How to Make a Time-lapse Video

No, I am not going to tackle this, but Jay at MIlapse has intiated this undertaking in a YouTube series. Up to this point, he has made Timelapse Guide (The Basics - Part 1) and Timelapse Guide (Compact Digital Cameras - Part 2). So far so good.

Ten Days of Tulips - Time-lapse

Time-lapse Tulips Growing, 640x480, .mov, 9.9 mb 36 sec

I do believe that this is my best time-lapse yet. I just finished the filming a few days after easter. The pictures were taken at a rate of every fifteen minutes when the overhead grow light was on, or every 20 minutes when it was off. It was an attempt to simulate day and night. Finally I just left it on because it didn't seem to make much difference. I was really impressed with how much the plants moved and how the blooms would open in unison, even when there were no apparent changes in this otherwise completely dark room. I used my Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay Time-lapse software for the shooting. I made the movie with QuickTime Pro playing the pictures back at 30 fps. I created and added the hip hop music using Sony Acid Music Studio. The music seemed appropriate given the movement of the tulips. You can see this tulip time-lapse video at my YouTube player page if you can't view quicktime videos.

You can also see my other time-lapse videos at my time-lapse home page.

Time-lapse March Clouds Over Reservoir

Time-lapse Clouds, 640x480, .mov, 8.5 mb 38 sec

I am sure that I will eventually get tired of doing time-lapses and move on to something else, but I just can't quit thinking of all the different things I could film. The main thing I want to do with clouds is get some huge cumulonimbus clouds boiling up from a distance, but that will probably have to wait until summer. So in the meantime I am just trying lots of different things for practice, like this one. It was made on a very windy day beside a reservoir at sunset. It took approximately 1 and a half hours. I started at 1 picture per 5 seconds then decreased the frequency to every 4 seconds. I used my Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay Time-lapse software for the shooting. I made the movie with QuickTime Pro playing the pics at 30 fps. I made the music with Sony Acid Music Studio. The YouTube version of this cloud time-lapse video is available if you can't play quicktime vids.

This and other time-lapse videos and stop motion videos can be seen at my time-lapse home page.

Fruit Lapse

Time-lapse Decaying Fruit, 640x480, .mov, 6.7 mb 39 sec

This is a time-lapse video of some fruit - banana, apple chunks, kiwi, lemon, grapes- deteriorating over exactly 3 weeks. The pictures were taken several times per hour at first then the rate was slowed down to once per hour toward the end. It is played back at 30 fps initially the replayed at a much faster rate. I used a Canon PowerShot S3 IS and Granite Bay time-lapse software for the video and made the music using Sony Acid Music Studio. I think it turned out fairly well. The biggest problem with this one was that I got tired of the continuous loud whirring of the laptop used to control the camera so I shut it down and just used the intervalometer on the camera to take a picture every hour. In doing so, I unavoidably moved the camera a little which readjusted the focus and caused a few wobbles in the video. This change can be seen toward the end when the banana goes slightly out of focus. The YouTube version of this time-lapse decomposing fruit video is available if you can't play quicktime vids.

This and other time-lapse videos and stop motion videos can be seen at my time-lapse home page.

UPDATE 7/20/10: Here is my best video of fruit and vegetables decomposing