Ten minutes to teach you the introduction of delayed photography

Time-lapse photographyIt refers to the long time fixed frame delay photography, also known as low speed photography or fixed frame photography. It is a photography technology that takes an image or video at a lower frame rate, and then plays the picture at a normal or faster rate. It is a means of recording at a fixed time, intermittently and reproducing the slow change process of the scene with a clearly changing image. In a paragraphTime-lapse photographyIn the video, the slow change process of objects or scenery is compressed into a short time, presenting a strange and wonderful scene that cannot be detected by the naked eye at ordinary times.

Using the technique of time-lapse photography in films, you can often produce amazing films, from nature documentaries, to life dramas, to simple feature films, and so on. Time-delay photography is usually used to shoot urban scenery, natural scenery, astronomical phenomena, biological evolution and other topics.

Main equipment: SLR camera, tripod

Auxiliary equipment: Timing shutter line, delay track, lens filter, etc.

Main equipment

To take delayed photography with a SLR camera, it is necessary to take a series of photos at equal intervals, and it is unlikely to press the shutter completely by hand. Many cameras do not have interval shooting function, which requires an external timer.

Delay track

Photography track equipped with stepping motor and shutter controller. Through precise electronic and mechanical control, the camera can move a certain distance on the track for each photo taken, so as to achieve the purpose of moving photography. The delay track is a relatively professional delay shooting equipment.

Lens filter

There are three main types, oneND mirror, used to filter the light to reduce the light intake of the lens; The second isfilter, used to adjust the color of the subject; The other isStarlight mirror, used to adjust the flare shape.

tripod

The shooting of time delay photography requires a stable shooting platform. Any shaking will cause the later video picture to shake. The tripod can ensure the stability of the shooting picture. For a large range of displacement delay, the tripod cannot be missing. Stability prevails. The camera must be firmly fixed on a solid tripod to avoid shooting failure due to camera shaking caused by wind and other reasons.

Prepare sufficient spare batteries and storage cards. Delayed shooting usually takes several hours or even dozens of hours. Therefore, make sure to prepare sufficient accessories according to the length of the required materials. If conditions permit, it is best to turn on the AC power for shooting.

Fuselage setting

M gear, ISO manual. Generally, the aperture should not be too small. Although a small aperture can bring a large depth of field, it will also bring dust marks on the lens and CCD and light diffraction. F8 is a suitable aperture upwards. The white balance is manual, which can be preset or adjusted manually. Turn off the fuselage high sensitivity noise reduction, turn off the fuselage automatic dark compensation (D-lighting of Nikon, highlight priority mode of Canon, automatic HDR of Sony and Pentax)

Points for attention: In the evening and at sunrise, the light changes greatly. According to experience, the light changes up to 3EV within 30 minutes in winter. Please adjust the exposure appropriately.

Shutter line setting

Just set the INTVL option (Yongnuo MC-36b), which is the interval between each shot. For example, when shooting the traffic flow and pedestrians in the city in the daytime, the interval time is set to 1 second, and the shutter speed of the fuselage is set to be within 1 second. When shooting the traffic flow in the city at night, the interval time is set to be between 2 seconds and 5 seconds, and the shutter speed of the fuselage is set to be the interval time minus 1. (For example, the interval time is 3 seconds, and the shutter speed set for the fuselage is 2 seconds) When shooting the sky cloud movement, the cloud movement speed is set to vary from 3 seconds to 10 seconds. The slower the cloud movement speed is, the longer the interval time is.

Tripod fixed camera, viewfinder

Shooting duration (minutes)=interval shooting time (seconds) × twenty-four × The length of the final desired segment (seconds) ÷ 60

Number of shots=24 × Time length of the final desired segment (seconds)

For example, if you finally want a 20-second delay photography clip, and the interval shooting time is 3 seconds, then the shooting duration is: 3 × twenty-four × 20 ÷ 60=24 (minutes), number of shots: 20 × 24=480 sheets

Points for attention: Generally try to shoot as many as possible. If you need a 10-second clip, it is better for the original clip to be between 15 seconds and 20 seconds, leaving room for the transition in the later stage of the video.

When you are ready, you can start shooting. For example, according to the 24-frame video, a 15-second video needs 360 photos. If there is a time interval of 4 seconds, it takes at least 24 minutes to shoot.

post production

Import the captured photos into lightroom or PS, and use batch processing to adjust all photos in the same way. Take PS as an example to teach you batch processing.

1、打开ps软件，选择文件>自动>批处理。

2. In the pop-up dialog box, select the action command to perform the operation, and then navigate to the source target folder, that is, the location of the image to be modified. Then, click OK.

There are many softwares for combining continuous photos into videos. For example: Photoeclipse 3, VirtualDub, QuickTime Pro, Adobe Premiere Elements, Lightroom, Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects. These can be made videos, but not limited to them. You can choose according to your own habits and abilities.

Of course, post-production is not only about combining photos. An excellent time-lapse photography video needs to add music and use a lot of clips.

How can hundreds of sequence photos become a continuous video? Let’s use PR to explain.

Open the software. When importing the material, you only need to click the sequence to import. The imported segment is a formed delay photography, which is very simple. Note that it is important to select sequence import. Otherwise, the imported material is a single-stitch static image. If the material is interrupted, please check whether your file name is continuous.

For some videos that need to be stabilized, we can import the clip into Adobe After Effects, and then add it to the clip using the AE built-in command deformation stabilizer. In this way, we put different delay shots together for editing and soundtrack, and finally form a complete piece of work.