Time-Lapse Photography Art and Techniques by Mark Higgins

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Chapter 7 Planning and shooting time-lapse videos In this chapter will look at how we can successfully plan and shoot our time-lapse videos. We will look at sequences of stills that have been taken from time-lapse videos to provide examples of settings that can be utilized, the thought processes behind them, and other tips and tricks. Use these examples to see what kind of imagery you like and to build on your technical skills. First we will consider our approach when working on different projects. Formalizing your work structure and project management can be an effective way to make sure you use your time efficiently and will help you to achieve more in a short space of time. USING A PROJECT STRUCTURE Any image-maker will generally work on different areas at the same time and this can be difficult to keep track of. Try to organize items into categories; each area of interest will then become a project. Projects mostly consist of a number of pieces of work that share a theme, idea or technical relationship. Having one or more projects to build upon will help you sustain and increase your learning momentum, whilst maintaining structure to your work. After trying different time-lapse videos you might start to see trends in subject matter and realize that certain aspects appeal to you. A project structure will help you progress; when the direction is clear, you will arrive at your destination sooner than you might have thought. Repetition within a project Repetition is one of the best ways to learn and therefore repeating a time-lapse shoot will be hugely advantageous to you. Choose one particular location that you find inspiring, then keep going back to repeat what you did before, but build and add to the body of work every time you return. Repeating a time-lapse shoot will show that even though the location is the same, the light will be different on each visit. Try going back at different times of day to repeat the same time-lapse; you will see a huge difference in shadows, colour, the amount of light, and atmospheric conditions depending on the weather. This repetition will give you important creative and technical practice and help you to create outstanding work more easily.
Going deeper into a project After the realization that a particular subject interests you, go a bit deeper. Do some research about the kind of subjects you are shooting. Information is becoming easier to get hold of; you can research the internet and libraries to look at other photographers’ work in order to learn from them. Make sure that you find your own angle on any subject you endeavour to record. It is a good exercise to emulate the work of others, but you need to make your own path. Once you have started learning more about the subject that you are working on then you might also find a different tangent to follow. This could be an area related to what you are working on and can actually complement the work that you have already done. One project can quickly become a collection of small projects and these small pools of work will give you a variety of subjects that you can choose to work on at any time. Working this way ensures that you won’t be scratching your head wondering what to do next. For example, you might be creating time-lapse videos of an area near a river. After research you might find that there is a boating club next door and they take boats out every Sunday afternoon at 3pm. You then know exactly when to go along with your camera to get relevant interest and movement. Without researching your areas of interest, you could lose out on this kind of insight. Keeping track of different projects It is easy to lose track of what you are doing and actually mislay work as a result of doing too many unrelated projects at once without any organization. Why not start to project manage? It might sound like a corporate approach, but to ‘project manage’ simply means to organize what you are doing in a structured way. You could do this by keeping a diary of what you have done and where you plan to go next. Use what works best for you. Some people use a calendar; some people use charts. It could be a digital calendar on your phone or a physical booklet that you make notes in. If you are able to come back to a project, pick up from where you left off and be aware of what to do next, then you are in control and will not lose work. Working without projects For most people it will make sense to work to a project guide or structure – it does help with direction and purpose – but this way of working may not suit everyone. All the ideas in this book should be taken as suggestions; you might choose to use them yourself, but you might not. If you feel that working to projects does not suit you then just simply take your own route. Some people find creativity in chaos; you might prefer not to work to a structure and be more instinctive. LOCATION Light and location More often than not a key ingredient for great time-lapse videos is a fantastic location. If you arrive somewhere and it already looks amazing then you are half-way there. Whatever the location,
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Time-Lapse Photography Art and Tech
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First published in 2016 by The Crow
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This image is an example of what ca
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Getting started At the beginning yo
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This diagram represents the passing
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These individual still photographs
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COMMUNICATING WITH TIME-LAPSE One o
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Scenes like this will give subtle m
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• What inspires you about your su
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ALWAYS LOOK AROUND BEFORE SHOOTING
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When capturing fast-moving subject
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An area that is very close to time-
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These are still images taken from a
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Chapter 2 Time-lapse basics In this
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This example shows how the pixel di
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This example shows Full HD video re
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The format for video is more of a l
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DIFFERENT WAYS TO CAPTURE TIME-LAPS
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when looking at these options to ch
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This sequence of images is from a t
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This comparison shows how you can e
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TIME-LAPSE TO VIDEO IN CAMERA If yo
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Advantages Phones and tablets are g
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Compact cameras are very advanced a
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This camera is a fully fledged top-
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Remote triggers When we take an ima
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drive and not a memory card in the
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software that comes free with the c
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24mm.
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80mm.
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500mm. Focal lengths between around
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This time lapse sequence was shot w
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Using harsh shadows in your frame w
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LEARN FROM YOUR SHOOTING DATA Look
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uying one. Manuals for any lens or
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Using a fisheye lens will always be
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Here we see a tilt and shift lens b
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This is the same view but the persp
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concentrating on the technical side
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where the sun is going to be at any
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when in a rush this is easy to forg
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Chapter 4 Light and exposure In thi
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This frame from a time-lapse shows
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camera’s settings. If we use man-
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During the day we tend to get natur
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The exposure triangle is the most i
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This scene is overexposed. This ima
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the decision based on the light tha
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This image was captured at 1/200th
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This chart shows that changing the
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Taken at ƒ/8 this image shows the
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A very wide aperture of ƒ/1.4 has
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• Distance between the camera and
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In conditions where there are low l
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This section of the image shows how
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This neutral density filter screws
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These stills are from a video clip
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Your camera’s metering system Und
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of middle greys, and in theory the
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Here the histogram is seen next to
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Always check your manual to find th
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These images are taken at two stops
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Credits are easy to create even wit
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Chapter 9 Sharing and storing your
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page dedicated to showing their wor
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Sometimes, even with all the enthus
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cleaning your equipment 53-55 colou
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L length of your video 128 lenses 5
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T taking yourself out of ‘auto’
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Time-Lapse Photography Art and Techniques by Mark Higgins

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