Dramatic, unfolding and creative time lapse movies are easy to make if you take the time (pun intended) to figure out how to create them. A good time lapse movie takes more than just sticking a camera on a tripod and firing a series of photos. Sony Ambassador and Sony Mirrorless Pro contributor Mark Galer has produced one of the best start-to finish video tutorials on time lapse photography we’ve seen on his Alpha Creative Skills YouTube channel. The video comes in at just a hair under forty minutes and really covers every time lapse tip we’ve ever heard in a paid photographic seminar for time lapse work.
Galer starts with the hardware and software tools that the time lapse photographer needs to capture the best looking images (did you remember to block the ambient light of any room that you’re shooting in with a camera tent?!) and the settings in camera that you’ll need for the best looking images (are you at a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1/50th or slower and f/8?!). Thanks to the Sony Time Lapse App that’s directly available on the camera via the PlayMemories store (you can find out how to download it right to your camera on our article here), you can capture Time Lapse images here.) Next Galer shows how to calculate the number of frames you’ll need to gather to produce the final video you’d like to produce, then walks through image modes and optimization.
That’s where most tutorials end, and from there the photographer is pretty much on their own, but Galer is only at the one-third mark as he then launches into a segment of post-processing. Galer works through a sample set of images in Lightroom, exports the images into Photoshop, where he then walks the viewer through the process of creating HD videos out of the folder of images. (Yes, you can create full HD videos, complete with audio, in Photoshop.) It’s pretty astounding to see how you can go from camera to final rendered video with nothing but Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.
…My daily shooter is Sony A1 with a vertical grip and various Sony lenses attached like the FE 20mm F1.8. Find more gear recommendations in our shop. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.