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Time lapse and a digital camera...How to
Noah Bryant, Photographer
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Lakewood | CO | US | Posted: 7:04 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> Okay here's a tutorial on how to create a time lapse video using just about any digital camera, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Premiere. I use a Nikon D2H because it has a built-in interval timer which keeps me from having to do the shooting by hand. I taught myself all this so bear with me if something could be done better somehow I haven't discovered yet. I'm assuming you have a pretty good knowledge of Photshop and a basic knowledge of premiere. just email me if something doesn't make sense for you. noah@noahbryant.com
First think you need to do is shoot the images, but before you do that make sure your CCD is as clean as you possibly can make it, cloning dust off of the hundreds or thousands of images in photoshop will be a pain in the you know what.
Set your camera up so that it's shooting pretty small images (Standard television is somewhear near 640x480 pixels) and and shoot as jpegs on about medium quality. You'll end up shooting hundreds or thousands of frames so not only will you need a lot of memory, but it will also put quite a bit of abuse on your shutter.
A great way to practice is to just use clouds, they're almost always around and always moving.
It depends on what I'm shooting when I decide at what interval to shoot the frames but it's usually 1-5 seconds. Most video is shot at around 30 frames per second so keep that in mind when deciding what you want your interval to be. If you do 1 frame per second your final video will have about 1 minute of real time go by every second in the movie. If you do 1 frame every 10 seconds you'll have 10 minutes go by every second. If your using a wide angle lens to shoot the whole sky use about 3-5 seconds per frame and if your using a long lens to shoot the detail of a cloud (great around sunset) use about 1-2 seconds per frame.
Make sure the camera is on a very sturdy tripod and once you get it set up and your movie composed take a good look around to make sure nothing is going to bump the camera. Keep rain in mind too, you dont want to have a good storm sequence ruined by water drops on the lens. If your camera does not have an interval timer you will have to have a cable release, a timer or watch, and a lot of patience.
Once your sure everything is ready (did you remember extra batteries and memory?) start shooting. If your doing this by hand don't worry about being perfect. If you mess up once in a while it wont matter and, better yet, if you see some lightning between frames and want to try to get it in there, go for it. The frames will be going by so quickly that you will never notice the occasional frame being too soon or too late. The same goes for when you need to change batteries. If you need to change cards, keep good track of what order the cards go in. Do not adjust the exposure but if you HAVE to, do it very gradually. Shoot in complete manual mode
Once your done with the shoot, download the photos onto your computer and keep them in folders based on what card it is (Card 1, Card 2...etc.). You'll want to have a back-up too, in case something goes wrong.
One good thing about doing this for the web (as opposed for TV) is that you can set it up to be any aspect ratio you want. Vertical, Horizontal, vertical-panoramic... Open Photoshop and then open the first image in the sequence. Create an action called time lapse and set it to rotate (if needed), crop (to 550x340 ratio), and resize to 550x340 pixels. Once you have the action created close the photo (don't save) and run the action on all of the frames in all of the folders you shot. This will take awhile.
Once that is finished you should have hundreds of small jpegs that are all 550x340 pixels, maybe in several folders. Now open Adobe Premiere.
It will ask you to create a new project, click custom, then change the editing mode to Quicktime. Click the drop down menu (where it says General) and go to video. In the video options click Motion Jpeg A as the compressor and a frame rate of 30 (you can change this if you like for varying results). Make sure it is set to 550x340 pixels. Set the quality to about 75%. Click OK. (these can be changed later)
You should see three windows: Monitor, Project and Timeline.
First thing you do is go to Edit> Preferences> General and Still Image. At the bottom set the default duration to 1 frame and push OK.
Go to File>Import>Folder and select the first folder of images. Repeat for however many folders you have. You should see the folders in the "Bin", which is in the ptoject window. To add them to the movie, just drag the folder to the Video 1 bar in the Timeline window. The progam will automatically fill the individual frames into the timeline. Repeat as necessary.
You can also add audio the same way.
Preview your video in the monitor and if you like it let's export it.
Click on File>Export Timeline>Movie. Name the file and click Settings. Make sure that Quick Time is selected as the file type and then go to the Video settings and make sure the aspect ratio and frame rate are correct. Under compression, use 75 but be prepared to re-export at different settings to get the file size you desire.
Click OK, then Save and when it's done rendering, see how it looks.
The following is a video I made of fireworks. I didn't like the interval I shot at (5 seconds) so I changed the frame rate in Premiere to 12 instead of 30 which made it a little choppier than I wanted but it legnthened the video. The uncompressed file is just over 50 MB and this file is compressed to about 10 MB.
http://www.noahbryant.com/citygoldenmd.htm
If anyone who has better knowledge of premiere can offer tips please feel free. I taught myself how to do this so I'm sure there are some things I could be doing better.
You dont HAVE to use quicktime as your format either. Experiment with the program and come up with settings you like.
Have fun! |
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Stephen Voss, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 8:37 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> Noah,
Very cool, thanks for sharing this.
btw- my favorite part of your video is a little before the end when everything including the baseball field is completely lit up. |
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Tony Donaldson, Photographer
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Sherman Oaks | CA | USA | Posted: 8:51 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> I did a lot of time lapse work for a short film I produced before I got my D2h. I used a Coolpix and an intervalometer made by Harbortronics. You have to experiment with intervals based on the subject matter. Ultimately, if you're working in DV, e.g. iMovie, you want to set your output frame rate from Quicktime to 29.97 and size is either 640x480 or better 720x480 (non-square DV pixels). You can set your time lapse size larger for more apparent resolution or to be able to crop.
My film is inspired by the 1983 film by Godfrey Reggio, "Koyaanisqatsi" (Hopi for "Life out of balance"), a great film for anyone interested in seeing some amazing stuff done with time changes. I'm happy to email anyone a link to my short film, just don't want to put up a public link here. |
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Robert Longhitano, Photographer
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Montgomeryville | PA | USA | Posted: 9:40 PM on 07.06.04 |
| ->> Wow "Koyaanisqatsi" I haven't thought of that movie in years! When I was in school my teacher took our class to see at the TLA in Philly when it came out. It was pretty amazing indeed! |
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Tony Donaldson, Photographer
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Sherman Oaks | CA | USA | Posted: 9:43 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> Rob,
When I head out there next week maybe I'll bring that and Naqoyqatsi (Life as War) if you're interested in checking it out, third in the trilogy. For anyone interested, also check out the amazing time lapses with camera moves in the later scenes of "Baraka", the 70mm film. Those night time lapses, some of which follow the movement of the stars, are some of the most amazing I've seen. |
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Tony Donaldson, Photographer
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Sherman Oaks | CA | USA | Posted: 9:55 PM on 07.06.04 |
| ->> Those two, by David Swan, are very well done. |
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Matthias Krause, Photographer
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Brooklyn | NY | USA | Posted: 10:44 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> Tony,
That's freaking crazy: When I was 13 years old living in a small village in northern Germany I one night came home from Basketball practice and watched some random TV stuff to chill out (three cannels to choose from). What I saw was something I couldn't quite get. It was so different, amazing and beautiful, for sure a complete new way of seeing our world. I had to go to bed before it was finished and I never followed up on it. But now, some 25 years later I surf this board and you're mentioning "Koyaanisqatsi" and after a quick search I'm pretty sure that that is what had me in awe back then. Thank you so much for your invaluable hint. I just ordered it from Amazon and can't wait to watch it from beginning to end.
P.S. Of course I'd love to see your short film and I have the feeling both will be very inspiring. |
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Jim Davidson, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 11:20 PM on 07.06.04 |
->> I created a time lapse film of an arena switching from basketball to hockey. One picture every 20 seconds for 5 hours. 30 second video. Requires DivX codec(one of the older ones). ~6mb
http://www.jimd.com/OSU/hoops-to-hockey.avi |
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Tony Donaldson, Photographer
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Sherman Oaks | CA | USA | Posted: 12:18 AM on 07.07.04 |
->> Matthias,
You'll love that film, and be happy you bought it. It's amazing.
-TD |
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Jon Helgason, Photographer, Assistant
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Tucson | AZ | US | Posted: 12:20 AM on 07.07.04 |
| ->> I have seen Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi and was completely inspired. The richness of the film and the inherent beauty of both of them enthralled me. The sequences of clouds and waves are amazing. I told my wife that this was the kind of imagery I hope to leave behind. I think sadly most moviegoers and critics do not appreciate them as they are full of long scenes with no dialog or "Hollywood entertainment". But I hope most on this site could enjoy them for the aesthetics, mood, and all the technicality of getting the shots. Definitely check them out if you have the inkling. |
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Guy Rhodes, Student/Intern, Photographer
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East Chicago | IN | USA | Posted: 1:21 AM on 07.07.04 |
->> Noah,
Thanks for the info. I do time lapses all the time with video cameras but never committed to trying it with an SLR. I did one last May of the house across the alley from me getting a new roof put on, it spanned four days. I think this has inspired me to finally edit it! :)
Jim,
The arena changeover rules. I love all the subtle things going on there, like the advertisements on the scoreboard changing, etc. |
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Max Gersh, Photographer
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St. Louis | MO | USA | Posted: 1:05 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> In recognition of bringing back old threads month...
I'm finally getting around to doing some time lapse work. I am testing it by shooting 1 frame every 30 seconds. It is looking out my window and really focusing on the shadows changing. There will not be much in terms of people or cars interacting with the frame. It is set to shoot 1200 frames.
My question is when I bring these into my timeline, do I set each one to appear for 1 frame? That seems like it could be too fast.
I realize that there is no absolute rule but how long does each image remain for you on average? How does that change if it is something like Jim's arena changeover (above) with people moving all over the frame? Would you leave it on the screen for 2 or 3 frames?
Also, does anyone know if there is a setting in premiere pro cs3 to set the clip length for all of the images in batch so I don't have to do it one at a time on the timeline?
Thanks in advance. |
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Daniel Bates, Photographer
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Fayetteville | NC | | Posted: 1:59 PM on 10.04.08 |
| ->> If you don't use one image per frame, then your video will look choppy. Leaving an image on the screen for 2 or 3 seconds will just change your video from full-motion 30fps to 15fps or 10fps. |
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David Harpe, Photographer
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Louisville | KY | USA | Posted: 2:22 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> If you're doing it in post, Adobe After Effects is the gold standard for this sort of thing. In AE there are a couple of cool tricks for making this stuff silky smooth. One is to import the frames with a 3-frame duration and a 2-frame overlap with dissolve. There are also a couple of filters you can use that do frame-to-frame blending that will give you some smear.
When you capture your images it's always a good idea to use a relatively long shutter speed to get some blur into the motion. If you're doing day timelapse drop an ND filter in to get the shutter speed down to maybe 1/15th of a second. You'd be surprised at how smooth it makes the finished product look. Definitely takes it up a notch from the normal "cartoony" look that you see with most timelapse. |
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Marty Price, Photographer
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Concord | NC | USA | Posted: 2:37 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> I did this one back during the leaf turning season on The Blue Ridge parkway in NC with the timer on a D-200.
http://videos.charlotte.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=1578555
I strapped the camera to my chest to give the viewer the feel of driving the bike and shot one frame every four seconds. The video production guru insisted on 15 frames a second which is a little fast and choppy but it had to fit the 2 min. window. This condensed a two and a half hour ride to two mins. and made it seem you were going way too fast. I wish I knew how to attach a quick time movie here because my edit at ten frames per second is much smoother and actually feels as if you are driving the bike, but it did exceed the two min. window. |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 2:50 PM on 10.04.08 |
| ->> Marty... I would've tried shooting 1 frame per second and condensing the video to no more than one minute long. I like the idea, but I think the video is a little too long, especially without sound. I only got a minute through this video before I stopped watching. Good concept, though. |
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Marty Price, Photographer
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Concord | NC | USA | Posted: 2:58 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> Bradly,
Thanks, I thought about putting in a narrative and sound but it was rushed a bit to put out. Thanks for the input, Marty |
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Scott Varley, Photographer
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Torrance | CA | USA | Posted: 4:24 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> Here's one that I did several years ago with a D2Hs. I mounted to the roof of my car and drove from Dockweiler State Beach (next to LAX) back to the office in Torrance. I think I had it set to shoot a frame every 2 seconds.
http://gallery.mac.com/varley/100310 |
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Tim Yocum, Photographer
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Jacksonville | FL | United States | Posted: 4:47 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> I ran into this guy's work this summer at a conference I attended. http://www.brandongoodwin.com/production
Click on "Paper Darren" and enjoy. The film was all shot on an SLR and the characters are prints that have been cutout and manipulated to create the action. Neat stuff. |
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David Snyder, Photographer
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Potomac | MD | USA | Posted: 6:27 PM on 10.04.08 |
| ->> I have been shooting alot of time lapse's using the CoolPix time lapse movie function, can set it to every 30sec, 1 min, 5 min, 10 min, 30 min or 60 min and its simple cause it shoots and creates a video file so no need to do the work to create the timelapse once you have the frames, lately I have used the P6000 for time lapse's as it plugs in - no worries about battery life |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 6:43 PM on 10.04.08 |
| ->> Use a Canon G9. it does it automatically |
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Jack Howard, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Central | NJ | USA | Posted: 7:37 PM on 10.04.08 |
->> Chuck--the G9 does it at VGA (640 x 480 px) resolution, and yes, it does it all automagically in-camera.
If you've got a Canon camera, the canon tc-80n3 remote has an intervalometer function that will capture full-resolution stills.
It's pricy, but one of the easiest ways to convert still frames to video is in Photoshop CS3 or 4 Extended.
File>Open the first shot in the folder and check the "image sequence" box.
Click Open and you've got all your still shots as an animation sequence.
Export>Render Video allows you to choose from a ton of different formats, from Quicktime to HDTV etc....
Check out #9 on my page for a double-time sample... |
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Scott Dreslinski, Photographer
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Rochester Hills | MI | US | Posted: 10:45 AM on 10.05.08 |
->> I always set my "pocket camera" up for VGA resolution (saves tons of space on memory card), and this one was shot at one every 3 seconds, and rendered at 15fps.
I like to use Quicktime pro. If you have it, just do file open image sequence. It is very fast and outputs very fast also. I did not know CS3 had the image sequence feature, so I just tried it and it seemed much slower to render than Quicktime pro.
Here is one of opening up the cottage this spring.
http://greatlakesap.com/recent/video/2008cottopen.mov |
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Ryan Kern, Photographer
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Tierra Verde | FL | US | Posted: 10:00 PM on 10.06.08 |
->> http://ryankern.com/barrell2.swf
though it's a bit rigid and no tripod, barrell rolls are always a lot of fun :] |
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Mike Morelock, Photographer
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Greenwood | AR | USA | Posted: 3:42 PM on 10.07.08 |
| ->> Chuck, hang on to that G9, the G10 lost the time lapse feature. It also lost the 1024 video mode, now it tops out at 640x480 at 30FPS , despite having the same Digic 4 processing as the 5D2. Thanks for always crippling your cameras Canon. I guess building the best product you can, crushing the competition, then making it even better is bad business. Better to make it just good enough to beat the competition at a few things, add bells and whistles, take away useful things, but above all, cram in more megapixels. |
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Curtis Clegg, Photographer
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Belvidere | IL | USA | Posted: 12:29 PM on 10.08.08 |
->> Mike I share your frustration with the G10 - you spelled out some of the reasons I'll be getting a G9 shortly.
My guess is that Canon removed the video mode so it won't compete with next year's prosumer DSLR, which will almost certainly have video mode (similar to how Canon removed RAW from the G7 so it, in theory, wouldn't compete with its own DSLR sales).
BTW this gadget looks pretty slick for doing time lapse with just about any camera that has a remote function, either wired or wireless:
http://www.pclix.com/
and here is a decent tutorial from multimediashooter.com about time lapse photography:
http://www.multimediashooter.com/wp/tutorials/time-lapse-tutorial/ |
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