Tips For Building The Time-Lapse Camera Shots
If you are interested in making a still transition, time-lapse photography is the best way to do it as it is based on still images converted into a video. The technique used in this shoot displays the passing of time in a very interesting manner. These scenes are brought to life from still images making it look magnificent. There are few elements to keep in mind while building a time-lapse camera still shot. The camera should be mounted on tripod fixed in a single place or camera placed somewhere where it is clamped so it won’t budge and is fully supported. The most common way to use this function is to connect intervalometer to the camera so you can adjust the intervals in between shots.
The time interval between shots depends upon at which pace the scene is unfolding. If there is a very slight change in the scene, keep the time interval near about 30 seconds, if it’s much faster, you may need to take shots at every 5 seconds. In the fast shot, there are a lot more images fitted in a frame which shows how much can change in a few seconds but it will result in the longer video. You can also test different time intervals to see which one shows a better transition. The total number of images to be shot depends on how long and at which time interval it is kept at.
There are two ways you can set your building time-lapse camera; manual or automatic. In manual mode, exposure is fixed, brightness is adjusted and all the other setting is done beforehand. In advanced mode, you can make minor adjustments which work better from day to night transitions. On the other hand, in an automatic shot, you don’t have to do anything about it. The cameras adjust the brightness, exposure, night mode etc itself according to the surroundings. Sometimes the problem of exposure occurs. The flashing lights or quick changes are not quite registered by the camera so it doesn’t adjust fast enough and from one shot to another, the exposure increases ruining the picture. This results in flicker. Flicker is the extreme difference in frames with respect to brightness and it can only be seen then the time-lapse images are played in the form of video. There are some softwares which can edit it out. To avoid it, use the better type of lens so it won’t reflect the light away. After the time-lapse process, you have to edit it eliminating useless shots and combining the ones which make a perfect transition which may help remove flicker too if you can’t buy lens soon enough.
