By Dianah McDonald
Last year I decided to redo my kitchen floor. I thought it would be fun to do a series of time-lapse photos to document as the dingy floor turned into a sparkling masterpiece. What I learned was my project was as interesting as watching paint dry -- actually as interesting as watching leveling compound not dry. Consider my mistakes as your lessons learned!
Think of the time-lapse scenes you've seen in movies. The sky turns from day to night with fluffy clouds drifting along. You see in a few seconds what took, in reality, hours. They've just removed frames to make the transition appear faster.
You don't need a movie camera
You don't need a movie camera to take time-lapse pictures. Instead, you can use your still image camera and just take a series of images, over time. Pick a subject that changes over time the scene itself doesn't move. I know it sounds obvious, but some things don't change enough to make time-lapse interesting. That's why so many time-lapse photos are of buildings being built and plants growing. Not only do they change, but they are in a fixed location.
Another good thing to look for is a subject your viewer wouldn't normally stand around and watch change from start to finish.
Pick the right location
Most time-lapse photos are taken from a static location. In other words, the camera doesn't move. This allows the transitional changes to be smoother when viewed. It also gives the viewer a frame around the changes. If you have to move the camera, find a way to mark exactly where the camera was, jot down any settings that you'll need to change back.
When setting up your shot try to show your subject with something that isn't going to change. This is another reason building projects are so popular. The buildings around the construction site aren't going to change. The subject is much sharper in the mind of the viewer because it is in motion while being juxtaposed with the non-moving surroundings.
So you've picked the perfect subject, framed the shot just right, and found a way to lock down the camera. Now you have to decide how often you want to take pictures. A lot digital cameras have an option for time-lapse. If yours doesn't have this handy feature, remember you will have to manually take each photo.
Decide how often to take a picture
That might change how you position your camera. If your subject is changing relatively quickly you'll want to take photos more often. The more photos you take, the better your chances at getting the right mix for the project. Maybe you want dramatic changes. Maybe you want something more subtle. More photos mean more options. Choosing the frequency of photos has become a lot easier with the increases in storage. Now you can take plenty of photos and just delete the ones you don't want.
Just a few other tips: Some people take pictures of their children periodically. You think they grow up fast now wait until you see them in time-lapse!
Protect your camera and setup
Don't forget to put up a perimeter worthy of the finest crime scene investigator to keep kids, overly helpful people from touching the camera, and animals from disturbing the camera.
As you can see in Figure A, a little action can help an otherwise dull time-lapse like packing a suitcase. The camera hog, a particularly wild beast, was just one "roll over" from knocking over the camera!
FIGURE A
This time-lapse example helped identify a potential stow-away. (click for larger image)
The image shown above is a GIF file, which has been animated with the frames of my still images. In a future article, I'll show you how to make your own animated time-lapse GIF image.