essay about time lapse

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Why should you create time-lapse stories, not just sequences.

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An interesting essay written exclusively for Time Lapse Network by Gary Yost , a filmmaker and photographer worldwide known as leader of the team that created Autodesk 3DS Max .

Don’t just show me beautiful or even amazing time-lapse videos. Show me something that has meaning.

So, you’ve learned how to make a time-lapse video with your intervalometer and maybe even you’ve mastered one of the software packages available for creative control over how the timelapse sequence gets rendered.  Maybe you’ve posted a video or two on Vimeo of the clouds or stars moving in a beautiful place and gotten a few thousand plays.  What’s next?  Where do you go from here?

One topic that all of the tutorials about how to make a time-lapse video never discuss is… Why create time-lapse sequences in the first place?

Is it just to make eye-candy mini-travelogues or is it to inform us about our world in a new way and even make us think a little more deeply about our place in it?

Time-lapse is an important technology because it allows us, along with high-speed (slow-motion) cinematography, to manipulate time to show natural processes that would either take too long to show in a single shot, or processes that are so short that we need to stretch them out to comprehend them.

Too many people (almost all!) jump into time-lapse with the thought of doing something “cool” but without thinking of how these sequences might be used to enhance a more significant story.

There are plenty of resources online about how to set up a time-lapse shot, but nowhere does anyone discuss how to integrate time-lapse with an overarching narrative … to build stories in which the use of time-lapse (or high speed/slow motion) actually enhances and deepens the plot  so the viewer experiences the subject on multiple levels.

Instead of just beautiful images of bristlecone pines in the White Mountains, talk to the people who are trying to protect those trees or the scientists who are studying how air pollution is killing them. Rather than just beautiful time-lapse of the aurora borealis, interview the people who live with that phenomenon and find out how it affects them as human beings.

Make time-lapse a part of the story of the world!

Examples of time lapse videos which can inspire you

No discussion of this subject would be complete without showcasing Louis Schwartzberg, who has been continuously shooting time-lapse videos every day for over 30 years .  His TED talk about his “Gratitude” film is one of my greatest inspirations.  Anyone interested in time-lapse has to see this and then think about how to use these techniques to tell their own stories.

There are a few people who have made a huge impact with incorporating time-lapse in their films, and to see the ultimate expression of this, you should watch “ Chasing Ice ” by Jeff Orlowski and James Balog.  They have used time-lapse videos of melting glaciers as the core of an award-winning (and consciousness-raising) documentary about climate change.

Another powerful film that uses time-lapse to tell a story is Gunther Wegner’s “ African Skies 2 ,” which blends real-time video of endangered animals with time-lapse sequences of their habitats .  The time-lapse shots accentuate the message that time is running out for these creatures, and the film’s purpose is to generate revenue for conservation charities.  Gunther, by the way, also happens to be the author of what I consider the greatest time-lapse rendering software available: LRTimelapse 3.

Luca Pelizzaro is a brilliant filmmaker who has found a way to make time-lapse an integral part of the story in his film “Madness.”  I discovered this film on the Time Lapse Network website and the way Luca presents the darkly emotional story of being institutionalized in a mental asylum perfectly highlights the power of time-lapse to compress time into a small space. He brought an actor into the setting to help us go deeper into the story and powerfully feel what he was portraying in the film.

How can you use storytelling techniques?

I have worked hard to implement these same ideas into my own work.  In my 2012 short A Day in the Life of a Fire Lookout , my goal was to capture the quiet feeling of what it’s like to be standing watch over a community, apart from the world but within sight of it.  Any in my latest documentary, “ The Invisible Peak ” I used time-lapse to bring to life the story of how the top of a mountain is affected by time and the natural elements over 100 years .

It’s a challenge to create a 20-minute short doc (incredibly lengthy in internet time!) that maintains a high level of interest and dynamic visual excitement, but using time-lapse imagery the viewer feels the magic of what it’s like to be in this very special, but desecrated place.

I shot 1 Day @ Delfina  using time-lapse, real-time and high-speed techniques to show how a restaurant hustles to create their culinary magic.  Even in my first music video, In Fits in Dreams , I found a way to use two time-lapse sequences to advance the timeless feeling of the song in ways the move the story forward.

Creating a time-lapse study of a beautiful place

There are times when you may want to just create a time-lapse study of a beautiful place.

I found some amazing dead trees on private land in the Big Island of Hawaii in 2013 and spent a year working to get permission to film there. When I finally went back in 2014 to film the trees I found myself confronted with the fact that just images of the trees wouldn’t be enough to tell my story… there had to be some additional narrative.

Since these “tree bones” had so much history in Hawaiian culture I simply added one shot at the end, of my wife dressed as a spirit, and filmed her in slow motion, compositing that with the time-lapse background plate. This created the soul-stirring spooky feeling I was looking for, and connected the trees to the Hawaiian people. It doesn’t take much!

Here’s an article about how this infrared time-lapse was accomplished : http://nikonrumors.com/2014/08/03/hawaiian-infrared-time-lapse-of-haunting-mamane-trees-made-with-ir-converted-nikon-d5200-camera.aspx/

And finally, what if there’s just no reason to bring external elements into a time-lapse study and you just want the narrative to come from the images themselves? Here’s a piece I made up at the Mt. Tamalpais Fire Lookout that is simply the story of the full moon rising and setting over the San Francisco Bay Area.

In this case the narrative arises naturally from the movement of the moon through the sky . It’s not just a bunch of disparate elements edited together without rhyme or reason… it’s the age-old story of our moon and how it moves so beautifully through the sky, over our creations and our beautiful planet.

In order to tie this time-based narrative together I was very careful to run all the time-lapse sequences through a final color-correction pass in Davinci Resolve to match the color between sequences so that the progression throughout the night made visual sense. In some cases this involved animated color changes of the sky throughout a short shot so it would match both the shot before it and the shot after it.

An article about how I accomplished this is here: http://nikonrumors.com/2014/08/17/the-making-of-full-moon-pacific-blanket-time-lapse-video-san-francisco-bay-area.aspx/#more-79308

These examples point the way towards how you can incorporate these techniques into your own storytelling process . The traditional way time-lapse has been used as a narrative tool is to speed up a very slow process… the opening of a flower, the transformation of a pregnant woman’s belly through her 9-month term, etc.  This is a good start… but you can take it so much farther!

Experiment with seamlessly combining time-lapse, real-time and even slow-motion cinematography . Assign yourself a task to play with these techniques in a test film and see how they expand your horizons into areas that you previously didn’t realize were available to you.  Even something as simple as this study of old airplanes in an aviation boneyard can be tremendously enhanced by just a few portraits and audio interviews.

Until now, if you’re like most of us who have been attracted to making time-lapse videos, you just haven’t crossed the threshold; you haven’t stepped up to use this powerful technique to go deeper into narrative.

Although there are fantastic resources out there for learning how to develop compelling stories (the best one probably being stillmotionblog.com KNOW and “Story First” books), the people who are practicing these documentary arts and writing treatments for compelling short subjects don’t seem to know much about how time-lapse can help them in their narrative process .

So that means that you, the creative people in the time-lapse community, are primed to use these tools to go to the next level of documentary filmmaking.

Stillmotion has a great line about this that’s particularly apt:  “ Allow yourself to be moved by the story before you try to move the story .”

When typical time-lapsers get ideas for a “cool time-lapse,” we jump headlong into the process of making a series of dynamic images, without thinking much about the context of what actually happens in that place.   As the Stillmotion folks are constantly saying, all great stories are built on four pillars… People, Places, Plot and Purpose . Time-lapse only serves one of those pillars, and without all of the critical storytelling elements, “there is no there there.”

As storytellers, we need to bring heart into what we do and time-lapse inherently doesn’t do that… in fact it tends to do the opposite; it adds objective distance.  We have to ask ourselves, “ how can we use time-lapse to bring greater perspective to the people viewing our work? ”  “How does it add more nuance, more contrast, and more complexity to our stories?”  “How does it bring the place that my story is set in to life?”

You can do it!

Time-lapse can be used to create deeply powerful emotions… to bring viewers of our films greater understanding about a place, a subject, an idea.  And it’s not really that hard…  It just takes a little thought about where the story lives.  If someone is in a place that has great potential for time-lapse scenes, there are always connected themes to those beautiful man-made or natural vistas.

We just have to take advantage of the amazing tools we’ve been given at this empowering time to be a filmmaker to find those stories and bring them to the world.

Heck, any camera that can shoot time-lapse can also shoot an excellent interview.  You just need to learn a little about lighting and audio.

The time-lapse community is on the cusp of something greater than just producing a bunch of pretty eye-candy.   It’s an exciting time to be making independent films!

Who is Gary Yost?

As the leader of the team that created Autodesk 3DS Max he gave millions of people 3D modeling and animation tools, enabling them to use computers to visualize anything they could think of… and a lot of those things were too large, too small, too fast or too slow to show with conventional video.  These days, Yost refers to nature as “his grand animation stand” and spends much of his time on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County.

You can view his work at: garyyost.com

Have your say!

We would like to thank Gary very much indeed for his time and extraordinary post on our website. We’re sure that lot of people will find it truly inspiring, but we would really love to hear from you, so let us know what you think about this post by leaving a comment!

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Learn time-lapse photography, what do you need to create a time lapse video, how to create a time-lapse video, step-by-step, what is flickering, how to avoid it and how to correct it, a complete guide to the post-production of a time-lapse video (sdr), a complete guide to the post-production of a hdr time-lapse video, motion star time-lapse made simple: a step-by-step guide (+ video), how to create a hyper-lapse: free tutorial, flow motion tutorial: how to create a flowing hyper-lapse video, long term time-lapse: how to choose the best equipment, 6 must-know tips to create professional long term time-lapse videos, recommended by us, submit your video.

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Guide to Time Lapse Photography

This guide takes you through how to create a time-lapse video, from shooting to post-processing. Plus, our 7 best tips for stunning results!

Learn | Photography Guides | By Greg Cromie

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In this guide to time-lapse photography, we’ll take a deep-dive into the creative world of time-lapse videos.

Time-lapses are a unique blend of photography and videography – two worlds that collide to create mesmerising content.

We’ll cover all there is to know about this genre, including how to prepare for a shoot and how to effectively capture a sequence.

What’s more, we’ll take you through a simple editing process guaranteed to streamline your workflow.

Last but not least, I’ll be making a time-lapse with step by step instructions for you to follow along.

Table of Contents

What is Time-Lapse Photography?

Time-lapse photography is a process that involves taking multiple images and combining them into a video. When played in sequence, the images form fast-paced footage of dramatic changes in the subject or scene that happen over time.

When it comes to capturing the changes in a subject, your camera would focus solely on that subject and take hundreds, if not thousands, of images as it moves or evolves.

A brilliant example is a sequence that captures a seedling sprouting from the ground and unfurling to form a bud.

Another example could be the development of a toddler over the course of a year – this requires a single photo taken every day for that year.

When it comes to using timelapse photography to capture scenery, the same process applies. But in this case, you’re taking hundreds of images of the sun rising and setting over a city or landscape. The photos capture the way the light shifts and changes throughout the day.

Another excellent example is when there’s a lot of motion in the frame.

Imagine capturing a storm blowing in off the coast towards a beach town. Compressed into a few moments of footage are hours worth of images that show the storm forming, swirling and inching forward.

By now you may be asking how they make these videos look so good? Creating a time-lapse compilation is a lot like shooting a video, and we’ll go into a lot more detail in this guide.

What Is Time-Lapse Photography Used For?

Chances are you’ve seen dozens of examples of time-lapse photography in all forms of media.

That’s because this style of photography is a creative way to showcase dramatic change and movement in a scene. Especially scenes that benefit from being captured over a long period.

Tourism, marketing and government projects frequently use time-lapse to showcase a topic.

As an example, the tourism industry might use it to showcase the changing light and colour of Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory, Australia.

A government agency might use timelapse photography to capture and showcase a large scale construction project like the digging of a new underground rail tunnel.

Creatively, you might capture a gorgeous image sequence of stars rotating in the night sky, or a fast-moving progression of people bustling through Times Square in New York.

How to Shoot a Time-Lapse Video

Using a tripod to avoid motion blur is one of the keys to shooting a timelapse.

Now that you know what time-lapse photography is, let’s take a look at how to create it.

If you’ve seen examples of impressive time-lapse videos but think its a pro-level and daunting task, you couldn’t be more wrong.

With the right equipment and know-how, you can easily capture time-lapse images and turn them into a video using post-processing software.

It’s not that different to taking a single photo – and in most cases, you only have to push the shutter button once and then let the camera do the rest.

The biggest challenge is to get the correct interval between each photo captured (this is also known as the frame rate).

You need to pace the images in a way that suits the scene you’re trying to capture. If you have slow-moving subjects and a long interval time, the time-lapse will appear sluggish. If you have fast-moving subjects and too short an interval, the video will appear too fast.

Similarly, if your interval is too long, your footage may seem jumpy and not flow properly.

Also, the duration of the interval must be longer than the exposure time of the sensor (i.e. the shutter speed). If you’re running with a speed of 1 second due to the lighting conditions, then your interval must be longer than 1 second.

Here are the straightforward steps to create your time-lapse.

Step 1 – Get everything stable

Camera stability is the key to a clean video. Attach your camera to a sturdy tripod or clamp in a location where it won’t be bumped or disturbed .

If you’re using a motorised slider that slowly moves the camera along, ensures it’s tightly secured and that the slider is not going to move out of position.

Step 2 – Dial in your settings

Set up your camera with the desired settings, including shutter speed, ISO and aperture to suit the scene and lighting (we’ll go into greater detail on this later).

Step 3 – Set up your intervalometer

Set up the intervalometer in your camera’s menu system. The intervalometer is the system that determines the frame rate (i.e. the period of time between each shot) and how many shots you’ll take in total.

You can usually set this in minutes, seconds and hours – plus select how many images you want to be captured for this sequence.

When starting, try a 10-second interval and a total of 10 photos and then review the outcome.

Step 4 – Choose manual mode

If shooting with a DSLR, select Manual mode from the control dial to reduce any flickering that will appear in your video. This way, you can manually control the exposure quality. Manual mode is also the best option for mirrorless systems.

Step 5 – Check your exposure

Using the LCD, viewfinder or histogram display, check the overall exposure. Look out for strong highlights and shadows and adjust your settings accordingly.

Step 6 – Check your focus

Use either manual or autofocus to make sure that you have a sharp focus on your core subject or across the entire scene. Just be careful with autofocus as you don’t want the camera to hunt for focus while in the middle of a shot.

Step 7 – Shoot a test shot

Conduct a test shot with 10 images set to a 10-second interval and preview the photos to make sure that the timing works and that the exposure looks correct.

Step 8 – Trigger remotely

Use a self-timer, remote shutter release or suitable app to trigger the shutter button while you’re standing away from the camera.

Then, hit the trigger and let the camera do its job!

7 Tips for Better Time-Lapse Photography

Now that you know the basics, let’s take a look at some tips to make your time-lapse photography stand out from the crowd.

It’s also critical to remember that getting your images correct in the camera is going to make your post-processing workflow much easier later on.

Given that you’ll be capturing hundreds of images, you don’t want to spend hours editing each one.

1. Best Gear For Time-Lapse

Camera equipment of time lapse photographer Matthew Saville on Shotkit

The fact that you need a camera sounds pretty obvious, but there are some essential features and functions a time lapse camera  will need in order to shoot time-lapse.

Older cameras can still shoot time-lapse, but they often need an additional intervalometer unit or a third-party software update to do so.

Let’s assume that your camera is relatively new. Most digital DSLR and mirrorless cameras feature a built-in intervalometer. This allows you to take a certain number of images at a specific frame interval.

The other benefit of a camera like this is that you can set it to Manual mode to control your settings.

Compact cameras may also feature an intervalometer for this kind of work. If you’re planning on buying a compact system for timelapse photography, make sure to do your homework thoroughly.

If you want to make the most of your GoPro, you can also use a GoPro for time-lapsing . While the GoPro is considered an action camera, you can convert the images into a high-resolution 4K time-lapse video – even underwater!

Finally, if all you have access to is a new smartphone but you want to test out time-lapse, you’re in luck. There’s a range of basic free time lapse photography apps as well as powerful paid apps designed specifically for this.

The type of lens you’ll use all depends on the style of shot you’re capturing.

If you’re shooting a landscape, then you’ll need a wide-angle lens that can capture a wider frame. If you’re shooting in darker conditions, you want a lens with a fast aperture such as f/1.8 or f/2.

Having image stabilisation is unnecessary as you’ll be mounting your gear to a tripod.

• Intervalometer

As mentioned, current-generation cameras feature a built-in intervalometer that does all the hard work for you. But not all cameras are current-generation, and many don’t feature such a function.

To accommodate this, you can get a separate intervalometer. This is a standalone device that also acts as a remote shutter release.

The intervalometer plugs directly into your camera and controls how many shots are fired as well as the period of time in between them. It’ll also be helpful to help you calculate time lapse time .

As mentioned in our step-by-step guide to shooting time-lapse, you’re going to need a sturdy tripod or clamp. If you don’t keep your kit stable, your video will look all kinds of wrong.

Tripods come in all shapes and sizes, and depending on the situation, you’ll need something that’s both portable and stable. Aluminium or carbon fibre frames are best for portability.

You also need to make sure that there’s a suitable ball head or attachment mechanism to connect your camera to the tripod.

• Batteries and Memory

Timelapse photography chews through both batteries and memory card storage quickly. If you’re going to be shooting a long sequence of shots, it’s best to make sure that your memory cards are of a decent size.

Otherwise, your memory card will fill up half-way through the sequence, and the process will stop.

The same applies to batteries. If you’re not confident in the performance of your old battery, consider getting a fresh one.

Alternatively, use a camera that has a matching battery grip to extend the battery life – some camera/grip combos can support up to three batteries.

If you’re shooting in bright conditions, then you should invest in a decent ND or Neutral Density filter. ND filters can help to control the harshest of light in your composition.

Just be careful if your time-lapse is covering a period that moves from a bright day into night. While ND filters are great during the day, they may jeopardise the success of the second half of your video.

• Remote Shutter Release

You can’t be touching the camera at all during a time-lapse recording. Even triggering the shutter for the first time can cause unwanted shake or motion blur.

The simplest way to overcome this is to use a remote shutter release – a small IR or Bluetooth device with a button like a remote control.

Alternatively, many camera brands now have a mobile app that you can pair with the camera. With this, you can fire the shutter but also control many of the camera settings.

2. Camera Setting For Time-Lapse

To shoot timelapse, the period of time between each image should be greater than your exposure time.

If your camera has various file formats available, always choose RAW. While these may be much bigger than JPEG files, they capture a greater level of data from the sensor.

Just be prepared to handle a lot of data as you’ll capture hundreds of images in a single sitting.

• Shutter Speed

Shutter speed can be tricky to calculate as you want to make sure that the exposure time is less than the interval between each shot.

There’s no point setting an exposure time of 5 seconds if your interval is only 3 seconds – the overlap won’t work.

An excellent place to start is with a shutter speed of 1/60 second – this way you’ll get sharp images for each shot.

The aperture depends on the type of subject you’re photographing. If you’re shooting a landscape scene, then you need a narrow aperture to ensure everything is in focus – f/5.6 or f/8 is ideal for this kind of work.

If you’re shooting a scene where the main subject is close to you and the background is not crucial for the composition, go with a wider aperture. f/2 or f/18 is ideal as you’ll get the foreground subject in sharp contrast against the blurry background.

The third element of the ‘ exposure triangle ‘, ISO controls the sensitivity of the light hitting the image sensor. Choosing an ISO is going to depend heavily on the lighting conditions of your composition.

Remember that too high than ISO can cause noise distortion to appear on your image. As such, you’ll need to balance this setting with the exposure time and aperture to find the sweet spot.

3. Selecting Intervals For Time-Lapse

Choosing the intervals of your timelapse is one of the critical factors in the success of the finished product.

Depending on the composition and situation you’re photographing, the gap or interval between each shot will significantly aid the story you create in your video.

If the intervals are too short or too long, the final result may be dull or jumpy. And while there’s no hard and fast rule for the interval settings, here are a couple of examples to consider:

• If you’re capturing a landscape and want to feature the clouds scudding across the sky, I would recommend 3 to 5 seconds for typical cloud movement, 5 to 10 seconds for slow-moving clouds and 1 to 3 seconds for faster clouds – see our guide to long exposure photography for more.
• For capturing the sun and moon as they rise and set, aim for somewhere between 1 and 3 seconds.
• For videos where you want to catch the sun arcing across the sky, an interval of between 15 and 30 seconds is best.

4. How Long Will You Need to Shoot?

A lot of the hard work with time-lapse photography comes down to doing a little math. But for those you that hated math in school, don’t stress, it’s pretty simple to work out.

Creating timelapse is a lot like shooting a video – so let’s break that concept down a bit more.

With the development of modern video, we understand that the camera captures a certain amount of frames per second. That could range from 15 frames up to 120 frames depending on the style and intent of the video.

For this explanation, let’s use 30 frames per second as that’s a reasonably standard frame rate.

In a single second of footage, you’ll see 30 individual images that have been strung together and played back. Ten seconds of footage is 300 images, ten minutes equates to 18,000 photos, and a typical two-hour movie is a whopping 216,000 images.

But for the sake of creating a short video of around 30 seconds duration, here’s how to work it out. At 30 frames per second, you would need to capture 900 individual images (30 frames x 30 seconds = 900 images).

I would also recommend that you capture more than what you’re likely to use.

When you have your composition set up and ready to shoot, don’t be afraid to add extra frames to the time-lapse. So instead of capturing 900 images, you’d capture 1,100 and trim the ends of the collection later.

5. Reduce Flicker In Time-Lapse Photography

Night photography of traffic is a popular subject for timelapse.

A common issue with time-lapse photography is flicker caused by changing exposure values.

You won’t notice flicker while you’re taking the images, but you will later when you pull them together to form your timelapse video. It will appear as though the lighting changes quickly during the video.

It’s usually caused by the camera automatically selecting the exposure for each photo, and often occurs during a session where you’re filming at sunrise or sunset. The changing light values of the sky causes the camera to compensate by adjusting the overall exposure.

To manage this, I recommend ensuring that you have your exposure control on manual mode. This way, your camera has no choice but to deal with the exposure values that you dialed in before starting the time-lapse.

Plus, if you shoot in RAW, you can finely adjust the exposure values of all images as a collection to achieve an even look.

Another form of flicker can be caused by shooting at a narrow aperture. The aperture blades have to move more to achieve a narrower opening, and this actuation can result in image flickering throughout your video.

To better manage this, use an aperture setting that’s as wide as your composition will allow.

The camera shutter causes the next form of flicker. Too fast a speed can cause a flickering effect when you bring together the images to form your video. You wouldn’t notice this with everyday stills photography, so it’s not a defect of your camera.

Don’t push the shutter speed up too high if you can help it – experimentation is the key to success.

The final form of flicker is due to how your camera automatically selects white balance. For the most part, we tend not to touch the white balance settings on a camera – they’re pretty good at choosing the right balance themselves.

But if the automatic white balance setting is too aggressive at adjusting white balance from frame to frame, you can get colour flicker in your video. In this case, the colour of the sequence changes continuously.

To combat this, set your white balance to a constant setting so that the camera cannot adjust it on its own.

6. Correct Exposure For Time-Lapse Photography

For timelapse, you’ll need large memory cards due to the volume of images.

As mentioned previously, you may choose to shoot a timelapse to capture the arcing sun or perhaps a video that transitions from day to night.

Without the ability to manually change the exposure controls part way through your time-lapse, you need to find another solution.

The best one is to apply a Circular Polarizing (CPL) Filter , or a Neutral Density (ND) filter to the front of your lens. ND filters provide a level of shade – much like wearing sunglasses.

Filters cut down the amount of harsh light hitting the camera sensor, thus avoiding over-exposed images. That way, you can also drop your shutter speed and use a wider aperture to reduce flicker.

If you’re concerned about the varying levels of exposure during a day-to-night shot, you can effectively manage this later in your editing software. But the goal is to get a good balance of exposure during the actual shoot so that your editing touches are minimal.

7. Composition Considerations In Time-Lapse Photography

Finding a good vantage point to capture motion is one way to elevate your timelapse.

Next, I want to touch on a couple of handy compositional considerations for creating a fascinating time-lapse video.

One of them is to look for scenes where you know there’ll be some form of motion. It has to draw the eye into and across the video.

A simple example involves ships pulling into and out of a port town, such as in the image above. The constant to-and-fro motion of the vessels draws the attention of the viewer, especially when set against a static waterfront.

Another example is the steady growth of a subject – it could be something as simple as a child building a toy tower or a local construction site. The motion is what makes time-lapse videos so appealing.

You can also compose your shot to have a static subject and a changing background. For example, imagine a solitary tree positioned in your frame using the rule of thirds, with the sky changing colours behind it as the sun rises and sets.

Another way to elevate your output is to use a device dedicated to motion control. You simply fix your camera to a device that can slide the camera in a single direction or allow it to pan horizontally.

These are used on table-tops and work surfaces or mounted to a tripod.

Electronically controlled slider rails and pan heads come in a range of styles and sizes that can be controlled with an app. They add a secondary level of motion to the composition and can add a lot of drama or excitement when done well.

How to Edit your Time-Lapse Photography

Clouds are a perfect subject to practice your timelapse techniques.

Now that you’ve captured hundreds of pictures with your time-lapse photography, how on earth do you turn them into a video?

The chances are that you’ve shot your images in RAW file format and now have lots of large picture files ready to go. To manage that level of data, you’re going to need a powerful RAW image editor.

There’s a range of excellent editing applications available for both desktop and mobile – though desktop is better for this kind of work.

Adobe Lightroom is one of the most comprehensive and useful RAW image editing and file management applications available.

With Lightroom, you can easily handle large files and large volumes and manage the process of creating a timelapse.

The second application to use is Adobe Photoshop – a pro-grade image editing and graphic control tool.

If you’ve used the right camera settings before capturing your images, your editing workflow will be far more smooth and straightforward – far better than if you’d not invested the time earlier to get it right before you hit the shutter button.

Editing With Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop

While some photographers who are comfortable with specialist movie editing software may choose to use Adobe After Effects ( or its alternatives ) to edit their timelapse, it’s much more common to stick to good old Lightroom and Photoshop for the task.

Let’s have a closer look at how to achieve this.

Step one is to plug your SD card into your computer or card reader and import the full collection of images into Lightroom. It’s best to move these into a Collection, so you don’t get them mixed up with any other import photos.

Scroll through your images and look for any that stand out due to an issue you may not have detected when shooting.

Select a picture somewhere in the middle of the pack and edit this just as you would a regular single photo.

It’s also a good idea to change the crop ratio from the default ‘As Shot’ to 16×9 – it’s the standard aspect ration for viewing video content.

Copy the edited settings from that one image and apply them to every shot in the collection. This will ensure that you have the same colour, contrast, exposure and crop settings throughout.

Export the entire collection of images to a folder, as JPEGs with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.

Now it’s time to jump to Adobe Photoshop. Open up the software, then click on the Window dropdown menu, select Workspace and choose Motion.

From the File dropdown menu, select Open and choose the folder where you exported your JPEGs. Then select Options and check the Image Sequence option.

Set the frame rate that you want to use and then hit OK – your images will take a few moments to load depending on the specs of your computer.

Photoshop will create your time-lapse video based on the settings you entered.

At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the video timeline. Here, you can play and review the video to make sure you’re happy with it before you export it.

The final step is to export the video to your desktop by selecting the File dropdown menu then Export and Render Video. Select the location and quality and hit Export – you’re done!

You should also check out our guide to the best time lapse video editing software for more helpful tips.

Time-Lapse Photography FAQ

How many frames per second is good for time-lapse?

While you can vary the number of images captured per second up to staggering amounts, you don’t want to deal with that many files later in editing. Standard video output is around 30 frames per second.

How long does it take to make a 30 second timelapse?

At 30 frames per second, you would need to capture 900 individual images (30 frames x 30 seconds = 900 images).

What is the best camera for time-lapse photography?

A good camera for time-lapse photography is the Canon 80D – a crop sensor DSLR. It’s an ideal entry-level camera with great low-light performance.

Time-Lapse Photography | Final Words

Time-lapse photography is an exciting genre that blurs the boundaries between photography and videography.

With the right gear and a good understanding of the before and after process, you’ll create a compelling video to amaze your friends, followers or clients.

Check out these 8 essential tools to help you succeed as a professional photographer.

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I’m a Melbourne-based street photographer and blogger. I love to travel to Japan to photograph and document its dynamic people and culture.

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18 Immersive Photo Essay Examples & Tips

By Tata Rossi 13 days ago, Professional photography

A photo essay tells a story or evokes emotion through a series of photographs. The essays allow you to be creative and fully explore an idea. Such essays exist in a variety of forms – from photos only to images with brief comments or written essays accompanied by shots. Choose a photo essay example that you can easily do based on your professional level and the equipment you use.

1. Protests

• View the “Resistance” photo essay by David Moore .

A great idea for photo essays for students is to shoot the protest to show its power. You can capture people with signs and banners to demonstrate what they are standing for. Besides, you can learn how to capture moving subjects. Use the best example of photo essay and don’t forget about angles, composition, and framing.

To create a photo essay , go up to the front and photograph the leader of the protesters walking forward. After that, go back to the end of the group to take pictures of families joining the protest. As a result, you will gain experience shooting big groups of people in motion.

2. Transformation

• View the “A Self-Portrait Every Day” photo essay by Noah Kalina .

This idea is all about capturing the way a person changes. You may take photos of a pregnant woman and then capture the same model with a child. By documenting the development of the child for several years, you can tell a great story in the form of a photo essay.

However, you can also create a photo essay about the transformation of different objects. For instance, you can create a time-lapse series to capture the history of a renovated building. While you will have to take a lot of similar photos to bring this idea to life, it will allow you to achieve an impressive result.

3. Local Event

• View the “Monday Marathon” photo essay by Quinn G. Perini .

Whether you are a resident of a large city or a small town, you can find an opportunity to visit a local event, like a marathon or a festival. This is a nice chance to follow modern photography trends and bring photo essay ideas to life.

You can capture the before-and-after stages of the event. Arrive earlier and take pictures of the preparation activities, then shoot the actual event starting with the official beginning.

Keep photographing even when the event is over and capture the cleaning up and disassembling processes.

4. Photowalk

• View the “Empty Campus” photo essay by Elise Trissel .

Explore the location where you live and find interesting objects to capture in the vicinity. Using the most interesting photo essay examples, you can decide how to make the best decisions. Don’t hurry and try to discover which angles you can use to capture the unique atmosphere of each place.

If you live in the city, you may capture architectural details, wide shots of busy streets, or just take photos of passersby and street signs. Think about the details that make every location unique. For instance, you can try capturing reflections to see how they allow you to see the city from an unusual angle. You can find reflections everywhere, so be sure to pay attention to mirrored buildings, puddles, and fountains.

5. Place Over Time

• View the “At Home in the Ozarks” photo essay by Kylee Cole .

If you want to document changes and show how the streets, buildings, and parks in your city change over time, select your favorite locations and start to visit them regularly to capture the way they look during different seasons.

• View the “Last Moments” photo essay by Ross Taylor .

You don’t necessarily have to focus on profound photo essay topics to evoke emotions. Capturing pets enjoying their worry-free and untroubled life seems like an easy but interesting activity.

Choose any animal – from a domestic bird to a dog, cat, or horse. For more emotional images, use such pet photography ideas when your pet is still a baby and recreate these shots when it is older or is in its final days.

7. Street Style

• View the Tribal Street Photography photo essay by Hans Eijkelboom .

People often express themselves with the help of clothes. The way passers-by on the streets are dressed may reflect the clothing style of a whole society. That’s why you can travel around the world and capture people’s outfits in various areas. When taking portrait photos in the streets, you can also include some of the surroundings to put them in the context.

You can ask people in the streets to pose for you or try to capture them in movement. Select a suitable location for taking photos and create a photo essay to document what kinds of people one can meet in this location. When doing urban photography , you should ask people for permission before taking photos of them. You can ask their contacts and send them your photos later.

8. Abandoned Building

• View the “Lost Collective” photo essay by Bret Pattman .

Old buildings are excellent architecture photography essay topics for students since you can capture a large number of elements. They allow you to imagine what a particular street looked like in the past. You may use a photo essay example for students as references.

Get approval before going in, but mind that such places are far from being totally safe. Bring various lenses: the macro lenses – for details and the wide-angle one – when you want to include many elements in one shot.

9. Alternative Lifestyles

• View the “Last Nomad Hippies” photo essay by Roberto Palomo .

Some people decide to lead a lifestyle that differs from the one generally accepted by society. Explore different areas and look for people with an unusual way of living. You can capture candid photos of regular people or take pictures of a person with an unusual hobby.

Take pictures of those, who reside in extraordinary conditions, representatives of various subcultures, or the LBGTQ community. These photo essay topics show other people that it is okay to go out of their comfort zone and run against the wind.

10. Social Issues

• View the “Juveniles in Prison” photo essay by Isadora Kosofsky .

The best photo essay examples for students are related to social issues, like unemployment, domestic violence, gender discrimination, and more. Address the topic carefully and look for a proper perspective.

Your shots may draw the people’s attention to a truly burning and relevant matter and have a stronger effect than any text.

11. Behind the Scenes

• View the “Follow Me” photo essay by Marius Masalar .

If you are going to visit an event, get ready to take some behind-the-scenes photos. For instance, you can document the preparations for a festival. Capture the work of the lead event planner and other professionals to tell the story of the festival from an unusual angle.

Alternatively, you can capture the events happening backstage during a drama production. Take pictures of actors and actresses when they are getting ready for the performance. Try capturing the emotions of the main lead and show how stage workers make final preparations. You can also document the work of designers and makeup professionals.

12. Landmarks

• View the “Volte-Face” photo essay by Oliver Curtis .

The pictures of landmarks are typically taken from a certain spot. One of the best photo essay ideas is to try shooting sights from various angles. You will also have an opportunity to improve your composition and your framing skills.

If you take a look at any pictorial essay example, you will see that the variety of perspectives is endless: through the streets, in the morning, afternoon, and evening, with a drone or including reflections.

    • View the “Family” photo essay by Olivia Moore .

You can capture the way family members interact with each other and demonstrate the strong connection they share. In some cases, it makes sense to focus on capturing candid photos when doing family photography .

However, you may also opt for a different approach and focus on more difficult social topics. For instance, if you want to examine the issue of immigration, you can take pictures of a family from another country. In addition, you may show how families cope with other social issues, including poverty or unequal access to healthcare.

14. A Day in the Life

• View the “A Day in the Life of Carlos Gaytan” photo essay by Sandy Noto .

One of the best photo essays concepts is related to a day in a person’s life. The main character can be any person – a relative, family member, teacher, writer, or policeman.

People are generally interested in finding out facts about the lives and daily routines of others. The life of every human is incredible, especially if you learn it in more detail. This idea is especially suitable for taking documentary photos. For instance, you can select any photo essay sample you like and then capture a portrait of a person with the tools they use for their work.

15. Education

• View the “School Day” photo essay by Nancy Borowick .

You can also take great photos in the classroom capturing the interactions of teachers and their students. Avoid distracting them, as it will be easier for you to take natural shots. Using a variety of settings, you can make your photo essay more engaging. For instance, you may visit chemistry labs, capture teachers during a break, and take photos in other locations.

• View the “Meals From the Motherland” photo essay by James Tran .

You can also focus on specific meals to create a professional photo essay about food. To make it more attention-grabbing, try using different food photography ideas .

For instance, you can take photos of popular meals, capture the meals made by a specific person, or document cooking traditions in different countries. When taking photos in a restaurant, pay attention to the surroundings as well to capture the unique atmosphere of a place.

17. Capture the Neighbors

• View the “Our Neighbors” photo essay by Jeanne Martin .

Regardless of the place where you live, you have to establish good relationships with your neighbors. People who live nearby can also be great models for professionals who specialize in portrait photography. To implement this idea, make sure to capture people at home or in front of their houses to include some of the surroundings in your photo essay.

You will discover many interesting facts about people who live nearby. Shooting a photo essay will allow you to learn them better and establish a strong connection with them. This way, you can create a sense of community and discover what holds its members together.

18. Climate Change

• View the “Effects of Climate Change” photo essay by Sanya Gupta .

It is possible to a variety of photo story ideas bring to life examining the impact of climate change. Travel to places most affected by climate change, for instance, glaciers or famous resorts.

Capture the way the continuous drought has influenced the environment, animals, and the inhabitants. As an alternative, take pictures of environmentalist protests or inexhaustible energy sources.

Photo Essay Tips for Students

Explore your topic . An in-depth exploration of the main topic of your photo essay will help you find the best ideas for conveying your message. You can also find some sources for inspiration and useful materials. This stage allows you to learn more about your subject and select the best way of organizing your photo essay.

Create a storyboard . Using a storyboard, you can better understand what shots you need to take and what order can help you to tell a story in the best way. It will also allow you to create the right mood.

Take as many pictures as you can . To create a compelling story, make sure to take a lot of photos. It will allow you to choose the best pictures for your photo essay. Besides, you will always have backup photos if some of your pictures get damaged.

Experiment with different techniques . By changing the angle and using a variety of editing techniques, you can transform the way your photos look. When taking photos, try using different angles to capture the subject in the best way. You can also try changing the distance from the model, using black-and-white film, or employing a range of developing methods.

Add text . While some photographers create photo essays without text, it can still help you bring your point across more clearly and make it easier for a viewer to understand what you imply. By providing extra information, such as some facts, you can change the perception of your image. If you don’t know how to write descriptions, you can hire a professional writer to perform this task.

Enhance your photos . To edit your pictures, make sure to use professional photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. Using the available tools, you can improve and change your photos. They allow you to fix issues with lighting, adjust WB, make colors richer, crop your pics to improve the composition, and perform other tasks. In case you need to edit your photos in a consistent style, you can use Photoshop Actions or Lightroom Presets.

In some cases, your pictures may require more advanced editing. If you see that your skills are insufficient or if you don’t have enough time, you can outsource the task of enhancing your photos to the FixThePhoto team. They will professionally enhance your pictures for a budget price. Their prices start from $1.50 per photo.

Want to Get a Professionally-Retouched Photo Essay?

The editing team at FixThePhoto specializes in delivering personalized and artistically enhanced photo essay, making sure to meet all your preferences. They can assist with different tasks, whether it's selecting the best shots or doing detailed retouching work.

Bonus Tools

To streamline your workflow and quickly edit your essay photos like a pro, make sure to apply these actions to your photos. Even if you use a photo essay example when taking pictures, you can utilize these actions to give your images a professional feel, tweak colors, edit lighting, and improve the overall look of your pics.

In this bundle, you will find actions created by experienced professionals who used recent photo enhancement trends to create convenient editing tools. Here, you will find a collection of brushes, patterns, overlays, and other effects for editing your photos in a realistic way.

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Time-lapse photography: How to make your first time-lapse video

Time-lapse videos are simple to shoot and the results are impressive, but how do you get started?

Time-lapse photography is the art of taking single images and combining them to create a video that shows the movement of the environment around you. 

• Download Adobe Premiere Pro • The best video editing software • Best free video editing software • Best laptops for video editing

This could be the movement of clouds, stars or even the hustle and bustle of a busy city. The results can show how a scene can change dramatically over time, perhaps between different types of weather or from one season to the next. I find that time-lapse photography can tell a different story about the landscapes around us that a single image may not be able to tell.

• See also: Best timelapse cameras

Making videos from stills

To understand how time-lapse photography works we need to understand how videos are made. 

In the world of cinema and television, when we see motion, what we're actually seeing is single images shown one after another at a certain frame rate. Generally, this frame rate is anywhere between 24-30 frames per second, so if we watch 10 seconds of footage, what we're actually seeing is 240-300 single images being shown very quickly to create motion. 

Now, if we apply the same way of thinking to photography, all we have to do is take a certain number of images, one after the other, over a period of time. When played at, say, 25 frames per second, we will have just created a time-lapse video.

When planning your shoot you need to consider the movement of the subject before anything else. 

Are you going to see much of a difference over time or will everything stay the same? Planning your shot and picking a subject in a scene that changes over time will make for a more interesting result. This could be anything like the sun setting, traffic moving in a city or a change in weather. 

Remember that photographic rules still apply to time-lapse photography, so make sure you don’t overlook composition. Consider framing your shot using the rule of thirds and try to look for interesting leading lines – and always make sure there are no distracting elements in your shot.

You need to plan your shoot just like you would for any stills photography shoot. Once you’ve settled on your location, check the weather and make a note of when the sun sets and rises. I use an iPhone app called Photo Pills, which shows me the path of the sun and also where the Milky Way will be during the night. I will always know in my head the shot that I’m after before I reach the location, and this enables me to concentrate on the shot instead of running around not knowing what to shoot. When shooting a time-lapse video, the shots can take a long time to make due to the number of images needed, so planning is crucial if you’re to get your shots you need in the limited time you may have.

DSLR or CSC camera

Any camera will do as long as it can shoot in Manual mode.

Any lens will be fine, but it really depends on what you’re shooting. I tend to work with lenses from 14mm to 200mm.

What you want is a strong tripod that isn’t going to blow away. Intervalometer

You need an intervalometer so that your camera can take shots continuously without you touching it. Many cameras now have these built into them.

Setting up the shot

When setting up your shot there are a number of things to remember so that you don’t have a ruined shoot. 

First, you need to consider how long you want the camera to be running for. Depending on the frame rate of your final video, always remember that 24-25 shots equates to a single second of video. So, if you want a 20-second video, you'll need to take around 500 images. 

You also need to think about the interval between each frame, which is the gap between every shot taken. I judge the interval time based on how quickly subjects are moving in the scene. If I’m photographing fast-moving clouds, for example, I will usually have an interval of around 2-3 seconds. If I'm photographing the night sky, however, it could be around 30 seconds. 

It's really up to you, but through experimentation you should be able to understand what works best for a particular scene or subject. I generally have an interval of anywhere between 2-30 seconds depending on what I’m shooting.

Click below to see how to shoot and edit your time-lapse images.

How to shoot a time-lapse video: Step-by-step guide

Here's a step-by-step guide of how to shoot time-lapse images.

Step 1 Put your camera on a secure tripod and lock everything down. The camera shouldn’t move at all while it’s taking images unless you're using a motorized slider . 

Step 2 Attach an intervalometer to your camera (some cameras have an intervalometer built into them) and dial in your interval settings. The interval can be whatever you want and should on the scene and what lens you’re using. I tend to set it between 1 and 5 seconds.

Step 3 Put your camera in Manual mode as you don’t want it to judge the exposure for you. If you shot in Aperture Priority mode there’s a high risk there will be flickering in your video. 

Step 4 Check your exposure and make sure there are no blown highlights. Also make sure to manually focus the lens to make sure the final image will be sharp.

Step 5 If you’re using a DSLR, make sure to cover the viewfinder as stray light leaking through could change the exposure between frames (and would result in flickering).

Step 6 Take a test shot to see if you’re 100% happy with exposure, composition and focus.

Step 7 Think about how many shots you want to take. In the UK the standard frame rate is 25fps, so to get 10 seconds of footage you will need to take 250 images. I tend to take around 400-600 as this gives me more room for editing.

Step 8 Once you're happy, click 'Start' on the intervalometer (or the equivalent option on your camera) and leave it well alone for the duration of the shots.

• Shoot in Raw as this will give you an image with a larger dynamic range and more possibilities when editing.
• When setting your camera to the Manual exposure mode, don’t forget to manually set your white balance as well.
• Your batteries will drain quickly so always carry spares. I would recommend using a battery grip on your camera; this will enable you to use two batteries at the same time.
• You want the footage to look smooth and a bit of motion blur works well in time-lapse, so try to use a shutter speed of around 1/50sec, as this is the standard for a cinematic look.
• Clean your camera’s sensor before the shoot and clean the lens element right before your first frame, just in case there are any rain droplets on the front element.
• Your memory cards need to be large and fast. You’re going to be taking a lot of images and your camera’s buffer needs to quickly process them before the next shot. I recommend anything above 32GB with a write speed of 50MB/s or more.
• Make sure to turn off the Auto Power Off and Review Image options (or however they are titled) in your camera as this will help save battery life.

Editing your shots

It's possible your camera will stitch your results together for you. For the benefit of those whose cameras do not, here's how to do it on a computer using Lightroom .

Import the images into Adobe Lightroom and make sure to separate the time-lapse images from anything else you have taken that day.

Edit one of the images. I generally pick an image in the middle of the sequence and, once I've finished editing, I copy all the settings onto all the other images. Make sure to crop the image at the ratio of 16x9 as this is the standard aspect ratio for most videos.

Export the images as JPEGs, at a resolution of Full HD (this would be a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels). 

Open Photoshop , Click Window and change the Workspace to Motion .

Now click File > Open . Find the folder in which you’ve put the exported images and select the first image. Before you click Open, click Options and make sure Image Sequence has been checked.

Set your desired frame rate. I usually set it to 25fps as I’m in the UK.

Your video will appear in the timeline at the bottom of the screen. From here you can play a preview to see how it looks. Be aware it might not play smoothly the first time as it’s still rendering the files.

Once happy you can now export it as a video. Click File > Export > Render Video .

Here, you can name your video file and set the video format (H.264 is best for general use). The frame rate and resolution will be based on how you imported it, so this will not need to be changed. Now you can click Export .

Alternative technique

If you have Adobe After Effects, or you just don't wish to use Lightroom for whatever reason, this is another great way to edit a time-lapse images.

Step 1 Open After Effects, select File > Import Files > Multiple Files and select the first unedited Raw image, making sure Image Sequence is selected. Step 2 Once clicking Open a dialog box will appear and here you can edit the file. This is Adobe’s Camera Raw interface, so you can edit the image just like you would in Lightroom and it will automatically apply the edit to the other shots. Step 3 After this, drag the file as a new composition and then you can render the resulting file into a video, just like we did in Photoshop.

Time-lapse photography can be very addictive, and being able to create motion with your still images just adds another dimension to your photographic skills. 

At first, it will take a while to remember everything you need to make the shots work, but with time and practice you’ll be able to think quickly about setting up your shots. By following the advice I’ve given your chances of achieving the desired shot should be even higher.

Read more: How to create a cinemagraph

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