Taking a series of photographs, of one scene or object, at a set interval, over a long period of time, creates a time-lapse film. The series of photographs are then played back but with the interval between each photograph shortened, usually to the speed of a normal video, 24fps (Frames Per Second). Time-lapses are usually created from a scene or object that changes over a long period of time; two often-used examples would be the sun setting or a flower growing. To watch these happen in real time could take days or even months, however, the effect of the time-lapse is that the whole event can be viewed in minutes.

Using a basic point and shoot camera or a more expensive SLR camera a time-lapse film can be created. To make the film effectively, two other pieces of equipment are essential, a tripod and an interval timer. The tripod ensures the camera stays pointed at the correct location. Any movement during the filming will result in scenes jumping around when being played back at full speed, which can make for difficult viewing. The interval timer is used to take photographs at certain time gaps, 30 seconds, 1 minute etc. This means you don’t have to manually take each photograph, which is an impossible task if filming takes place over weeks or months.

Once you have bought your equipment and chosen your scene or object it is time to set up the camera and choose the gap between photos. The rest of this article discusses the time-lapse of a construction site.

When shooting a landscape scene it is advisable to set the camera to aperture priority mode. The F-stop should be set to a higher number, which ensures the entire scene is kept in focus. In this case it was set to F/18. Using this mode results in the camera selecting the shutter speed for each photograph taken. It was found that this was very useful, especially towards the end of each days filming when dusk was approaching. This meant that the shutter adjusted itself to provide a similar amount of light that it had been using all day that resulted in a more consistent looking time-lapse film.

Regarding the focus of the shot, each morning this was set using auto focus to ensure the whole scene was focused before being switched to manual focus mode. Leaving auto focus on all day is unnecessary as the shot is already in focus and can play havoc with the interval timer.

Finally a calculation is required to decide the interval between each photograph. It’s better to have more photographs at the end of filming and remove some than not take enough!! 30 seconds usually works well for most films as is sufficient to see diggers, dumpers in action. However a calculation can be used to give the exact interval. This is done like so:

Length of Final Film x FPS

30 Second Film x 24 FPS = 720 Frames (or photographs)

Length of Event (in seconds)/ Frames

7200 Seconds (2 hour event) / 720 Frames = 10 Second Interval Between Photographs

With the calculation ready the interval timer should be set to this and remember to select unlimited photographs and hit start.

That completes this introduction to time-lapse filming. The trick is to practice practice practice, before arriving on site, ensure the tripod is secure and there is plenty of battery power and memory card space to get through the days filming. Also, a plastic bag around the camera and an elastic band around the lens is a good, cheap way to waterproof things. At the end of the day if it rains so heavily that it leaks through the plastic bag, then the chances are the film wont come out properly anyway.