How to Shoot a Stunning Time-lapse

Time-lapse photography is simpler than it seems. It's one of my favorite ways to shoot, partially because I love shooting sunsets, sunrises, and the stars, and in part because I can set up my camera and then forget about it and enjoy the scenery.  Here are the some things to keep in mind when shooting a time-lapse.

1. Set your composition- Find a spot you like, and I mean really like, because you won't be moving the camera for a while depending on your time-lapse. I like to shoot one spot for at least a half hour to one hour depending on the length of each individual shot. 

2. Get your settings right- When photographing a sunrise or sunset decide on the look you want, but also keep in mind that if you're photographing a sunrise, as the time-lapse progresses it will get brighter, and for a sunset, the scene will get darker. If you're shooting the night sky, keep a moonrise in mind, because that will add a lot of light to the scene. You can not change settings in the middle of the time-lapse, unless you want to change your composition too, because you will end up with a flickering time-lapse if you change the settings somewhere in the middle.

3. Batch edit- Each photo needs to have the exact same edit for the sake of consistency, so it's best to use Lightroom and edit one image how you would like them all to look. Then simply sync the rest of the images in the time-lapse with the exact same edits. Export all the images together and then import them into whatever video editing software you use to create the final video.

Do you have any other burning time-lapse questions? Ask them in the comments below. Want to know what camera gear you can use to shoot time-lapses? Go read this post!