Time-Lapse Photography Art and Techniques by Mark Higgins

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Introduction Welcome to the exciting and inspiring world of time-lapse photography. We will explore techniques that will be invaluable to both the beginner who has only just picked up a camera and the professional who is looking to expand their creativity and skills. Many different approaches will be addressed, which will enable the learner to react to any shooting situation with confidence. Timelapse photography in many ways is a bridge between shooting stills and video. Because of this crossover, the reader will be given an opportunity to explore all areas of photography and video that relate to time-lapse. Time-lapse is a sector of photography that is constantly changing with the development of new technology and ideas; this should be embraced and explored in order to advance and evolve your learning. There is a wealth of information and technology available, and we can utilize it to our advantage. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK This book should be used as an informative and enjoyable resource for anyone interested in learning about time-lapse, as well as stills photography and video-making. The reader might choose to work through this book from cover to cover, or to use it as an occasional reference. Everyone learns in different ways and at different paces, so absorb the information in the way that works for you. Learning about photography is as much about practical experience as it is about theory. Sometimes too much time can be spent simply talking about photography, rather than actually going out and creating imagery. This is why throughout this book there will be practicals for you to engage with to reinforce the content covered. Building your knowledge in a practical manner is key to driving your work forward, and the aim of this book is to help the reader develop a portfolio of exciting work and to gain confidence and experience. The learning process Learning in itself is an interesting challenge, and we all learn in different ways, but generally if you take a positive and enquiring approach this will help your progress. When working on your timelapse videos, never let small setbacks get in the way of your passion for imaging. You may find there are days when nothing is working at all. It happens to everyone; don’t let this get you down. If you have created a time-lapse that you don’t like, then use it as a learning experience; don’t delete it but learn why you don’t like it.
Getting started At the beginning you might have a blank canvas; this is probably the most daunting part of the process, but it is also one of the most exciting. It may be worth starting in an area that you are comfortable with, such as landscape or street photography, for example. This will take some of the pressure or uncertainty away from the beginning of the exercise. All it takes is one or two successful results and you will start to gain valuable confidence. After this first step you will realize the rich scope of potential that you have with time-lapse photography. Working with strong colours and shapes is a fantastic way to achieve eye-catching imagery. Here the lines of the bridge have been used as a compositional tool. A star burst (top left) has been created by using a particular aperture setting. The people on the bridge have been blurred by the use of a slow shutter speed. All of these elements come together to create evocative stills or time-lapse videos. Camera settings: 30s, ƒ/16, ISO 100.
Page 2: Time-Lapse Photography Art and Tech
Page 5 and 6: First published in 2016 by The Crow
Page 7: This image is an example of what ca
Page 11 and 12: This diagram represents the passing
Page 13 and 14: These individual still photographs
Page 15 and 16: COMMUNICATING WITH TIME-LAPSE One o
Page 17 and 18: Scenes like this will give subtle m
Page 19 and 20: • What inspires you about your su
Page 21 and 22: ALWAYS LOOK AROUND BEFORE SHOOTING
Page 23 and 24: When capturing fast-moving subject
Page 25 and 26: An area that is very close to time-
Page 27 and 28: These are still images taken from a
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 2 Time-lapse basics In this
Page 31 and 32: This example shows how the pixel di
Page 33 and 34: This example shows Full HD video re
Page 35 and 36: The format for video is more of a l
Page 37 and 38: DIFFERENT WAYS TO CAPTURE TIME-LAPS
Page 39 and 40: when looking at these options to ch
Page 42 and 43: This sequence of images is from a t
Page 44 and 45: This comparison shows how you can e
Page 46 and 47: TIME-LAPSE TO VIDEO IN CAMERA If yo
Page 48 and 49: Advantages Phones and tablets are g
Page 50 and 51: Compact cameras are very advanced a
Page 52 and 53: This camera is a fully fledged top-
Page 54 and 55: Remote triggers When we take an ima
Page 56 and 57: 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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To capture the separate images when
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Chapter 5 Setting up your camera fo
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This image shows a much better appr
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Live-view focusing can be much more
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Most DSLR cameras have a button to
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If you want a different point of vi
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Chapter 6 Colour and composition In
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change between settings whilst in l
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A fluorescent white balance produce
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values to choose from, such as 3000
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The ‘correct’ white balance can
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during the day we usually have a ne
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The ‘golden hour’ is a time of
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This time-lapse shows how the colou
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When you have the choice of colour
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This image has high contrast and sa
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Your box of compositional tools Eve
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When the horizon is at the bottom i
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Strong verticals can be quite a sta
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In this image we have different lay
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When using reflections in your imag
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Depth of field can be used to simpl
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This image is strong because of the
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subject. This can take away from th
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A different look that also uses bok
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Chapter 7 Planning and shooting tim
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emember that photography is about l
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This time-lapse video was taken fro
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so, the camera did a great job. The
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photography. Larger motorways tend
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A DSLR camera mounted on a pocket t
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Aperture To get a wide depth of fie
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Time-lapse settings The camera was
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had a 24mm ƒ/1.8 prime lens attach
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Shutter speed A shutter speed of 1/
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Always revisit locations on a diffe
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Chapter 8 Film-making and editing f
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Overshot Undershot Point of view Ca
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The long shot can be very similar t
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A half shot is usually framed from
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An extreme close-up enables you to
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This approach is more of a wild car
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The point of view shot is not often
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lens in and out might mean that you
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This image has the contrast turned
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This image has the saturation turne
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This image shows the same frame wit
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If you record audio for your time-l
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This directional microphone has a v
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you want. MUSIC Making your own mus
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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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