I’ve always been a time lapse fan, but never really got around to shooting any and to be honest, there’s no good reason why not! However, inspired by some of the stunning time lapse work by Tom over at Timescapes, I decided to borrow an intervalometer from the guys at The Flash Centre. Philip Bloom’s workflow tips were very useful and I had a subject in mind in the shape of the beautiful, newly finished Infinity Bridge over the River Tees at Stockton.
Using the intervalomter set to fire at eight second intervals on the Canon 5D Mk2, I set aperture priority, Jpeg low as the file size (which felt very odd for someone who always shoots RAW) and let the camera run for around 55 minutes. I’d like to have let it run longer but time was pressing and the cloud cover looked complete, only to reveal twinkling stars as I hiked back to the car! They would have been a nice finish.
The final file created in Quicktime is huge, but using ‘Export for web’ you’re able to create several file sizes to suit different viewers.
I’ll write again a little later about my thoughts on time lapse, as it’s looking curiously addictive and as well as being fun to make and watch, I can think of several ways that my existing clients might be able to use it. That’s always an exciting thought.
