Shooting & editing hyperlapse sequences can be really tricky. In this article I’ll share with you 6 tips to improve your work, based on my experience (that’s a conplementary article to my in-depth Hyperlapse Tutorial). So, let’s start!
1. Choose your camera stabilization – tripod or handheld shooting.
If you’ve read my hyperlapse tutorial, you know I suggested using a tripod for shooting. But it’s a little bit more complicated. The fact is that most of the times a tripod would improve the stability of your shot. However, sometimes it’s better to go handheld. Your decision should be based on how even the ground is. If it’s really bumpy, there are holes etc. that could make hard to position the tripod, it’ll be probably better to shoot handheld. Also, the further your subject is, the easier it will be to stabilize the shot. On the other hand, if I shoot indoor with perfectly even ground – the tripod could give you so good results, that it’ll be almost usable without stabilization 😉
2. Choose the right path.
Hyperlapse ‘likes’ lines and shapes on the ground, that could help you moving the tripod. It can limit you with the composition of your shot, but sometimes it’s better to change the framing a little bit to get way better results. And don’t forget to follow the line with two legs of your tripod, not just one 🙂
3. Be sure you’ve got a good view on the fixed point during the whole path.
When you loose the fixed point (for example something would cover it), there is a high probability that the stabilizer will fail in this point. It doesn’t mean that it will be for sure useless, but if you can avoid loosing the fixed point – do it.
Interested in Timelapse, Hyperlapse or Stop-Motion? Feel free to join the Facebook Group, where you can find BTS content of my tutorials: https://www.facebook.com/groups/timelapse.hyperlapse/
4. Add motion blur with long exposure.
Blinking cars and people in hyperlapse aren’t cool. You won’t get them as smooth as in timelapse because of longer interval, but still a little blurry person looks way better. Setting longer exposure time during daytime could be difficult, you’ll probably need to use ND filters. I made a whole tutorial on this topic, you can read it here > Using ND filters – Motion Blur in timelapse
5. Shoot longer than you need.
Hyperlapse can be unpredictable. This one applies to more difficult shots. Sometimes, it’s just impossible to make the footage perfectly stable. And you’ll learn in the following tip, that it’s important 😉 There are some shots, in which I had to cut off the unstable part (DroneLapse for example). So, if your shot is longer than you need you can choose the best part and cut the worse ones.
6. Stabilize the footage until it’s really good, not ‘good enough’.
Your job is to make it perfectly stable. Sometimes it’s not a simple task, but you can’t give up if the default settings of Warp Stabilizer fail 😉 Of course what you should do depends on your footage, but the two main things to improve the result are: delete tracking points on moving objects and use stabilize motion feature. The first one is inside Warp Stabilizer menu (only in After effects, not in Premiere). Expand Advanced tab and check Show track points. The points should appear on the video, you can increase their size to see them clearly. Even if you check the ‘Delete points across time’ option, you still should delete the points every couple of frames. The Stabilize motion feature is inside the Tracker panel. You select there the point of stabilization by yourself. Sometimes I do it before Warp, sometimes after. The fact is that sometimes I’m really surprised how good are the results with that feature (or the difference between just using Warp and Warp after Stabilize motion).
Here it is, my 6 Tips to Improve the hyperlapse shots. Some of the tips I’ll expand in the future for a full length in-depth tutorial for sure. Would you add anything to that list? Put that in the comments and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter or just like my fanpage 😉
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4 Comments
thanks for the great tips, especially #6!
Really good to hear you find it useful 🙂
Hi tomasz.im following you since a long time ..could you please tell us about how to change the direction of the hyperlapse .when there is not fixed point ..like panning ..???
Changing fixed point during the shot is not an easy task. Basically you have to make very slight camera pan movements between the old and new fixed point. It’s hard because you move the tripod (you need to remember each camera position)