Dry goods _ A complete guide to the practice of time-lapse photography

From the aesthetic point of view, time-lapse photography shows the beauty of time, which is a panoramic view of time, while from the technical point of view, it needs a high technical foundation, equipment foundation and sufficient time.

English literally translates as "time interval photography", which is also called shortened time photography, interval photography and slow speed photography. Conventional movies are shot and played at a frame rate of 24 seconds per second, while time-lapse photography is shot at a frame rate of less than 24 frames per second, and then shown at a frame rate of 24 frames per second.

Its essence is to reduce the number of frames per second.

In fact, time-lapse photography can be traced back to the very beginning, even to the Georges Méliès era. 1898, May Li Ai used time-lapse photography for the first time in his film "Carrefour Opera".

Koyaanisqatsi (1982) became the first film shot by time-lapse photography. There is no plot and dialogue in the film, and the relationship between sound and painting creates an atmosphere.

Later, Ron Fricke wrote Time and Space (1985), Baraka (1992), From the bustling streets of Manhattan to the busy subway in Tokyo, From Africa to the vast starry sky and Samsara (20 1655).

Sam, an American photographer, shot the bunker on 20 10, which had a great influence on the internet at that time. The film adopts time-lapse photography and Til-shift photography, and consists of 35,000 photos taken by a SLR camera, which once again set off the upsurge of shooting short-term time-lapse photography with cameras. By 20 17, many mobile phones have been able to use this professional photography technology.

Time-lapse photography is usually characterized by "magnification speed, compression time and sense of delay", and now it has become more and more complex, including time-lapse photography related to sports and large-scale sports, long-period time-lapse photography, high-light ratio time-lapse photography and high dynamic range (HDR) time-lapse photography. The use of motion control system, delayed motion trajectory, air stabilizer and other sports equipment greatly improves the maneuverability. You can even shoot at any angle and action. The addition of AE, Motin and other special effects software has increased more possibilities.

1 camera selection

There are no special requirements for cameras used for time-lapse shooting.

At present, almost all SLR cameras on the market can complete this task. When choosing a camera, we should pay special attention to the pixel number of the camera's photosensitive device, which should be above100000, and the horizontal pixel number of this photosensitive device can exceed 4000, so as to ensure the final generation of 4K video.

2 camera control mode

A. At present, some mainstream SLR cameras on the market have built-in time-delay shooting function. We can complete time-delay shooting by setting the menu, and even some cameras can directly output synthetic video, which is very convenient;

B. Camera shutter remote control. Generally, there are two types of camera remote controllers: high-end and low-end. The low-end is only wired, and the high-end can usually set the shooting interval.

C. computer control. We can use a computer, install the corresponding software (such as Canon's EOS-U vitality), then set the shooting parameters on the computer, and then connect with the camera through USB to control the camera. This method is suitable for indoor work, but not for field work.

D. the camera has been deactivated. At present, the popular camera cancellation in the circle is actually to enter the manufacturer's engineering settings menu and change the settings. After the lifting of the ban, the camera has added many functions, such as sound level meter, oscilloscope, HDR, time-lapse shooting, voice monitoring, mobile monitoring and so on. At present, the lifting of the ban can only be targeted at some Canon cameras; Some controllers of the electric pan/tilt, the electric slide rail and the camera trolley are attached with shutter control interfaces, which can be directly connected to the camera or delayed by setting the shooting interval.

3 picture scale setting

Because photos are mostly used to edit and generate videos, it is best to choose the mode of 16:9 to avoid cropping the picture in post-production. If you want to shoot with other frames, you must consider the effect of 16:9 cropping when composing.

4 exposure mode

Aperture priority mode should be the first choice for exposure, which can adapt to most scenes and of course cause some images to flicker (caused by speed change). If you are particularly concerned about this, you must correct some photos. Some experts have high requirements for the shooting effect. During the whole shooting process, they will adjust the white balance, aperture, shutter or set EV parameters from time to time.

5 measurement mode

It is recommended to use comprehensive/average photometry (matrix photometry and weighing photometry) because the shooting time of time-lapse photography is very long, during which the scenery changes constantly. If you choose focus metering 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.

6 camera format and size

The choice of photo format should be decided according to the later mode. If you want to correct the picture later, you should try to shoot files in RAW and TIFF formats. Of course, the image capacity is large, generally one to twenty megabytes, and it is accompanied by slow access. If you want to import editing software directly, some software may need to convert the format in advance, which is very cumbersome; So if you don't plan to process the picture later, you can save it directly in the highest JPEG format, which will be very convenient for later editing.

7 shooting interval

The following parameters are for reference only:

Clouds floating in the sky, 5- 10 seconds;

On a clear day, the shadow of an object moving on the ground, 15-30 seconds;

The track of the sun on a clear day, 20-30 seconds;

The track of stars in the night sky, 20-30 seconds;

Tracking at sunrise and sunset, close-up of the sun, 1-2 seconds;

Pedestrian and vehicle, 1-3 seconds;

Click the starry sky, 10-30 seconds, depending on the focal length of the lens (if necessary, query the software, such as photofills);

Workpiece assembly, 10-3600 seconds;

Construction, 1-24 hours;

Plant growth state, 5-40 minutes;

8 editing software

It is best for editing software to support 4K mode. Fortunately, commonly used editing software, such as Premiere, has begun to support 4K mode. Then there is Adobe After Effect, which can process pictures in batches to achieve zoom-in/zoom-out effect, eliminating the need to change the zoom lens when shooting and completing the main picture movement effect. It can also be used for flashing and shaking.

If you can, you can buy a special flash erasing software GB Deflicker, which can be embedded in Adobe software and directly called.

9 shooting experience

Under the premise of uncertain scenery, try to shoot a wider angle with a wide-angle lens, which is convenient for later editing and composition. After all, the beauty of nature is not easy to get, and you can't miss the opportunity.

When shooting sunrise and sunset, we usually choose an hour interval before and after shooting, which is accompanied by a problem that we can't accurately determine the exact location of sunrise and sunset, especially when shooting sunrise.

When shooting the starry sky, you should learn to use tools and software for auxiliary shooting, which can tell you the time and direction of the sun and the moon. Date of new moon, exposure parameters of starlight and orbit; Real-time star search; Galaxy orientation, etc. , such as:

Skyview free-idolize software;

Photobills-a very professional software for shooting stars, the sun and the moon;

Moon phase-information about the moon;

Information about the sun and the moon.

And must be able to calculate ISO, aperture and speed.

When shooting starlight, the exposure time must be strictly controlled in order to prevent the stars from moving and scoring. Depending on the focal length of the lens (f = 24 mm/

In some large scenes, when moving (it is impossible to set up a long slide rail), HyperLapse shooting mode is popular at present, that is, manually moving the tripod at equal intervals to shoot the scene, moving tens of meters or even hundreds of meters. This method is suitable for wide scenes such as squares and paths that ordinary vehicles cannot reach, and the shooting effect is eye-catching.

It is recommended to use a reducing mirror. Commonly called ND mirror, also known as medium gray density filter, is a filter that reduces the amount of light entering the camera through the gray layer. The lens itself appears gray tone, which will not have any influence on the original color, so it can truly reproduce the contrast of the scene. It can reduce the light entering the lens and let the photographer shoot the image at a slower shutter speed when using a larger aperture.