- If you've spent much time lately looking at any kind of photo sharing, social media kind of site, you've probably seen some time-lapses of flowers, and with good reason. Time-lapse flower movies are fun and easy to make, and they're fascinating to watch. They afford us a view of the world, and of nature that no-one had 100 years ago. No-one got to see exactly what happens when something like this opens up. They give us the option to really control our view of time. It's a fascinating thing to watch. It's also pretty easy to do.
These are some lilies, and I shot a time-lapse of one last night using no more gear than a tripod, my camera, a macro lens, and an intervalometer, and even some of that stuff is optional. This is something you can really start to experiment with on your own with very little investment in anything other than some flowers, and maybe one or two extra pieces of gear. As you get more interested and want to get more advanced, you got plenty of room to grow, and a lot of different things you can try. First thing is the flowers themselves. You need some flowers, and your refrigerator may not have flowers in them.
But there's probably a refrigerator at your local grocery store that does. I've been keeping these in there because it makes them last longer. And a lot of times, depending on when you buy the flowers and how long you have before you want to start shooting, you may need to keep them refrigerated so that they don't open. Obviously, what you're looking for when you buy are flowers that are still closed. It's a good idea to start with flowers that are somewhat predictable in the way they open. Lilies tend to be more predictable than roses in terms of how quickly they will open, and whether they will open all the way.
So, this is a good choice for getting started. Gear-wise, I have an SLR. In this case, I'm using a 100mm macro lens, and that was because, to get the framing that I wanted, I really needed that macro power. You don't have to have a macro lens though, and I don't always use the macro lens, because sometimes I want to be farther back, I want a wider frame. And I don't want to run into the depth-of-field issues that I have when I get to macro distances. If you don't know about macro shooting, or you don't understand why macro involves depth-of-field concerns, take a look at my macro and lens reversal classes, they'll explain a lot of that for you.
A tripod, obviously, to get the camera set up, and an intervalometer. An intervalometer is simply what controls the camera and causes it to fire at regular intervals for a certain amount of time. Some cameras have an intervalometer built-in, others, it's a remote control that you plug in. You can get them very inexpensively, and they will give you the options of saying how often you want to take a picture, and for most flower time-lapses, that's about once every three minutes. You can specify a certain number of frames that you want shot, or you can just leave them running.
Frame up your shot, is the next thing. Getting your tripod in place. You also want to think about where you're putting the flower. What do you want in the background? I've got a kitchen sink here, that's probably not the best idea. I built a time-lapse out of this last night by sitting it on the top of the toilet in the bathroom, and putting a black backdrop behind it. The reason I chose that room is because it can be closed off completely so that I can completely control the light. I was very fortunate that the light in this bathroom was a nice light for these flowers, and it was also constant. I knew that I could just turn it on, leave it all night long, and everything would be okay.
I also knew that there were no air conditioning vents, or things that would cause a draft, that would cause the flowers to move. I really want them to be still. Depending on how many flowers you have and how tightly then fit in your vase, you might actually need to do something to stabilize the stems too. You might need to poke paper towels around them, or tie them down with thread or something like that. As the bud opens, it could change the weight on the flower, so that it starts to fall. That could just take practice and observation. Buying a bunch of the same flowers so you can see over time how they open, can be a big help.
Framing up the shot is pretty simple. You just look for a good composition. But, you do need to understand what the flower's gonna do when it opens. Does it turn this direction? Does it turn that direction? You want to try and get an idea for how wide it's gonna be when it opens, and plan your composition accordingly. Do you want to see the whole open thing, or are you really gonna focus on just a part of it? Once your shot is all set up, you're ready to just let it rip and leave it alone. That's a process of turning on the intervalometer and then letting it sit. At three minutes, this took ten hours to get this movie.
I want a deeper depth-of-field, so I went to a smaller aperture, f/9.0. I was just in manual mode to be sure that the exposure would be consistent from frame-to-frame, so that my depth-of-field wouldn't change. Shutter ended up being around one second at ISO 320. Depending on your camera, you may go, "Well, I don't want to run the risk of softening "so I'll go to a higher ISO." You might be able to do that without suffering a noise penalty. You also want to stay out of auto white balance, because as things move around, you don't want color shifts, so going to a white balance preset or a manual white balance will go a long way to ensure that you don't have weird color things happening.
Finally, you don't want your camera to die and you don't want it wrecking the light in your scene with its image review. So, turn the image review off so you don't have other light coming into the room, and be sure that you've got a fully-charged battery. If you have a battery grip that allow multiple batteries, that can buy you some more time. Alternately, you may have an AC adapter that you can plug into your camera, and that will get you an indefinite amount of time. If storage is an issue for you, you could also consider tethering to a computer. That gets more complicated, and you probably want the computer out of the room so that its monitor isn't messing things up.
But for something like a ten-hour shot, even JPEG or RAW, at three minutes, you're not talking a huge number of frames, so you ought to be able to fit those onto a reasonable-sized card. Again, this is something you can do without a whole lot of extra gear, and you can get results like this that are fascinating to look at. From here, you can move up to more complicated flowers, flowers that take longer to open. You might want to go to more controlled lighting, starting to get more creative with your lighting. You can do that either with continuous lights or strobes. But it's best to start practicing just with a basic setup like this.
There's a lot to learn about how flowers open and how to set this kind of stuff up.
Author
Updated
12/23/2020Released
5/19/2013Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Q: Why can't I earn a Certificate of Completion for this course?
A: We publish a new tutorial or tutorials for this course on a regular basis. We are unable to offer a Certificate of Completion because it is an ever-evolving course that is not designed to be completed. Check back often for new movies.
Related Courses
-
Photography Foundations: Composition
with Ben Long5h 29m Intermediate -
The DIY Photographer
with Joseph "PhotoJoseph" Linaschke2h 39m Intermediate -
Photo Tools Weekly
with Chris Orwig26h 18m Intermediate
-
The Practicing Photographer - New This Week
-
16-bit in Photoshop6m 23s
-
-
Introduction
-
Previous Episodes
-
Choosing a camera5m 27s
-
Let your lens reshape you7m 26s
-
Working with reflections1m 26s
-
Exploring mirrorless cameras7m 25s
-
Using a tripod3m 33s
-
Wildlife and staying present5m 58s
-
Why Shoot Polaroid11m 12s
-
Seizing an opportunity4m 4s
-
Shooting wildlife7m 24s
-
Using a lens hood4m 48s
-
Working with themes2m 48s
-
Setting up an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Processing an HDR time lapse7m 55s
-
Scanning Photos5m 37s
-
Jpeg iPad import process3m 17s
-
Warming up3m 26s
-
Taking a panning action shot10m 17s
-
Shooting a silhouette3m 9s
-
Using Lightroom on the road6m 28s
-
Shooting level2m 42s
-
Photoshop and Automator8m 54s
-
Softboxes vs. umbrellas2m 55s
-
Working with hair in post3m 28s
-
Exploring how to use Bokeh5m 38s
-
Shooting stills from a drone6m 57s
-
Working with models2m 40s
-
Tips for shooting panoramas7m 16s
-
Dry sensor cleaning6m 23s
-
Composing in the center2m 48s
-
Vignetting9m 56s
-
Inspire3m 29s
-
Minimizing camera baggage4m 24s
-
Working without a tripod4m 11s
-
Printer options6m 51s
-
Exploring lo-fi printing options11m 58s
-
IOS macro photography gear12m 25s
-
IR Conversion Part 27m 27s
-
Raw editing in Lightroom mobile10m 35s
-
Shooting a macro insect shot13m 5s
-
A brief history of photography12m 19s
-
Shooting with a Petzval lens9m 49s
-
What is a low-pass filter?4m 35s
-
Teleconverters and lenses5m 12s
-
Media card care7m 19s
-
Dual slot4m 2s
-
Exploring smart previews9m 12s
-
Flying and photo batteries5m 41s
-
Partial vignettes on photos8m 38s
-
360 image editing plugins6m 59s
-
Using a gimbal with an SLR8m 13s
-
Choosing a lens6m 27s
-
Switching camera systems7m 42s
-
Using 360 drones5m 41s
-
VR gimbals4m 16s
-
Working with a photo subject14m 26s
-
Posing a photo subject12m 53s
-
Framing and safety7m 7s
-
RAW converter options3m 59s
-
Drone flight7m 19s
-
Basic abstract photography8m 51s
-
Aspect ratio3m 40s
-
Focus lock on your camera2m 11s
-
Using the Astropad app6m 33s
-
Working with dim sunlight6m 33s
-
Configuring dual cards2m 52s
-
Long lens options4m 45s
-
Moving images from catalogs7m 47s
-
Photography education11m 7s
-
In-camera focus stacking9m 52s
-
Exposure isn't everything4m 17s
-
Why shoot film?8m 55s
-
Culling4m
-
Choosing a film camera8m 38s
-
Analog workflow9m 9s
-
Easily produce giant prints10m 15s
-
Luna Display4m 19s
-
Choosing film7m 50s
-
Photo fads4m 46s
-
Portrait lighting techniques8m 32s
-
Diopter control2m 56s
-
Loupedeck for Lightroom6m 48s
-
Printing small3m 37s
-
Lens flare removal6m 28s
-
Paper choice for prints7m 39s
-
Aspect ratio for portraits2m 33s
-
When in doubt2m 24s
-
Looking vs. seeing2m 44s
-
Do you need a carnet?5m 23s
-
Scan large items6m 17s
-
Create an honest portrait5m 34s
-
A portrait assignment3m 23s
-
Am I good?5m 59s
-
Boredom4m 13s
-
Clichés4m 29s
-
Finding inspiration5m 42s
-
An everyday project5m 47s
-
Learning from students4m 56s
-
Life as a project5m 27s
-
Why take a workshop?4m 33s
-
Photographic honesty2m 52s
-
Up to interpretation3m 27s
-
Photographic style3m 40s
-
Photography drills6m 31s
-
Digital chores4m 23s
-
Photos and words4m 11s
-
Stay-at-home exercises3m 45s
-
Understanding your medium2m 28s
-
Darkroom for iOS5m 15s
-
iOS image editing extensions2m 58s
-
On set: Simplicity4m 5s
-
On set: Corners2m 19s
-
On set: The build4m 30s
-
On set: Same pieces, new set3m 18s
-
Choose a price first3m 20s
-
Rewind: Choosing a camera5m 41s
-
On time and in tune3m 3s
-
Avalanche for aperture4m 8s
-
Evaluating a wide-angle lens6m 14s
-
Auction catalogs4m 56s
-
Get out and shoot (safely)3m 45s
-
Do ruts exist?2m 24s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Setting up a macro time lapse of a flower