Time Lapse - Gotta be Quick

Raise your hand if you shoot time lapse stuff. I dig shooting time lapse stuff. I love the challenge of it, like figuring out how many photos it's going to take to get the result I want, to figuring out the interval, to setting the camera up regarding shutter speed, ISO, aperture, etc. All of these things can be super challenging, and I totally dig that part of it. What I DON'T like is sitting around waiting for the sequence to be shot! But that's a small part of the big picture right? 

One of the biggest challenges of shooting time lapse stuff is coming up with ideas on what to shoot. Weather? Traffic? People? Stars? My problem, and I'm sure others have the same issue, is, I usually figure out what to shoot with very little time in which to shoot it. I find myself sitting around the house, usually watching TV, and then all of a sudden, I'll see some awesome clouds outside and think, "Hey! What the hell am I doing sitting around the house when there are awesome clouds floating by that I could be shooting!" So I grab my gear, head out to a cool spot and hope that I've got enough time to shoot it. It usually works out, mind you, but man, I really gotta work on planning stuff out better. ;)

Here are some examples of some of the time lapses I've shot over the years featuring a wide range of subject material.

First one is a cool nature one featuring a lake, some clouds, and a mountain range in the background. The photo info on these is: 

1/250 sec

ISO 100

F7.1 @18mm

Here's another I shot at night featuring some traffic coming to a stop at a traffic light on a busy downtown street. I added a bit of panning in post production. 

This one was fun to do and is a perfect example of taking advantage of what you have right in front of you. This was shot on my lawn, in summer, just as the sun was going down. I wanted to see if I could shoot a time lapse of a flower closing up as the sun dipped, and I think it turned out pretty well.  

Photo info is:

1/500 sec

ISO 400

F2.4 @ 35mm

And this one was fun to do. I headed out to shoot some star trail photos during the Perseids Meteor Shower a few years ago and came away with this cool time lapse video. 

So there you have it, some cool time lapse info, a few ideas to hopefully get you motivated to get out there and shoot your own time lapse video. Lots of things to shoot for sure, you just need to decide what to shoot, when you want to shoot and how to get off your butt and go do it! Like me...lol.

Oh, and some of this stuff is available for licensing on my Pond 5 Portfolio if you are in need of such material. Give it a look see if you want! 

Till next time!