Old Tropes

I just completed a day-long timelapse in Boulder, Colorado. I thought I’d share a few tips I learned along the way.

Tip #1: start with the desired length of your timelapse.

I wanted something long enough to seem substantial but short enough to watch. I settled on 1:30 at 30 frames per second. The calculation for total number of shots is simple, but you also need to calculate the amount of time between each exposure. I highly recommend using a dedicated timelapse calculator. I used MiLapse Moco Calculator, but anything that calculates total number of shots and time between shots will work.

Tip #2: be careful with HDR.

I had decided to go for HDR using the camera’s auto-bracketing feature. That means multiplying the total number of shots by 3. I had already wiped my card, but I had to also lower the resolution of each image in the camera settings to be sure the card wouldn’t overflow in the middle of the timelapse.

Tip #3: be careful with image numbering.

Set the camera to increment the photo number by one for each shot, and set the camera to start at zero before you start the timelapse. Why? Because for a long timelapse, you’ll have more 9,999 shots. When Canon cameras hit that number, they create a new DCIM directory and start the number over at 0001. When you’re sequencing those images into your timelapse, you’ll end up with more than one “first photo”.

Tip #4: add just a touch of movement.

Since I didn’t have one of those programmable, motorized dolly systems, each photo in my timelapse was from exactly the same angle and framing. However, the resolution of each photo was high enough to allow for a crop and zoom during editing without sacrificing resolution.

Tip #5: play nice with HDR.

Some HDR photography is way too much. When used tastefully, HDR can look very, very good. Had I not used HDR, the sky would have blown out at different times during the day, and the dark areas would have closed up. For this timelapse, all I wanted was for the viewer to get a feel for what a day in Boulder is like. Blown-out highlights would distract. But far more distracting is being far too heavy-handed with HDR. It’s cool the first time you see it, but after a while, it feels like armageddon.

Tip #6: follow the pros.

Start with Philip Bloom.