Tom Baurain has done this excellent video tutorial on RAW workflow for timelapses. I use a mix of RAW and JPEGS dependent on the project. Eric Kessler and I worked with Tom to get this tutorial done and it’s excellent for those looking to up their game and take the next step!
It’s pretty solid information, I don’t do the same as Tom on everything especially when it comes to shutter speeds. I let mine go as high as needed! Essential for day to nights and night to days.
Why shoot timelapse using raw instead of jpgs? The Red Owl, Tom Baurain explains it’s for two reasons: quality and control. Raw files have much more information that can result in greater quality to your timelapse.
The larger files not only hold more color information, but the size of these images allows you the ability crop out what you don’t want or pan and scan without compromising quality.
The very nature of the raw file allows you to tweak the image in such a way that allows you to achieve the look you want without baking that look into the file itself.
Taking advantage of the Raw format isn’t without peril, but the Red Owl breaks it all down with this Raw workflow.
Here’s just some of what you’ll learn in this video:
- What gear you need for timelapse
- Adjusting your cameras settings to prevent “flicker”
- Setting up a file system to ensure compatibility with After Effects
- How to tweak your image in the Camera Raw interface
- The switches in the Camera Raw interface and what they do
- Monitor your results in Adobe Bridge
- Importing into AfterEffects and rendering your composition
On top of all this, Baurain also reveals some other great resources. For further learning, please visit the links below.
General Learning
- TimeScapes “I’m New To Timelapse“
- Tyler Ginter’s Timelapse Checklist
Lenses
“Behind The Glass” with Vincent Laforet and Blake Whitman
- Part 1 “Intro to Lenses“
- Part 2 “Focal Length“
- Part 3 “Depth of Field“
Lens Cleaning with Jared Abrams
Filters
- fxguidetv #74
- OliviaTech – Polarizing Filters
- OliviaTech – ND Filters for beginners
- CheesyCam – ND filter color cast testing
Color Correction
- Color Correction Handbook by Alexis Van Hurkman
Software
- LRTimelapse and click “tutorial” for several great tutorials on LRTimelapse
Other Useful Resources
- Timelapse with a DSLR starring Andrea Allen and Philip Bloom
- Vimeo Music Store
If you’re thinking about doing timelapse or if you’ve done one but want to improve, then it’s imperative you watch this video. You can find out more about The Red Owl, on his website athttp://theredowl.com
19 comments
Why is he recommending not going higher that 1/100th of sec for time lapses? Do you need a little bit of blur to make the video smooth?
He said it helped to reduce flicker…?
I think you can get flicker in the stills if the shutter is to high.
I don’t think I’m timelapsing on RAW. I really love the extra features but the disk space demand is just too much for me.
Nice links, btw. I would add one on color grading section, if I may.
http://www.colorgradingcentral.com/ by Denver Riddle
It’s got a lot of free stuff and tutorials. Lovely newsletters too. Very instructional for coloristas.
Great Video,
Just thought I would chime in with a workflow tip. I love shooting RAW for timelapses and using after effects is my favourite way to process them. If you want to skip the bridge step, you can activate the Camera Raw plugin in After Effects two ways. When you first import the raw sequence (btw if you “force alpha order” it will name the clip based on the parent folder name) Camera Raw will activate to allow you to apply a look to the sequence. Tom showed this in the tutorial. Also if you right click on the clip in the Project Panel and press Interpret Footage…>Main… you will open a dialogue box.
Here you can adjust the frame rate of the sequence, as well as the aspect ratio. It’s important to match the frame rate here to your comp settings so that you avoid any unnecessary frame blending.
At the bottom there is a button labeled “More Options…” Press it to activate Camera Raw. This way you can make adjustments to your image sequence without having to apply your look to every image.
For those who like using Bridge, you don’t have to apply the exposure settings, or look, to every still in the timelapse. After Effects will base its look from the Camera Raw settings off the first image in the sequence. Unless you need to use LRtimelapse to fix flicker or do an effect, you won’t need separate settings for each file.
Hope that helps 🙂
Here you can adjust all the available settings within Camera Raw, as well and your changes will apply to the entire sequence.
Thanks for this. Have to put more time in to Adobe suite!
I know there is a lot of talk about timelapse and shutter counts getting really high. So I’ve looked into Pentax Q and the Nikon V1 both have electronic shutters and produce jaw files.
From what I heard Sony might have a electric shutter in their next NEX cameras.
This feels like a pretty convoluted way of making a time-lapse post-production wise.
The way I did it (by learning from Phil) was just to put your images in Quicktime Pro and let it do all the work, then take the movie file into Premiere if I needed to do any pans.
yes my basic way works…but you do get much better results this way.
If you use CineForm/GoPro’s solution for your workflow, I know there is a great tool called DPX2CF. DPX2CF allows you to convert your CR2 files into AVI (Cineform Raw / real-time playable AVI / up to 5K resolution), save disc space and retain the benefits of Raw in terms of color correction.
http://cineform.blogspot.com/2010/11/camera-raw-to-cineform-raw.html
Awesome video!! I have to say after watching this made me want to go out and do a timelapse. so i did, after i got out of class and since i got out of class early i had time to do 3!!! i’m working on getting them together now. once again great video really informative! thanks 🙂
you may want to check out this great tool:
http://lrtimelapse.com/
it’s easy to use, yet flexible with a lot of useful controls, and the results are very good! i use it together with adobe camera RAW and can truly recommend it.
it’s used in the tutorial! 😉
oops 🙂
A really helpful tutorial, thank you. I realise this could be an antagonising question, but does anyone know if it’s possible to use the same sort of workflow but using FCPX instead of AfterEffects?
Wow I’ve just looked into LRTimelapse & am very excited by the possibilities. I see it is also possible to use this programme exclusively with Lightroom so no need for FCPX – great!
Hi. I have a few time lapse sequences I shot with canon 5dMII in Raw. I imported them into fcpX, changed the duration to 1 frame and created a compound clip. They are really slowing down my system…Any advice for this or a better workflow so as not to slow things down with constant spinning beach ball?
Hello
I am trying a raw time lapse. I followed all the steps that are very nice explained, but when I import the images to AE, camera raw comes up photo by photo and I have to press done for every single photo.
Could you help me with this? do you know why it could happen?
Thank you
Please make sure to Import “File…” in AE, not “Multiple Files…” – I made a short screencast where I show how to import a DNG sequence from LRTimelapse into After Effects, check it out: http://forum.lrtimelapse.com/Thread-after-effects-works-only-with-xmp-file?pid=8127#pid8127