Method of setting camera mode in time-lapse photography

Time-lapse photography is a photography technique that many photographers like to use, so how to set the camera mode of time-lapse photography? The following is the related knowledge of time-lapse photography that I carefully recommend for everyone, hoping to help you.

Set the camera mode for daytime shooting.

Basically, you can set the exposure mode in the aperture priority mode, automatically select the white balance, and reduce the ISO value as much as possible. Most importantly, the shutter speed should be as slow as possible. If you shoot with a high-speed shutter of11000 seconds or 1/2000 seconds, you will get a condensed instantaneous picture. However, it is suggested to slow down the shutter speed as much as possible, for example, using a speed below 1/50 seconds, because it needs to be cut into flowing film later.

Sunset at the top of the gap. The subject of time-lapse photography is mostly landscape, so the related photography concepts and skills of landscape photography can almost come in handy in shooting. However, compared with taking a single photo, it is necessary to consider the need to combine into a film in advance when taking time-lapse photography. Nikon D3, autofocus Nicole 35mm, F2, S fixed-focus lens, M mode, F22,113s, ISO200, automatic white balance, tripod shooting.

Night shooting

I suggest you shoot in manual mode (M mode). In the white balance section, if there is light, you can use automatic white balance. If there is no light (such as mountains), it is suggested to adjust the color temperature and white balance to about 3300K, so that the picture will look blue and pleasing to the eye. If you use automatic white balance in a dark environment, the picture may appear brown or yellow tone. Before shooting, use a higher ISO (such as ISO800), an aperture of F5.6 and a shutter speed of 30 seconds for Shoot, and observe the details of the scene and environment (such as whether the composition is stable, whether there are unnecessary objects such as telephone poles in the picture, etc.). ). Basically, the exposure time should not exceed 30 seconds, because with the interval time, it may take more than 40 seconds to take a photo alone, and the connection of images in post-production may not be smooth, because the time difference is too large, such as the flow of clouds will be incoherent and intermittent. If the exposure time is controlled within 30 seconds, the continuity of the scene will be ideal.

Light-dark transition moment

At this time, whether from day to night or from night to day, the camera must record the whole process. For shooting from day to night, you can choose the aperture priority mode, first use a small aperture, and then gradually increase it (for example, from F22, F 18, F 16 to F5.6, F4), so that the shutter speed can be as close as possible when shooting from day to night. If the gap is too large (for example, 1/60s during the day and 30/60s at night), you can also try to fix the aperture and shutter speed, which can automatically improve ISO, thus maintaining the balance between aperture and shutter speed, but the disadvantage is that the image quality is degraded due to high sensitivity. In addition to the above basic concepts, I will also share the setting method with you from several aspects related to time-lapse photography.

How many shots do you need to shoot a scene to be a project file for time-lapse photography? I suggest you take at least 250-300 pictures. The number of similar pictures in the later stage can only be converted into 10 second, and because time-lapse photography is presented in a flowing way, it takes about 2 seconds to deduct the special effects (such as fading in and out) between the scene and the scene before and after editing, so the actually presented film is only 6-8 seconds. In the visual experience, a picture of about 6 seconds can keep the viewer's attention, and the same picture is played for too long, which is easy to make people feel impatient; Of course, if the captured image is particularly exciting, you can also consider playing it for a while.

Note: the file format selected when shooting.

If you encounter the environment in Gao Fancha, I suggest you shoot with RAW files, and then highlight the dark parts in the post-production. If you shoot with a smooth light source, it is sometimes useful to shoot JPEG files directly. In addition, when shooting at night, the post-production space will be larger if RAW files are used. If you can choose the camera at hand, it is recommended to choose the RAW file of 14bit (or the RAW file that occupies the most memory card capacity), because this tolerance will be higher, especially in the environment of Gao Fancha, which will help to remedy the mistakes.

measure

It is recommended that you use comprehensive/average photometry (matrix photometry, weighing photometry), because the shooting time of time-lapse photography is very long, during which the scenery changes constantly. If you choose central dimming or spot metering, there may be metering errors, resulting in the problem that the bright part is too bright or the dark part is too dark.

Exposure compensation

Generally speaking, if shooting can be reduced by about 0.3EV, the color of the picture will be saturated; If you don't add/subtract light at all, the overall color will be very dull.

concentrate

When shooting during the day, you can turn on autofocus first, then turn off autofocus and switch to manual focus. This is to prevent some moving scenes, vehicles or people from affecting the focusing system during shooting, resulting in the focusing area running to the wrong range.

Hand shock prevention

Nowadays, many new lenses or fuselage are equipped with convenient functions to prevent hand shock, but time-lapse photography is similar to landscape photography. When shooting with a tripod, the hand anti-shake related functions are turned off, which can obtain a more stable shooting effect.

Mirror pre-lock