in post.


Jason
 
I can't wait to try. Would you happen to know if all the components and sensors are safe inside the camera (HVX) with the onboard ND filters in place. I'll have to read more about this but I know I've heard warnings about filming the sun without protection on the lens.

Thanks for your info btw. I'm excited to go shoot.
 
I have never had a problem with an HVX, HPX, HDX, EX3 or DSLR shooting a sunset. You will need ND filters in place (in camera should suffice) and watch out for bleed on the over exposed areas of a CCD.

I would never point a camera directly at the noon day sun. A setting sun is going through many times the atmosphere that the high noon sun goes through, essentially stopping it down quite a bit.


Jason
 
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