Guest Blog Part 1: Understanding the Art of Time-Lapse Photography by Chad Higgins

The beating heart of any time-lapse setup is the intervalometer, a bit of kit that triggers the camera at specified intervals. Some cameras come equipped with built-in intervalometers, while others require an external one that connects to the camera. Beware though as some of the built-in intervalometers will produce a video file on your memory card rather than a series of stills and you'd ideally be looking to capture raw images which will give you greater control whilst editing everything together.

Mastering the Technique

Crafting a fascinating time-lapse sequence comprises of a combination of technical precision and artistic vision. Here are key considerations to keep in mind:

1. Choosing the Right Interval

This will depend on your subject. There are no definitive rules for this and as your experience broadens you'll discover what interval works best for what you're trying to achieve. As a rough guide though:

People – 1 to 2 seconds

Clouds – 3 to 10 seconds (adjust for wind speed or type of clouds!)

Sunrise / Set – 10 to 15 seconds

Stars – between 10 and 30 seconds (depending on aperture and ISO settings)

Flowers / plants - anything from 3 seconds to several minutes

Construction – 1 minute upwards

You'll also want to keep in mind write times to your memory card and allow for this as if the interval is too short the buffer in the camera will eventually fill and interrupt your perfectly timed sequence resulting in missed shots and jumps in the final video.

There's a formula for working out intervals if you're restricted on time or you just want to shoot a certain length of clip. Let's take a clip edited at 25 frames per second (fps). You'll need 250 images to make a ten second video. To work out how long it will take to capture this, multiply 250 by your interval then divide that by 60.

If we had a 6 second interval that would work out at a 25 minute shooting time. If you only had a 30 minute window to shoot, you multiply 60 by 30 (total seconds) then divide that by your desired length of clip in frames (say 250) which gives you an interval of 7.2 seconds although I'd round that down to 7 seconds as a lot of intervalometers only go down to a single second.

So in summary: (I work out calculations in seconds then divide by 60 for minutes if required)

TF (Total frames to shoot) x Int (Interval) = ST (Total shooting time)

ST / TF = Int

ST / Int = TF

2. Exposure, Aperture and ISO Settings

It's paramount to maintain consistent exposure during your time-lapse. If you're outdoors and not in a controlled studio environment, you'll find that the lighting will inevitably change so you'll need to shoot fully manual. Manual focus on the lens is also imperative as well otherwise you'll end up with back and forth focusing on your final video.

There's only one time you'd use Aperture Priority and that's to cover Long-term time-lapses.

For bigger light changes such as going from night to day or day to night, often known as the Holy Grail in the time-lapse community, you'll need to adjust the exposure – more on that in the Advanced Techniques in part 2.

3. Composition and Framing

Time-lapse as a visual tool is strong but composition should not be overlooked. Framing for a static image is much different to framing for a video and with time-lapse, you'll need to gather enough experience to be able to think fourth-dimensionally as in time! You'll need to be able to roughly predict the future – what will happen within the time you are shooting? The beauty of time-lapse means that you can always continue shooting if something amazing is happening but if whatever you're capturing ends up out of shot you may not be able to re-shoot it.

Experience is key here so the only way to gain that is through multiple (or maybe infinite?) mistakes and trust me when I say this after fourteen years of doing this, I have made many!