London - a timelapse

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Julian Elliott
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Here is a time lapse sequence I did in London. It was shot over various days between 2015 and 2016. I'm sure you'll recognize some locations but not others.

There was a lot of work that went into this. Post production wise; shooting and also access to various places.

I tried to choose the music carefully as I find that sometimes people add it and it's just too frantic.

 
Technically very good, I can see the work that went into it. But I didn't get any sense of narrative from the editing.
 
An excellent timelapse, very much enjoyed watching it.

Thanks for posting it.

Chris
 
A very nice production indeed. Music is just right in my view. Out of interest what kit did you use?
 
A very nice production indeed. Music is just right in my view. Out of interest what kit did you use?

Camera wise it's various parts Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 6D. At times both cameras were running so where you see the dawn over the bridge and then the camera pans, the 5D Mark II was doing the static shot and the 6D was handling the panned shot.
Lenses used are from my kit which is Canon 17-40L; Canon 24mm TS-E Mark II; Canon 28-70mm F2.8 L (this is correct and not 24. It's the old version) and Canon 70-200mm F4 L.

Lee Filters ND Grads used to balance the light where needed. Sometimes a Helionpan polarizer too.

Control of the Holy Grail sequences is done by a Promote Control which is an advanced Bulb Ramping device. I don't use the bulb ramper part but just change the shutter speed and ISO as required.

Control of regular daytime sequences was done using just a cheap Chinese intervalometer.

Panning shots were done on a Kessler Crane Second Shooter.

Post production is done first of all in LR Timelapse regardless of whether it's a Holy Grail (day to night/ night to day) scene. Images saved off and then into After Effects. If stabilization was required it usually was a case of Warp Stabilier. The two hyper lapse sequences were manually stabilized (frame by frame choosing a point to stabilize) and then into WS to finish off.

The sequence was put together in Adobe Premiere and let me tell you it is far easier using that to do these things rather than trying to faff about in After Effects!!!

Lastly, a fellow stock photographer told me about Premium Beat. Cost about $50 for the license but the feature I had in the Daily Mail will pay that back :)

PS Forgot. As an aside, the dawn looking down Westminster Bridge to the Houes of Parliament at around 1:50 was done on the morning of last year's awards ceremony for LPOTY. So I'm always on the go and working whenever I can!
 
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Excellent work. I can see you have put alot of effort and time to this project. I am no expert but recently been trying out shooting timelapses on my Gopro. Still learning the techniques and the settings and post production on Premiere Pro. Time consuming but enjoying the learning process. Anyway, hope see more of your work here.
 
Superb. I really enjoyed seeing my old stumping ground. It's changed so much in the 35 years since I left. Beautifully done, I'm impressed!
 
Thanks for all the comments people! They are very appreciated.

OK, as some have noted London is a pain to work in as a photographer. Being a professional photographer and having to carry a big bag and tripod I'm normally spotted quite quickly. But of course, it all depends on how you handle the situation.

Here's some of how I dealt with certain scenes:

Tower Bridge/ Gherkin etc in front of City Hall: believe or not this is private property controlled by More London. When I was asked "are you a pro?" I just looked at the guy and said "no mate, I'm just up here for the weekend and like London." Security aren't always the brightest bulbs when it comes to photographers and so off he went and I carried on :)

St Pancras: never ever had a problem here. I know Network Rail don't like us photographers but the only issue I ever had was when I tried photographing the front of the Eurostar through the glass as there is a security guard who sits there and took issue. I might try again though.

Liverpool St: This one was an issue as it's done looking through a glass screen on private property. Like a lot of London it's one of those places you think is public but it isn't. On this occasion I had my tripod set up and the camera pressed up against the glass to avoid any reflection. A security guard came over and asked what I was doing (always a mute point for me). He said his boss had asked me to move on. I just said to him I've nearly finished and just keep talking to me. I gave him so much speel and yack that I was able to finish. When I was finished and packed up another guy came over and had a right go at me. Just ignored him!

King's Cross: I just went and looked around. Security didn't see or say anything. Best thing for places like this is to use an interval of 1 or 2 seconds. That means you get nice smooth footage very quickly and if you are found chances are that the short interval has given you enough footage. Stock libraries tend to take a minimum of 5 seconds of footage. So 2sec interval x 120 frames (24fps) = 4 minutes.

Natural History Museum: No one said anything as I used my Manfrotto table top tripod. The best 25€ I have spent on a piece of kit. It has paid for itself many many times over. It helps you get things when tripods are banned as lot of people look at it as just a support and not a pro tripod.

The other views that a lot of you won't know where done as I was given the relevant permission; paid for a hotel that had a view (between £250 to £400 per night) or paid for a view.
 
Great time-lapse i have tried this once or twice myself, it's different keep them coming mate

Thank you Andy. It took a little bit of work to find the optimum way to create these but after doing about 500 or so sequences I reckon I've got it down now ;)
 
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