No matter what you are shooting–people, landscapes, weather, machines–your subject is essentially the movement of these elements within the frame.  You really need to develop a talent for pre-visualizing how this movement will look in time-lapse mode.

This skill will guide you in determining that important interval setting. As you look up at the sky and watch the clouds barely moving, or try to imagine a stadium filling with people before its actually happened, you will (with experience, make increasingly educated decisions about that span between exposures.

We also want to remind you that postproduction is going to become your best friend. Sometimes its better to just shoot more frames and then speed up the action in post.  This will take some of the guesswork out of trying to constantly answer the “how long” question.  But, don’t get lazy… you still want to develop your time estimation skills!

Try this instead:

• Get a Grip. You can extend the life of your camera’s power capacity by using a battery grip. These can  attach to the bottom of your camera and allow you to use an additional battery (or even a higher capacity battery).
• Go Direct. The other option is to switch to AC power. You may need to pick up the adapter as most camera’s don’t include one. Just make sure you have a backup plan like a generator or extension cords.

When you bought your DSLR, it probably came with a zoom lens that easily lets you get a wide range of coverage with just a quick twist of the wrist. So, why on earth would you go back in time and pick up a prime lens that only offers a single focal length?

The AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens from Nikon is an affordable prime lens

Prime lenses are universally faster than zoom lenses and typically are much cheaper as well. This is due to the way the lenses are manufactured. Prime lenses have fewer moving parts and elements than zoom lenses.

A little humor about the people we shoot (or those who get in the way of what we shoot):

A little humor about the dumb things we say:

They had just released their iStopMotion app for iPad… and it has a bunch of time-lapse features. The app ended up winning Macworld Best of Show award, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. The app is currently 50% off and selling for $4.99.

Let’s start with a sample of what can be done:

The Features

• Time Lapse – Record automatically or at an interval.
• Manual Controls – Control camera exposure and focus.
• Instant Playback – Tap a button to see it playback instantly.
• Remote Camera – Use the free iStopMotion Remote Camera app with an iPhone 4/4S, iPod touch (4th gen) or a second iPad 2.  Connect via WiFi to each other.
• Share – Publish via email or on YouTube. You can also export your movies to a Mac or PC for further editing or archiving.