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Digital cameras, along with the time-lapse technique, have allowed us in recent years to see cities in many different ways, particularly the speed and dynamism of their infinite movement.
Further, technology now lets us photograph with very little light and still obtain clear and noise-free images. In this tutorial, we will discuss the main rules to follow to obtain top-notch time lapses of cities.

As in any other scene, the first thing you should do is choose the right spot to take your shot. It is important that you have a good perspective from which to see the movement of cars and people.

The scene is usually more dramatic when our position is high off the ground, as moving away from our subjects makes our composition more interesting by accentuating the amplitude and generating slower movements, since cars would otherwise pass by too fast. In addition, we avoid having vehicle lights hit our camera directly and thus generate unwanted flicker.

Correctly choosing the shutter speed and the aperture is very important in city time-lapses because these factors not only serve to control the light that arrives on the sensor, but they are responsible for the amount of motion blur and depth of field, both essential characteristics in these scenes.

The shutter speed is perhaps the key element in city time-lapses. If we choose a very quick one, we will freeze the movement and the time-lapse will not be fluid.
So I recommend a shutter speed of at least 0.5s, with 1 to 3s also being valid values, depending on the movement in the scene.
If we are photographing at night, we will not have a problem attaining these speeds—just closing the aperture a little will be enough to achieve 1s, but during the day, the situation becomes more complicated.
Even closing the diaphragm to ƒ/11 will not be enough to reach the right shutter speeds, and it will generate diffraction “stars” around bright lights. For this reason, we absolutely must use neutral density (“ND”) filters. The most useful filters are 0.9 and 1.2, which are equivalent to between 3 and 5 stops.

If you are not new to the time-lapse technique, you know this rule, but if you are new, burn it in your memory: the higher the speed of the scene, the shorter the interval you have to select.
This is why, when we capture scenes in cities, we choose the shortest interval possible, because cities are where we find the fastest movement of all — cars and people. The ideal is to choose an interval of 1s, so that the final movement of the city is as fluid and smooth as possible.
But unfortunately, most cameras today are unable to capture high-resolution images at that rate on a continuous burst, because the buffers fill up before the camera is able to write to the card. This means we must choose the shortest interval that allows us to maintain a continuous cadence.
In the case of the DxO ONE, this is 1 photo every 4 seconds with RAW output on a fast-class 10 U3 card. (This said, we can always shoot in .jpg format if we need a shorter interval.)

Evaluating the resulting time-lapse is always the best way to learn, and thanks to the DxO ONE’s generation of the video immediately after the shoot, evaluation is easier and more comfortable than ever.

If you have chosen a long shutter speed as advised, you will obtain a clip with a good motion blur. If you selected a small aperture, the images will be clear and have good depth of field. And if the interval you chose was short enough, the movement will be continuous and flicker-free. But if the result is not what you want, take advantage of being in a city where the movement never stops, and simply repeat the shot using short intervals and capture durations.

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Probably the most complex but at the same time satisfying effects in the time-lapse world are transitions, no matter if it is day to night or night to day. Being able to see the passage of time and the drastic change of light is perhaps what most attracts anyone who starts shooting time-lapse. Compressing the sunset, the moonrise, or the movement of stars in a few seconds is something wonderful, but at the same time is one of the most difficult time-lapse techniques to master.

Preparing to shoot a transition is of vital importance, since we will be shooting for many hours, with all the problems that this entails.
We must check that we have enough battery power and space on the memory card, as well as water and food in case we are going to be present during the shoot.

In addition, we must choose a day with few or no clouds, since we are going to use a long interval and the cloud motion would not be fluid and smooth.

As for the location, we must take into account where the sun and moon will set or rise, choosing the best option for our shot. In this sense, it is essential to use an application such as PhotoPills to properly plan our transition by taking into consideration the movement and direction of celestial bodies.

Contrary to most situations in which manual mode is strongly recommended, for a transition, we must let the camera gradually change the exposure while the sun sets or rises.

For this task, the DxO ONE has a feature called “Auto-ramping” which can progressively modify the shutter speed and the ISO to adapt the exposure to the amount of light at every moment.

We must also select the auto ISO, since at night we need a higher ISO than in the day, in order to keep the shutter speeds below the interval. And don’t forget to choose the aperture priority mode with a wide aperture for the night period. Select the manual focus mode and set it to infinity.

The DxO ONE can vary the exposure in tenths of a second between shots, so the more shots you take, the more accurate the ramp will be, thus avoiding unwanted flickering.

For transitions, whether day to night or night to day, we will use the longest intervals, since we want to capture an event that will last for many hours. Considering that we need 30 photos to make one second of video, this means that if we take a shot every minute, every hour of shooting will become two seconds of video.

So, if we shoot a transition over 8 hours, for example, we will have 16 seconds of final video, with the indicated interval of one minute. On the other hand, if we want a slightly shorter transition, say 4 or 5 hours, we can select an interval of 30 seconds to have enough footage.

Finally, after so many hours of shooting, the magical moment arrives when you can see the final result. The DxO ONE will generate a video file after the sequence if you have selected the “Raw+video” option, so you can see the result immediately. Ideally, our clip should have a clean and fluid transition, with no steps on the light changes and no flicker.

If we have chosen a clear day with no clouds, and if we have correctly adjusted the camera (interval, exposure, etc.), this should be the case, but if is not, don’t give up. Just try again and remember that mastering any technique requires a lot of practice.

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We all know that movement is key to what makes time-lapse images so appealing—being able to speed up the world and see it in a totally different way. But now it’s time to take things to the next level and add movement to our camera.
This way we will create even more impressive and dynamic videos, playing with different speeds and perspectives, thus giving viewers the feeling of being immersed in our creation.

In this tutorial, we will see how to create these images using the DxO ONE and different motion control systems.

When working with motion control systems, it is very important to understand how the equipment (“rig”) and all of its features work, so carefully read the manual and get familiar with the rig before hand.
Whether it is just a pan or tilt head, a motorized slider, or a 3-axis rig, knowing all the features is a must before going to shoot. I recommend starting with a small, basic left-right pan head that lets us create a wide panorama, thus revealing parts of the scene that we couldn’t capture with a single wide lens.

After you get more experience, you might want to try a motorized slider, which will give you more options and will create even more dynamic images—because moving the camera changes the perspective and accentuates the feeling of camera movement much more dramatically than a pan/tilt device.
Of course, the downside is the slider’s size and weight, making it less portable than a pan/tilt head. But since the DxO ONE is so small and light, you won’t need a big rig: even the smallest and most portable devices will work fine.

Sometimes less-experienced time-lapse photographers focus too much on camera movement and forget the basics. There are two things you should never forget: look for a good location and wait for the best light (sunset or sunrise) before dealing with your motion control system.

Choosing the right shutter speed is very important when shooting with motion control systems. As we explained in previous tutorials, the shutter speed controls the amount of motion blur in our scene, and we know how important that is to achieving smooth images.
Many beginners think that the picture will be blurred if the camera moves while shooting—that is, they think they must stop the motion control system when shooting, and that they should use it to move the camera only between shots (a technique known as “move-shoot-move”), but this belief is totally wrong.

We actually need the motion control system to move in order to add motion blur to the final video. Remember that 30 blurred pictures can create a sharp image in motion—so no matter what kind of device we use, we should always set a reasonably long exposure with our DxO ONE to get motion blur. I usually shoot at at least 0.5s or 1s.

If you’ve followed our other time-lapse tutorials, you are familiar with setting the interval. You know that the higher the speed of our scene, the shorter the interval that you should select.
So when capturing city scenes, we must choose the shortest interval possible, an interval of 1s, and for slow landscapes or night shots, we will choose 20 or 30 seconds.

Since the DxO ONE doesn’t have a port to fire the motion control system externally, we have to manually synchronize it with our rig. This is pretty simple: to synchronize, set the slider or pan/tilt device to the same interval, shooting time, and frame rate as the DxO ONE. Press the DxO ONE’s shutter and then start your rig, and wait until both finish the cycle.
They should end at the same time and the final clip should be perfect. If you own a simple pan/tilt device, set its rotation speed and adapt the duration of the time-lapse on the DxO ONE accordingly. Start the rotation device first, then the DxO ONE.

If you have followed all the steps properly, you should get a very dynamic video clip—one with perfect synchronization, one that has the camera and the motion control system end at the same time. The two most common errors are :
1 – Setting different values on the devices (in particular, stopping one device before the other)
2 – using a very fast camera movement (producing a choppy and blurred image)

So try setting a long and slow movement on your device, roughly 20s or so, and then perhaps slow down the shutter speed a bit to safer values such as 1/3 or 1/2 second. (And by the way, using an external battery and the DxO One’s Wi-Fi option is very helpful when using a motion control system.)

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There is probably nothing that fascinates human beings more than the universe — the planets and stars and galaxies.
Being able to photograph them with a camera and show them to the world is one of the most gratifying forms of photography. But with the technique of time-lapse, we can also show the movement of our planet and other celestial bodies.

Unfortunately, creating a time-lapse at night is perhaps the most difficult form of all, but don’t worry, the DxO ONE is designed to make this task easier. Let’s see how.

Planning is always important, but this is especially true when we’re doing time-lapse at night.

The first thing to do is to choose the right night. If we want to photograph a sky full of stars, or see the Milky Way, we must choose a moonless night, as the light of the Moon makes the stars less visible.
On the other hand, if we want to photograph a moonlit landscape, the ideal is to choose a night in which a full or almost-full moon rises quite late, after it is already dark, to see the effect of its light on the landscape.
Of course it is very important to make sure that the night will be clear and not very humid (and even if it’s not supposed to rain or be humid, it is always best to put the DxO ONE into its Outdoor Shell to protect it in case of sudden rain or dew).

Exposure in night time-lapses can vary a lot, depending mostly on whether we are going to shoot the stars and the Milky Way on a moonless night, or if we’re seeking the light of the full Moon on the landscape.
In the first case, we will need more exposure, so we must open the aperture of the DxO ONE to the maximum (ƒ/1.8), raise the ISO to the highest that the DxO ONE sensor allows (taking into account noise, about ISO 1600), and use the DxO ONE’s exposure meter as we adjust the shutter speed to the scene. In the case of a dark night, the shutter speed would be about 20 seconds. Photographing with a full moon, on the other hand, means that we can lower the ISO to 800 to reduce the noise, and adjust the shutter speed as needed.

Setting up the interval in night time-lapses is perhaps the easiest to calculate or choose: just look at the shutter speed you have selected and add 2 or 3 seconds.
For example, if we are going to photograph the stars on a moonless night and we have selected 20s of exposure, the ideal is to use an interval range of 23 or 24s.
This way the DxO ONE will have enough time to record the image and shoot the next without filling the buffer.

After a night of shooting, and maybe of sleeping under the stars, it’s time to check the result.
If you have used the “video + raw” option, you will be able to see the clip directly on your iPhone, and to check that the exposure is correct, that the camera has triggered the entire sequence, and that your external battery lasted through the night. The most common mistakes for time-lapses at night are usually focusing and exposing.
Make sure you have manually focused on a bright star and have used the DxO ONE’s exposure meter to choose a correct exposure.

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Lightning, thunder, rain, and wind are some of the key elements of a storm. While most people run away or seek shelter from them, for the photographer and even more so for the timelapser, a storm is a unique opportunity to capture spectacular images.

In this tutorial, we will see how to use the DxO ONE to get the best results from the difficult task of photographing storms.

The first thing to do before going out storm-hunting, is to gather information about the weather, such as storm activity, wind direction, etc.
One recommended app, “Windy,” can provide all the information we need. We must also bring waterproof clothing, the Outdoor Shell protective case for the DxO ONE, and a travel towel to dry our equipment if necessary.
As always, we will take our charged up external battery to power the DxO ONE for a long period of time.

Storms obviously show up at any time of day, but photographically speaking, the most attractive are those that appear at night, because we can see the lightning much more clearly.
Since we don’t know when a lightning bolt is going to strike, we need to set up the camera to capture images at all times. This means that we must take long exposures of at least 10 seconds, for example, which sometimes will pick up even more than one flash of lightning.
A moderate sensitivity of about 800 ISO and an aperture of ƒ/2.8 will be enough in most cases.
This exposure may seem insufficient for a night situation, and if we take a test shot, our image will be a bit dark; but remember that when the lightning strikes, the sky will light up considerably.

If we choose a longer exposure — something suitable for a night scene, for example — the lightning strike will overexpose the frame that we really want to get right. So do some testing and choose a suitable exposure.

As we said before, we want the DxO ONE to capture images as long as possible, so it doesn’t miss any lightning, so the interval time between shots should be the lowest possible.

Setting the shutter speed to an interval of 12 or 13s will be the most appropriate — that way we give the ONE enough time to write the photo rather than to fill the buffer, but don’t lose much time between shots.
Remember that we need 30 shots to create 1s of video, so choose at least 10 or 15 seconds of footage and then calculate how long you will have to be at the scene.

If you have been lucky and the storm has provided you with a good electrical activity, your images will be stunning.
If you have used the “video + raw” option on the DxO ONE, you can watch the clip on your iPhone to check that the rain or wind has not interfered with your shot. (Sometimes there’s water on the lens, and the wind can produce vibrations if your tripod is not sturdy enough.) Make sure that you have manually focused to infinity and that you have used the DxO ONE exposure meter to select a good exposure. If you have followed all these tips, your sequence should be awesome!
If you missed something or if you discover some problems, check out our tutorial on “how to fix my shot” for good information on how to improve your sequences using more advance software.

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When we think about time-lapse photography, probably the first thing that comes to mind is a beautiful landscape with elegantly-moving clouds. Clouds and other meteorological phenomena such as fog or storms have the starring role in many time-lapse movies we see today.

In this tutorial, we will explain how to achieve the best possible result when capturing clouds and other weather phenomena. Because weather and clouds can vary widely both in speed and evolution, we must adapt our exposure and interval to get the right result.

Before we even start to set up our camera, we should visually analyze the scene and evaluate all the elements that are going to come into play. Are the clouds moving slowly or fast? If there is fog, is it building up or dispersing? If it is a storm, is it approaching us or moving away?
It is important not only to analyze the current situation, but to try to predict the evolution of the elements, since in most cases we will shoot for a long period of time, and that evolution is going to impact the resulting video.
So first carefully study the weather forecast, both for clouds and wind, as well as for the position of the sun and its direction.

Selecting the right exposure is one of the keys for getting a good result in time-lapse, in addition to choosing the right mode.
In the case of this tutorial, as a general rule, we will use the manual mode (M), and we will choose a fairly closed aperture, between ƒ/5 and ƒ/6.3. This way we will achieve a homogeneous exposure, without flickering or undesired variations, and at the same time obtain a wide depth of field and good sharpness.
As for shutter speed, for a pleasant and fluid movement of our video, we must use long exposures, between 0.5 and 2s. This can be difficult to achieve if the scene is very bright, so using a neutral density (“ND”) filter is highly recommended.
If you don’t have such a filter, you should select the DxO ONE’s smallest aperture, which is ƒ/11. Lower the ISO to 100 in manual mode to slow down the shutter as much as possible. Finally, choose the manual focus mode, with the distance set to infinity.

The choice of interval is the most important part of our setup. This is the factor that most controls the final result of our time-lapse, so we must do it carefully. A good rule to keep in mind is that the faster the speed of movement of our scene, the lower the interval must be.

For example, in a cityscape, with fast movement of cars and people, we should use a very short interval, 1s or 2s, while in a desert at sunset, where the only movement is of the sun, we must select a much longer interval, about 30 or 40s.
Clouds, storms, and fog exist in a medium range of movement which varies depending on the speed of the wind. Therefore, a good starting point would be 3s for clouds that move very fast, or 5s for somewhat slower clouds or fog.

These are approximate examples, so you should experiment with different choices. When in doubt, choose a shorter interval, since you can always accelerate the final video if it’s too slow, whereas if you chose a too long an interval, you will not be able to slow down the video.

One of the best ways to learn and grow, not only in terms of time-lapse technique, but in life generally, is by trial and error. Practice as much as you can and carefully analyze the final result to see which mistakes you made and to figure out how to solve them in later shoots.

If you have followed the above tips, you should obtain a time-lapse with smooth, flicker-free movement and adequate speed. If on the contrary you get an image with sudden changes of exposure, with excessive movement and little fluidity, try choosing a smaller interval and a longer shutter speed.