How to Avoid Making the Most Common Mistakes While Creating a Time-Lapse?

Oscar Wilde used to say that experience is “the name men give to their mistakes.” Photography is both a science and an art. As such, the artistic side of photography must be acquired via experimentation, and failure is a natural part of the learning process. Fortunately, Italian photographer Marco Famà, who specializes in time-lapse production, explains how to avoid making common mistakes when capturing and editing a time-lapse video. He lists 21 issues with concrete video examples and describes how to correct these mistakes.

The article covers the technical, artistic, and commercial aspects of time-lapse production, some of which are also valid for regular photography work. In this regard, the Turin-based photographer writes about the usual problem of inadequate self-promotion and says, “A common mistake made by some photographers, both beginners and professionals, is to not promote their work sufficiently. I’ve met a lot of time-lapse photographers that never hit the high point, and not for lack of potential.” He continues, “The laid-back attitude of thinking — publish, and hope for the best — doesn’t work anymore.” He then offers advice on how to make your work more visible on the internet and maximize the amount of engagement.

For instance, here are some of the typical mistakes mentioned by Mr. Famà:

1. Filming time-lapse during the day without ND filters
2. Leaving automatic settings active
3. Using a tripod that isn’t stable (or leaving an unstabilised sequence in the final video)
4. Using music that doesn’t fit in with the rest
5. Choosing music heard over and over again
6. Creating a great time-lapse and ruining it with a lousy opener
7. Not assigning a great artwork to your video
8. Using sequences that are both over- and under-exposed, together
9. Piecing together a video without a story
10. Creating pure time-lapses longer than three or four minutes

For more information, visit Marco Famà’s website, Timelapse Network, which proposes plenty of tutorials and learning material regarding this technique.

[via Marco Famà]