How to shoot a time-lapse movie?

Lead: We all know that if the playback speed of a movie is 24 frames per second (24 fps), then we need 24 hard photos to make a one-second movie. The time interval between photos will affect the acceleration rate of content. If you take a photo every second, the characters in the film will run 24 times faster. Therefore, even if we condense a day into one minute, it is not a problem. If you plan to stack a time-lapse film with photos, some tools are essential.

tripod

If you shoot with a camcorder, because you can shoot 24 or more photos per second, even if there is no shock, only the image will shake.

If we take time-lapse photography with a camera, we will compress the time, usually only press the shutter once from half a second to dozens of seconds. In the case of holding hands, absolutely no one can aim at the same position. Without the help of a tripod, the synthesized image will not only shake, but also jump up and down. Moreover, time-lapse photography often takes a few minutes, and holding the camera for an hour is enough to make people break their arms.

Therefore, the tripod is a necessity for shooting time-lapse photography. Don't move the tripod at the beginning of shooting until the whole group of photos are taken.

Do not move and scale horizontally.

When taking time-lapse photography, can I slowly move the picture horizontally? No, because the tripod can't rotate accurately by a small angle at an average speed. Once the angle of the picture is uneven, or the moving speed is fast and slow, the picture will not look good. When shooting a single scene, just aim at a still place.

Similarly, don't zoom in on the way, because no one can rotate the zoom ring at a uniform speed, and no one can rotate the same small angle every time.

Automatic shutter controller (spacer)

Shooting time-lapse photography is a long job. If the shutter is manually controlled, I estimate that the person is already half tired, pressing it every ten seconds and shooting for two hours continuously.

Fortunately, there is a good thing in the world called automatic shutter controller. Nikon camera has a built-in camera (but there are some restrictions), and Canon users will have to buy it extra. Whether it is Canon or Nikon's external shutter controller, the original factory needs at least 1000 yuan, but fortunately, more than 200 yuan is available.

The automatic shutter controller is actually just a cable release with an electronic timer, which allows us to set the interval of pressing the shutter and the number of shots. It's basically set. Press the shutter automatically. Remember to bring an extra game machine, a camera or a book when shooting, and don't waste really expensive time.

Use m mode

All semi-professional digital cameras have been equipped with aperture prerequisites and shutter prerequisites. When shooting landscapes, most people use aperture prerequisites, but when shooting delay, aperture or shutter prerequisites should be avoided. If the cloud floats across the sky, the shadow caused by the cloud will affect the exposure and thus the shutter speed (in A mode).

If the camera's metering 100% is accurate, of course the exposure of the whole series of photos will be very consistent, but experience tells us that this is not the case. The time of the environment has changed, and automatic metering is sometimes overexposed and sometimes underexposed, so that the photos taken are sometimes bright and sometimes cloudy. After the film is finished, there will be flickering lights, which looks unprofessional.

Therefore, what we need to do is to fix the values of ISO, aperture and shutter. If a white cloud passes through the picture, the picture will be darker at that moment, but such a film is real. If the exposure is fixed, the picture will darken smoothly according to the position of the cloud, and it will gradually light up when leaving. If you use the aperture first, the picture may suddenly darken and suddenly light up, depending on the value given by the camera at that time, which means a little gambling.

Before entering the M mode, you can use the A mode, set the ISO value and the desired aperture, and then press the shutter halfway, and the camera will display the required shutter speed. This combination of ISO, aperture and shutter is roughly the exposure combination we need. Then, enter M mode, set back to the same ISO, aperture and shutter, and press the shutter to shoot. If necessary, you can make some changes on the shutter to make the exposure more accurate.

Shutter speed

When shooting time-lapse photography, the shutter speed is very particular, neither too fast nor too slow. How do you say this? When shooting in the sun, the shutter speed can be easily11000 or 1/2000. Such a high shutter can solidify most things clearly, which is a good choice for a single photo, but time-lapse photography will eventually be presented to you in the form of film. Those clear photos, when played at high speed (such as 24 fps,

For example, if you shoot the 1 10 meter Liu Xiang race at a speed of 24 frames per second, Liu Xiang's position in the picture is obviously different between the first frame and the second frame because of his quick action. If Liu Xiang is clearly fixed in every frame, will Liu Xiang's movements look a little bit when he plays ball? Turn clockwise? A sense of discontinuity.

Therefore, even in today's high-definition era, most high-definition movies still use 1/48 and 1/48 shutter cell images, which look slightly blurred, but visually, it increases the continuity between each movie. If you want to make the movie more cinematic, you can set the shutter to 1/50, because the camera does not have a shutter speed of 1/48. But if you are in the sun, you need to use two ND8 or one ND400 to greatly weaken the light.

When shooting at night, the exposure of 20 seconds and 30 seconds is very common, but in such a long exposure, the actions of people, cars and waves are eliminated. On the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong or the Golden Gate Bridge in the United States, the movement of cars has become an optical flow. Time-lapse photography takes pictures of the movements of people and things, which will be very beautiful. If everything turns into paste or light flow, the feeling of high-speed motion of objects may be discounted, so when taking time-lapse photography of night scenes, the exposure should not exceed a few seconds.

It should also be noted that when it is decided to take a photo every 5 seconds, the exposure speed should not exceed 5 seconds. You should know why!