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Video basics3 min read

LESSON 92

Timelapse and hyperlapse

Hours of time in seconds of screen.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. What timelapse is
  2. Choosing the interval
  3. Hyperlapse
  4. Practice: steady results

What timelapse is

Timelapse is the opposite of slow motion. Frames are captured far less often than they will be shown, so time on screen races. If you take one picture each second and play them back at 30 frames a second, events run thirty times faster. Slow changes that the eye cannot follow, such as clouds, the path of the sun and stars, a plant opening or a building going up, become clear movement. Timelapse is the extreme form of undercranking, and it is closely related to stop-motion animation, where an object is moved a little between frames.

Choosing the interval

The key numbers are the interval between shots, the length of the event and the length you want on screen. Multiply the seconds you want on screen by the playback rate to get the number of frames, then divide the event's duration by that number to get the interval. For ten seconds at 25 fps you need 250 frames; to cover an hour-long sunset, 3600 seconds divided by 250 gives an interval of about 14 seconds. These sums are our own worked example from the definition above, so redo them for your own event.

Hyperlapse

A hyperlapse is a timelapse in which the camera travels a long way during the sequence. In its simplest form the camera is moved a short distance between each shot, then the image sequence is stabilised in post-production. A gimbal can help while walking. A special case is the walking hyperlapse, where a person in frame walks to a set beat so they appear to move at normal speed while the world rushes past. The first film known to use the technique was shot on Super 8 in Montreal in 1995.

Practice: steady results

This is working practice. Use manual exposure, manual focus and manual white balance, or the sequence will flicker as the camera keeps changing its mind. For sunsets, where light falls sharply, shoot RAW stills and smooth the exposure in software. Use a sturdy tripod, weigh it down in wind and switch off image stabilisation when locked off. For a hyperlapse, pick a clear point in the scene and keep it in the same place in the frame at every step, which makes stabilising far easier.

Try it today

  1. 01Pick a slow event: clouds, a shadow crossing a wall, a busy street.
  2. 02Work out the interval for ten seconds of screen time.
  3. 03Lock exposure, focus and white balance, then start the intervalometer.
  4. 04Assemble the frames at 25 fps in your editor.
  5. 05Try a short hyperlapse of ten steps along a pavement and compare.