ContentsForward ........................................................................................................................................................................... 5Introduction: Why Time-lapse? ................................................................................................................................ 8The Wager and the Beginning of Time-lapse Photography ..................................................................................... 12 The First Time-lapse .................................................................................................................................................... 13 What is Time-lapse Photography? ............................................................................................................................... 14 Show Me an Example .................................................................................................................................................. 15

Time-lapse Gear from Basic to Advanced ...................................................................................... 18 What is the Minimum Amount of Camera Gear Required to Begin Time-lapse? ......................................................... 19 A Quick Overview of the Advanced Gear Market ........................................................................................................ 20 Tripods ................................................................................................................................................................. 21 How to Choose a Good Time-lapse Tripod .............................................................................................................. 21 How to Make Any Tripod More Stable ..................................................................................................................... 22 Renting and Starting Point Recommendations ......................................................................................................... 23 Intervalometers .................................................................................................................................................... 24 Prebuilt: Does Your Camera Already Have One? ...................................................................................................... 24 The External Intervalometer World in Five Segments ........................................................................................ 24 How to Get an Intervalometer Cheap Through Third Party Manufacturers ........................................................... 25 Name Brand Intervalometers, Love them, But the Price...Ouch ............................................................................ 25 Finding Amazing Features in Advanced Intervalometers ........................................................................................ 26 Where to Learn More About Homemade and DIY Timer Devices ........................................................................ 27 What Options Exist for Tethered Computer and Smartphone Time-lapse Control ............................................... 27 DSLR Cameras .................................................................................................................................................... 28 Is There Such a Thing as a Good Time-lapse Camera? .............................................................................................. 28 Evaluating Your Options: Features, Research, and Renting ....................................................................................... 29 ND Filters ............................................................................................................................................................ 30 ND Filter Selection: Demystified ............................................................................................................................. 31 Lenses .................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Helpful Time-lapse Gear Extras ........................................................................................................................... 33

Balancing Time-lapse Image Settings: Size, Quality, Space and Speed ................................36 Is There Still a RAW vs JPEG Debate? With Time-lapse There Might Be .................................................................... 37 Why Shoot Time-lapse in RAW? ................................................................................................................................. 38 Megapixels and the Advantages of High Resolution Images ......................................................................................... 39 Don’t Let Your Movies Get Squished! Aspect Ratio and HD Resolution ...................................................................... 41 Fitting All These Images on Your Memory Card .......................................................................................................... 41

Shooting Time-lapse ...........................................................................................................44 The Basic Time-lapse Process: An Overview ............................................................................................................... 45 What Makes a Good Time-lapse Good? ...................................................................................................................... 46 1. Selecting a Good Composition: The Art of Walking Around ............................................................................ 47 What is The Magic Hour? ........................................................................................................................................ 48

Anticipating Change: Time to Polish the Crystal Ball ............................................................................................... 48 2. How to Select and Program a Time-lapse Sequence .......................................................................................... 49 Common Baseline Time-lapse Intervals .................................................................................................................... 49 How Long Should Your Time-lapse Be ..................................................................................................................... 50 How Many Shots Will It Take to Make and How Long to Shoot ............................................................................. 51 All About Programming Your Intervalometer ........................................................................................................... 52 3. Understanding Time-lapse Exposure Settings .................................................................................................. 53 Time-lapse Flicker: A Quick Introduction ................................................................................................................ 54 Why Shooting in Manual Mode is Best For Most Shots ........................................................................................... 54 The Time-Lapse Exposure Triangle .................................................................................................................... 55 1. Manual ISO ...................................................................................................................................................... 55 2. Manual Aperture ............................................................................................................................................... 56 3. Manual Shutter ................................................................................................................................................. 57 How to Drag Your Shutter and Why Motion Blur is a Good Thing ...................................................................... 57 Avoiding Dropped Frames ..................................................................................................................................... 58 Manual Lens Focus .................................................................................................................................................. 58 White Balance and How to Prevent Color Shifting................................................................................................... 59 Final Time-lapse Preflight Check ......................................................................................................................... 59 Take a Test Shot ........................................................................................................................................................ 59 Record a Mini Test-lapse, Trust Me It’s Worth It ...................................................................................................... 60 Exposure Settings Overview Checklist ................................................................................................................. 61

Preventing Time-lapse Flicker .............................................................................................64 Two Main Sources of Flicker and Our Three Front Attack ........................................................................................... 65 1. Exposure Settings ............................................................................................................................................. 66 Manual Mode vs Priority Mode: What to Do When The Light Changes .................................................................. 66 Configure Evaluative Camera Metering .................................................................................................................... 67 2. Mechanical Inconsistencies .............................................................................................................................. 68 How to Minimize Shutter Flicker ............................................................................................................................. 68 How to Minimize Aperture Flicker ........................................................................................................................... 69 Manual Lenses and the Lens Twist Trick ................................................................................................................ 70 Flicker Prevention Overview ................................................................................................................................ 71

Create the Time-lapse Movie ...............................................................................................74 An Overview of The Time-lapse Rendering Process .............................................................................................. 75 Tips for Importing Your Images ................................................................................................................................ 76 Tips for Batch Editing .............................................................................................................................................. 78 Standard Batch Editing vs Transitional Editing ......................................................................................................... 81 Deflickering Your Time-lapse: What Are Your Options? ........................................................................................... 82 It’s all About The Movie ....................................................................................................................................... 83 Containers vs Codecs ............................................................................................................................................... 83 Frame Rates, Bit Rates, Resolution, Aspect Ratio ..................................................................................................... 84Software Workflows ................................................................................................................................................ 85 A Quick Overview of All Three: Which is Best for You? .............................................................................................. 86

LRTimelapse and Adobe Lightroom Workflow ................................................................................................. 88 Previewing and Cropping ...................................................................................................................................... 89 Transitional Editing With Keyframes ..................................................................................................................... 91 Adding Ken Burns Effects (Movement) ................................................................................................................. 92 Deflickering .......................................................................................................................................................... 93 VirtualDub Software Workflow [FREE/Donationware] (Windows Only) ......................................................... 95 Installing ............................................................................................................................................................... 96 Importing JPEGs and Resizing .............................................................................................................................. 96 Selecting a Frame Rate and Configuring Compression Settings ............................................................................. 97 Deflickering Using MSUDeflicker ........................................................................................................................ 99 Time Lapse Assembler Software Workflow [FREE/Donationware] (Mac Only) .............................................. 100 Adobe After Effects Software Workflow ........................................................................................................... 101 Importing Your Images as A Sequence ................................................................................................................. 102 Configuring and Creating Your Composition ...................................................................................................... 103 Adding Ken Burns Effects (Movement) ............................................................................................................... 104 Deflickering Using the GBDeflicker Plugin ......................................................................................................... 105 Choosing Render Settings and Creating Your Movie ........................................................................................... 106 Using NLEs to Really Add Creativity to Your Movies: Combine Scenes, Add Music, Etc ................................... 107 Where to Find Free Music for Your Videos ................................................................................................................ 108 Sharing or Maybe Even Selling Your Time-lapse Work .............................................................................................. 108

Time-lapse Challenges: Test Your Understanding ..............................................................110Astrophotography Time-lapse: An Introduction ................................................................................................... 112 Resources for Finding Dark Sky and Coordinating With the Heavens ....................................................................... 114 Tips for Long Exposures ............................................................................................................................................ 114 What is The Rule of 600 and How You Can Use it To Prevent Streaking Stars ....................................................... 114 Example Long Exposure Astrolapse Workflow ........................................................................................................ 115 Thoughts on Post Processing Your Night Shots ....................................................................................................... 118The Time-lapse Holy Grail (Flicker Free Day to Night Shots): An Introduction ................................................... 119 It’s all About Bramping, Both Physical and Simulated ............................................................................................... 120 Solution 1: Using GBTimelapse ............................................................................................................................. 121 Solution 2: Using Advanced Intervalometers .......................................................................................................... 122 Solution 3: Using LRTimelapse and Lightroom (correction vs prevention) ............................................................. 124HDR (High Dynamic Range) Time-lapses: An Introduction ................................................................................ 125 Multiple Exposure vs Single Exposure (pseudo) HDR ............................................................................................... 126 How to Shoot Multiple Exposure HDR Time-lapse .................................................................................................. 128 Single and Multiple Image Batch HDR Processing with Photomatix ......................................................................... 132Time-lapse Motion Control Devices: An Introduction ......................................................................................... 134 Dolly Movement and Linear Motion ......................................................................................................................... 135 Pan/Tilt Movement ................................................................................................................................................... 137 Examples on the Frontier of Time-lapse Movement ................................................................................................... 137Conclusion: Where to Go From Here .......................................................................................................................... 138Learn More: Time-lapse Resources and Links ...................................................................139Printable Reference Summaries .........................................................................................142