It’s a lot of fun to play with timelapse. It’s fascinating to watch or shoot it. There are many great timelapse movies out there.

How do you shoot one? In this video, Matthew Vandeputte explains everything you need to know about creating one. Matthew shows us how to start with some free software. We already have the hardware.

Timelapse – Bending Time

Matthew begins his explanation of timelapse photography. It’s essentially the opposite of slow-motion. Slow motion is achieved by shooting many frames per second. These are then slowed when viewed at normal speed.

Timelapse works in the opposite way. When you shoot timelapse at a slow frame rate (often several seconds per frame), the time seems to move much faster when played back at normal speed.

Many cameras come with built-in intervalometers, making it easy to shoot timelapses. Nikon has had an intervalometer in their cameras since at least 19 years ago. I know this because I used the D200 at that time and shot many timelapses.

You can purchase external intervalometers if your camera does not have one. Or if you want more control. Intervalometers are used to time the interval and fire the camera. Some external intervalometers can also control shutter speed when you want long exposures.

How often should I shoot?

It’s not a hard and fast rule how often to shoot an image in a timelapse. The subject really does matter.

You might have only a one-second time interval for people walking on a street. You could even use a neutral-density filter to get a two-second exposure for the blur. In the past, I have shot timelapses with images that were as distant as every 15 minutes.

Your intervals will be wider if you are recording something very slowly. For example, if you were growing plants from seed – as I was when I sometimes needed 15 minute intervals. If it’s a fast-moving event, such as clouds moving through the sky in the distance, your intervals may be only every few seconds.

The shutter speed needed can sometimes dictate the interval between shots. For example, at night. For a good shot, you might need a shutter speed of 20 seconds. A 15-second exposure is not possible.

Add a few seconds to your shutter speed so that your camera has time to save an image and for your intervalometer to reset. In this case, you would want to set the intervalometer to at least 22 seconds.

What software is required?

Free software is available in many forms. There are many free software options available today. DaVinci Resolution is my favorite timelapse software.