Time Lapse Photography

Time Lapse Photography

Time lapse is a technique where you take a series of photos at regular intervals over a period of time, then play them back at normal video speed. The result shows events that happen slowly, like clouds moving, flowers blooming, or the sun setting, compressed into a few seconds of video. Time lapse reveals the hidden rhythms of the world that are too slow for our eyes to perceive in real time.

Setting up a time lapse starts with choosing your interval. The interval depends on how fast your subject moves. Fast-moving clouds might need a one or two-second interval. A sunset might need a five to ten-second interval. Construction work or slow-growing plants might need intervals of minutes or even hours. A good rule of thumb is to take more frames than you think you need. You can always skip frames in editing, but you cannot add frames that were never captured.

Most cameras have a built-in intervalometer, which is the feature that automatically takes photos at set intervals. If your camera does not have one, you can buy an external intervalometer that plugs into the remote shutter port. Some cameras also have a time lapse video mode that creates the video in-camera, but this gives you less control than shooting individual frames and assembling them in software.

Exposure consistency is critical for time lapse. If you use auto exposure, each frame may have different brightness, causing the final video to flicker. The best approach is to use manual exposure for the entire duration. If the light is changing dramatically, like during a sunset, you may need to use aperture priority with auto ISO and correct the flicker in post-processing. Dedicated time lapse software like LRTimelapse has sophisticated flicker reduction tools.

The holy grail of time lapse is the day-to-night transition, where you capture from bright daylight through sunset into darkness. This requires changing exposure settings while the sequence is running. Advanced techniques involve ramping the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed gradually throughout the sequence. Some cameras have built-in time lapse features that handle this automatically. In post, you blend the different exposures to create a smooth transition from day to night.