Storytelling with time-lapse video – Photofocus

I wrote an article about making people disappear using some Photoshop magic. But a major part of the story was why you would need to do this. A time-lapse video screams out the reason. I’ll share the video here and how it was made using the same images from the image creation.

Time-lapse capture

A great technique is to think in “time-lapse” when putting these together. It helps to have the camera mounted upon a tripod or other sturdy surface. Most cameras these days have a time-lapse feature built in. If your camera doesn’t you can buy an intervalometer, AKA remote trigger, if you have a remote port on your camera.

On the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, the settings are found at the bottom of the first shooting menu. Settings are needed for how many images you would like to capture. In time-lapse, remember that most frame rates need 24 frames for each second of final video. That’s not written in stone but is a solid bench mark. I didn’t need a lot of time to share my story. A little over a hundred images yields a four second video (or more, but more about that in processing and output).

Combine the images

Use the time-lapse video combinator of your choice. If you are going to create lots of time-lapse videos you may want to invest in a dedicated program. I used the built in Quicktime program on my MAC. Process and correct RAW files and output all images to JPEG and place in a folder. Navigate to the folder after invoking the “Open Image Sequence” setting under “File.” Add settings such as make full size and number of frames per second and Quicktime outputs a video. If it looks good save it with the settings you like. H. 265 is a good Codec to use for the internet.

Finishing touches

It’s time for a bit of extra work such as adding titles, fades and music. You can use a built in video creation program such as iMovie. In my case, I make a lot more of these types of videos using a Telestream program called Screenflow. It retails for $169 currently. It’s originally designed as a screen capture program but I use it to output videos as well as it has matured over the years. I find it is easier and more intuitive than many video editors after a pretty short learning curve. If you are a PC user do a search for the best workflow and program for you.

Screenflow (MAC only)

Set the titles. Import the video file created with Quicktime. Since there was only four seconds of video it felt a little short. I choose to edit the video and slow it down and voila! The four second video is now 10 seconds. Add logos. Add music. I often use bensound.com for Royalty Free music. You can either buy various tracks for open use or there are free versions you use with the attribution, “‘Music courtesy of bensound.com.”

From there I upload video to my YouTube channel and share away. Now you can visually see a situation where crowds need to be disappeared. See my article on how to capture and create a Median Stack using Photoshop.

Also, check out this article on the Median Stack from fellow author Kevin Ames.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob