Pixiq

Taking a series of still images of the natural world to create a time lapse sequence is a lot of fun – whether it be seeds germinating or flowers opening. Outside, longer term time lapses are more of a gamble because of unpredictable weather or the difficulty of determining how long you will have to wait to achieve even a second shot in a sequence. For example, the times of high and low tide levels in an estuary are predictable – even if the weather is not – and could be taken on a single day or over several days; whereas it may take many years to see the difference between photos of a shrinking glacier.

For a growth time lapse, the camera angle, lens and camera-to-subject distance should be kept constant throughout the sequence (so that the magnification remains the same). Working indoors is easier than in the field because the lighting and backdrop can be kept constant. If the interval between successive frames needs to be identical, exposures can be made using an automatic timer connected to a motorized camera and the set-up left to run unattended.

However, flowers don't open out at a steady rate, so I prefer to shoot manually. When shooting flowers on film, this was a problem because I could not wait until the film came back from processing to check out the previous shot. So I opted to use a Hasselblad film camera, and drew the outline of each stage on the screen with a Chinagraph pencil, to see when the next stage was worth taking. With a good-sized monitor on a digital camera, a piece of tracing paper can be attached above and flipped down for drawing each stage of the sequence.

Sometimes, a spanner is thrown in the works before the grand plan can be completed. An open standing tree is a good way to depict the seasons. In pre-digital days I found a stately oak tree in a large country park and after taking two of the four shots, I returned for the third one to find a seat had been erected around the entire tree. With the wisdom of hindsight, had I taken this shot the seat could now be deleted digitally.

Only last week I was taking a time lapse of the two metre (six feet) high titan arum flower opening at Kew Gardens, carefully noting the focal length of a zoom lens and lining it up with struts in the glasshouse roof behind. My elation on finding the flower fully opened on the third day was soon dashed when I saw the tub had been rotated. Fortunately I was shooting on the same card as the previous day, so I could see where to set up the camera to get the identical viewpoint. Because the background had changed, the flower images have been digitally cut out.

During the night of 15/16 October 1987 a fierce storm blew across southern Britain – the worst for more than three centuries with 15 million trees being felled. After sending shots off to various papers and magazines, some picture editors were dismayed to discover I had not had the foresight to take the 'before' shots!

When the British Council commissioned me to document the biodiversity of the Himalaya (in one month!) in 1995, part of my brief was to revisit the precise locations photographed by Samuel Bourne in 1860 and reshoot them 135 years later. In one case, at Nainital in Uttar Pradesch, the tree line had moved up the mountain. The same thing can be done by seeking out historical postcards or old prints in books and finding the same viewpoint.

10 Tips for Still Time Lapse Sequences

• Before you start, sketch a storyboard of the distinct stages
• Avoid a cluttered backdrop. Keep it simple.
• Find a way of marking the position of the tripod legs on location
• Failing that, line up notable objects for repeating the viewpoint
• Note the focal length of lens (can get from IPTC field) and the focusing distance
• Take a print of a previous shot with you into the field
• Before taking a flower, watch the way it opens.The stalk plus bud may grow up before the flower opens and hangs down
• Use a uni-toned board as a background for macro shots indoors
• Keep the magnification constant for macro shots
• Don't fill the frame with a bud, leave space for the flower to open