Time-slice composites

Convey the passage of time via a still

Time-lapse photography is used in a variety of productions, from big Hollywood blockbusters to documentaries, as a way to concisely convey the passage of time. It works by taking photographs at regular intervals for an extended period and quickly cycling through those stills to create a video.

We’re going to use a similar technique, but combine the images to create a single still. This is called a time-slice, because you slice your images up and stitch them together, revealing gradual changes in lighting as time passes. We shot our scene of Happisburgh Lighthouse in Norfolk from sunset all the way through to blue hour and then astronomical twilight. This allowed us to capture warm golden tones fading into blues, pinks, purples and finally the night sky.

As with a time-lapse, you’ll need to take pictures at regular intervals, but while a time-lapse requires roughly 24 shots for one second of video, a time-slice only requires around 10 images to get good results. However, feel free to use more photos if you’d prefer – the choice is yours.

You can use your Nikon’s built-in intervalometer to automatically fire the shutter after a predetermined amount of time and for a predetermined number of shots. If your Nikon doesn’t have this feature, some remote shutter releases have in-built intervalometers. To divide the compositions into equal sections in Adobe Photoshop you can download a grid template via our online video link (left).