Time-lapse is the practice of taking multiple still-photographs over a period of time, then compiling them into a sequence, so that they run much like a movie strip, to show a moving video. This is a very effective method of showing how an otherwise slow-moving subject, advances in a relatively short time.

To learn how-to create your own time-lapse movies, scroll to the bottom of the page.

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Australia Day Dawn 2009

The lead-up to Australia day was a perfect night, camped under the stars on the summit of Mount Kosciusko. The air was cool and dry, the sky was crystal clear and SO DARK! I saw our interstellar companion, the Andromeda galaxy, naked-eye for the first time in my life! It was very humbling.

I got little sleep while shooting about 600-odd photo frames of the night sky from 10:40pm till the dawn of Australia day.

Two mates and I enjoyed a good old Aussie yarn and a brew together in the clean air and beautiful views. At about three in the morning, I noticed distant groups of lights bobbing through the valley from Charlotte's Pass. Several people were trudging up the mountain-side with their LED lights blaring. Just before dawn, I shot down the path to greet them and asked very nicely, if they could please turn them off and move to the side of my field of view. They were all very good about it.

We even saw the ever-graceful International Space Station racing past to the south-east. Man it was bright! The camera caught it on film along with heaps of meteorites all night too.

As the fiery dawn cracked over the horizon through red smoke from distant bushfires, someone struck up a chord and started singing, "Advance Australia Fair" at which point others joined in. It was an iconic moment. Still others turned up later with a big Australian flag and waved high in the morning breeze. We then enjoyed a hot cuppa coffee and some brekky together before heading back down the mountain.

After 18 kilometers on foot with 30 kilograms worth of camera and computer equipment, food, water etc, we were absolutely stuffed, with sore shoulders, legs and big blisters on our feet. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!

I have this weird Aussie feeling like I should go camp under the shade of a Coolabah tree.


How to do time-lapse photography.

How do you make those stunning movies that show the stars moving overhead? Well, the stars aren’t really moving, we are! The more you think along those lines while you watch one, the deeper it strikes you that we are on a moving vehicle through the cosmos.

I was inspired by a couple of absolutely brilliant time-lapse movies on the internet. When I discovered that it was done with nothing more than a pretty standard digital camera, and a bit of know-how, this motivated me to get out there and have a crack at it.

My first real attempt at it was on a weekend getaway on the coast. I took the camera along, hoping to get a clear night and I got one. The result was so exciting to me that I have continued to practice as the clear nights prevail.

Equipment.

Canon EOS400D DSLR
Canon Zoom lens 18-55mm
RS60-E3 Manual shutter release cable or TR80C Remote timer/intervalometer
Standard PC to Camera USB cable
Notebook (Laptop) Personal Computer.

Here's how to do it!

First and foremost, pick a nice dark site AWAY from the city lights. If you have to get in your car and drive a couple of ours into the country, so be it! Besides, it's the perfect excuse to get away and break the daily urban grind for a change! Make sure your batteries are charged and you have a checklist of all the things you need to take!

It helps to set up before it gets dark and have everything ready. Set your camera on a tripod, with any wide angle zoom lens. Zoom out for the widest field of view (FOV) you can. Set your light sensitivity for ISO800. Set the camera to manual (BULB),(M).

Focus is tricky and best done by flicking your lens to manual. I focus to infinity then back it off just a fraction. Take your time here, to get focus right. You can review the shot either on the LCD screen or if you have it hooked up to a computer screenand zoom in on a star to see if it was in focus. With live view you can do this in real time. Once you are in focus you can place a piece of tape over the focus ring to stop it from moving.

Now you need to trip the shutterfor 30 second exposures at 8 second intervals. At this aperture, the stars' motion will not be apparent for only 30 seconds. If you go for longer exposures to try to capture more light, you risk the stars trailing. My lens is aperture is F/3.5, pretty slow. If you have a faster lens like F/2.8 or even faster, then you can reduce the exposure time to perhaps 20 seconds, which will give you sharper stars. You may have to experiment with the ISO as well, depending on your local light pollution.

If you have any troubles understanding the concepts of aperture, FOV or focal length, the illustration below should help.

Taking multiple photographs over a long period of time can be tiring. To use a manual shutter cable, you have to watch the clock the whole time, tripping the shutter without any lapses in concentration. To get around this, the Canon cameras (and others I'm sure) can be connected via USB cable to a laptop computer and run using software to control the timing. (see screenshot below with observatory in the background.)

Alternatively, you can use an intervalometer. This little gadget plugs into your camera, and can be set to take image duration, quantity and intervals. (See image below)

After you have captured a few hours worth of images in succession, transfer them into your laptop and batch process them with programs such as GIMP, Photoshop or Virtual Dub.Beware, some auto settings on batch processors can really turn your photos to garbage, so make sure you save your originals somewhere else! Load the processed and numerically sequenced frames into a simple program like Windows Movie Maker or Virtual Dub and save it as a .WMV or .AVI, or MPEG file. You can add music, narration, titles and credits, it's all up to the limits of your creativity and imagination.

I also discovered that the EOS utility function software on the laptop can be set-up to run the camera automatically. I can set the thing to take all the shots with intervals and go to sleep.

Power

Timelapse takes time. Time means battery drain. There are many options including extra batteries, portable power packs and power converters directly from your car.

If you have theluxury of household power to run the camera for long periods of time, you can use the Canon DC coupler DR700. This goes in where the battery would normally go, then plugs directly into the mains.

To use the DC coupler and a laptop in the field for prolonged periods, I have purchased an inverter from Jaycar that turns a car cigarette outlet into 240V mains power.

To get even more mobile and hike to remote locations without a vehicle, you will need extra power for your camera. A Canon BG-E3 battery grip andan intervalometer to run all the shots are essential. (Images below)You will also need a larger memory card to store the multitude of shots you will be taking. Then you can leave your heavy laptop behind.

Sometimes you can take nearly 2000 shots. These take a VERY long time for your camera to read when uploading into your PC, so a card reader could be very handy too.

Dew Amelioration

As the night cools down, moisture in the air will condense on your glass surfaces. This becomes a big problem for timelapse, because the last thing you want tobe doing is touching your camera during or between shots in a timelapse.

This can be solved with a dew strap and heater. The strap goes around your lens and keeps the temperature above ambient to stop dew from forming. Be aware that you will also need power to run the dew heater and controller.

Here's 2 links to one Ipurchased recently.

https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=8293

https://www.bintelshop.com.au/Product.aspx?ID=7964