GoPro Cameras
GoPro cameras are great for making videos that are not only fun to watch but can be used in a wide variety of ways. The GoPro Hero 5 can be used as a 360 camera or even as a drone (if you have permission from your local airport). It’s also great for creating time lapse videos.
The steps below will show you how to capture footage from a GoPro on a tripod and add a little music to give your time lapse footage a bit of style.
Start by setting your GoPro to take videos and photos at a fixed frame rate of between 30 frames per second and 60 frames per second.
If you’re using a tripod, attach it to your GoPro and use the camera mount that came with the GoPro Hero 5. Make sure your tripod has the correct head, which is included in the kit.
Attach the tripod to a flat surface such as a table or shelf. Place the GoPro Hero 5 on top of the tripod and connect it to the battery pack.
Now that you have the camera attached to the tripod, use the timer function on the GoPro to set the time lapse.
The camera will automatically take a photo every few seconds. This will make a loop of time lapsed images, which you can view in the GoPro app.
GoPro recommends keeping the shutter speed on your camera between 1/50th of a second and 4 seconds.
Using the app, select the ‘loop’ function. When the app shows the time lapse as completed, press the ‘share’ button and select the ‘time lapse’ video to upload to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites.
GoPro also recommends keeping the camera pointed vertically down to minimize shaking.
GoPro recommends setting the timer to take 10 minutes of video for a 10 minute time lapse.
Make sure that there is nothing blocking the camera lens and that the camera is fully charged.
Setting the GoPro to record time lapses can be fun and can also be used to create some amazing videos.
When using time lapse, make sure that the background is well lit and that you don’t have anything moving that might cause blurring in the video.
If you want to share your time lapse footage with friends and family, they can view it through the GoPro app.
Tips for shooting GoPro cameras
If you’ve got a GoPro camera and a tripod or similar stand, you can use it to make time-lapse videos that are much more professional than you could by filming handheld. They look much more professional too, with smooth, even pans that don’t distort your subject and they look great on YouTube. The following video was created by using a GoPro with a simple time-lapse app. There are many different time-lapse apps to choose from. Some of them are free, some of them cost a little money, but it is easy to use a number of the free ones and then upgrade to one of the paid for ones.
You need to know what you want to film, what light you need and what you need to make the best use of the available space. You should also know what settings you will need. Here are the steps that we followed to create this video.
Step 1
We started by recording a short video. This showed us what we wanted to film and how we wanted to light our subject. In this case, it was a street scene.
Step 2
We selected the best location for filming. This took quite a bit of research. We looked on Google Earth and used Google Street View to get a feel for the area. Once we found the place, we got into position and shot the first few minutes of video.
Step 3
We selected the best part of the sequence. We filmed until we had the footage that we wanted.
Step 4
We edited the video. We deleted the sections that we didn’t want, we used the slow motion and time-lapse features of the software, and we enhanced the lighting.
Step 5
We uploaded the video to YouTube. We then added a title, description, tags, and thumbnail.
Tips
- Make sure the quality of the video is high.
- Do use a tripod.
- Do check that the time-lapse function is working.
- Do set the camera up with the correct settings.
- Do make sure you have the right amount of light.
- Have you made any time-lapse videos? Share your tips in the comments section below.