How to Shoot and Process a Day to Night Time-lapse | Astrophotography Tips

Capturing a time-lapse of a beautiful sunset, followed by the Milky Way Galaxy moving through the sky, is not easy. In this tutorial, learn how to shoot and process a time-lapse from day to night.
Presented by landscape and astrophotographer Matthew Saville, learn how to properly expose and shoot your time-lapse, and then how to correctly put it all together using LR Timelapse (lrtimelapse.com?ap_id=NatureTTL).
This video was produced by NatureTTL.com, in partnership with B&H Photo Video - www.bhphotovideo.com
-- KIT LIST --
Got your eye on some of the gear used in this video? You can find everything at the following (affiliate) links:
Nikon D750: geni.us/fwIhJ
Tokina 17-35mm f/4: geni.us/n6KBnlA
Alpinelabs Radian for Moving Time-lapses: geni.us/BYMkS0i
Slik Lite CF-422 Tripod: geni.us/oqifB2i
External Battery kit: geni.us/0js9art
Sun Surveyor app: www.sunsurveyor.com
LR Time-lapse: lrtimelapse.com?ap_id=NatureTTL
--------
Learn more about nature photography at www.naturettl.com/start-here/

[@TeePolgar]

i had been trying to find a comprehensive and brief tutorial on spicing up your day-to-night time-lapse and then I finally got your content recommended. Makes complete sense and can dump it down to minimalist gear setups too. Thanks a lot!

[@njlouch]

Am very new to timelapse photography, to the point that I didn’t know to alter exposure during the period; hence I used to adopt one setting and end up either under or over exposed at one end of the shoot. Thank you for an amazing video!

[@EvanSchurr]

This is so helpful, thank you. I am going on a trip to Utah and spending one night in the epic Monument Valley and want to try a sunset to Milky Way timelapse. Was really nervous that I’d blow it with only one chance to capture it, but this video has helped me know exactly what to do and what my capabilities are in post. Now to practice! Thanks a bunch.

[@LukeMackie]

This is a solid tutorial man, I've never seen anyone talk about LR Timelapse before. Going to give it a whirl myself.

[@JakeDownsWuzHere]

just watched this one out in the field. thanks for a great tutorial! excited to get home and post process these shots now

[@Wade-WhitesideInsurance]

This is one of the best I have seen on Night Time-lapse | Astrophotography

[@sandycraker2486]

What an amazing video, you make it look so simple and what a beautiful place.

[@julia201038]

Thank you for these stunning images. It is beautifully shot.

[@IandeNoronha]

THIS IS GOLD! Thank you so much for this!

[@amitdutta8768]

Wonderful. Thank you for the detail information you shared

[@renatosantillan775]

Man! Such great time lapse, thanks 😊

[@ksnmurthy4476]

Stunning 🤩

[@ilybbrlanejr4389]

Great video thank you! I'm striving to get there.

[@TravelQuest]

Love you man .. thanks for this information.

[@Walking-the-coast]

Stunning video and information

[@btlstudios89]

Short and effin sweet, Thank yous Sir.

[@videodrone4287]

Dude - thats amazing! Thx alot for sharing :)

[@The_Idea_of_Dream_Vision]

AMAZING STUFF

[@add3449]

This video helped me so much! I've been searching everywhere for something like this. Thank you! Also, it would be really cool if you made a time lapse tutorial of the Milky Way moving across the sky and then the moon rising, lightening up the scene. Thanks again!

[@lordgustaf]

Milkyway and the Moon dont go together

[@simon3461]

What a beautiful landscape - we all wanna go to Idaho !

[@HuntOnPhotosStudio]

Good work! Very helpful video!

[@TravelLikeWeDo]

thank you this was really helpful

[@888marin888]

First time i get how lrtimelapse works, you got a like and a sub my boi ^^

[@pat_makes_stuff]

awesome detailed video!

[@RAP4EVERMRC96]

the best tutorial so far for me as a beginner, wondering how to handel the changing light conditions. I still dont get how you manually adjust the camera while it is set to inervall shooting without it chaning exiting the intervall mode

[@Albovsky]

This is magical

[@marko01011]

Great tutorial! Thanks!

[@traavel_bug]

That was nice tutorial. Thank you.

[@mibreit-photo]

What a great tutorial! Thanks

[@justinjacob8384]

This is awesome.!!! Thank you so much...!!

[@user-lt9ho8ft2e]

Отличная работа! ) Спасибо автору!

[@michaelfinn4578]

Great video, one question how do you put music onto the finished timelapse?

[@El-Tel63-Terry.]

Superb ! Simple as that 👍🏻

[@Elirides]

Thank you!!

[@jenledbury762]

Thanks for the great tutorial! I noticed that the Alpine labs Radian has a load capacity of 2.2 lbs. Your camera and lens total close to 3 lbs. Is there a practical upper limit for load capacity of the Radian, beyond that stated? Thanks!

[@tanoteeth]

Great video thanks for sharing tips! :) But how did you set the focus? Did you set the focus to far sky or clouds? is that enough? Let me know. thanks.

[@D96112]

Great tutorial and demonstration. Very thorough and concise. With 4 years having transpired, is the Private Version of LRTimelapse 5 able to complete all steps of your workflow or is the Pro Version better suited? Thanks!

[@akashupadhyay1570]

We can also use aperture mode for shooting timelapse & one more thing how to render video after giving effects in LR TIMELAPSE APP

[@drbdrbrobertdrbdrb]

Very nice, instructive to the point tutorial! I have a question: since the rotating device does 15 degrees per hour, do you see this motion blur in your individual pictures, or is this neglectable at that turn speed? Ofcourse in the end result of the timelapse I understand this doesn't matter as the frames blend into each other, but say you want to edit 1 still from the time lapse, does it provide a sharp result? Thanks a lot!

[@peterwen72]

Great video and appreciate if the location of this shooting spot could be disclosed so we could try to get there thank you

[@Iphonmm]

So you go for M mode (switch off AF) then fix aperture value F4 and keep manually adjusting ISO (pushing up as light fades away) and push more stop compensation (also as light fades away)?

[@CristianCalhoun]

A full and detailed LRTimeLapse tutorial, please! :)

[@knightryderbelow]

That’s cool!

[@FatihVideographer]

Hi ! Is the aperture priority mode with fixed iso and auto shutter not a good idea for day to night lapses ? Thanks!

[@FernandoHStahelin]

that's awesome!

[@QuanTranVisuals]

This is a great day to night timelapse which includes astro part. I wonder if the interval should be remained 35 seconds unchanged before sunset until it is totally dark during the shoot. Please advise.

[@JayMacroPhotos]

That was awesome

[@suatsekil]

Very nice tutorial how many shoot have you taken for this video?

[@dave4468]

What was your final exposure and ISO when the stars came out? And how did you have time to adjust to the correct settings when the stars came out during the time lapse, was it just knowing the settings through experience? Also- is it possible to do a day to night time lapse with the sun being out as the starting point? I imagine in that case you would need to take off an ND filter mid time lapse and it could get complicated.. nice video and tips :]

[@mucahitcelik5457]

What is the sound name it is amazing !

[@cuteguy-2001]

Does posible canon m100 for timelapse day to night can you help me step by step

[@sandychatterjee7457]

How did you changed your shutter speed and iso without touching the camera because touching the camera even a little bit will generate a lot of shake

[@ryanheldoorn]

Awesome 👍

[@nrlondon7959]

What is the device that you use to move the camera to the right? Thanks.

[@ram9midde]

Super good

[@alexmj_onthego]

Hey, what about white balance? Auto?

[@tatchapolyubmanboriboon3786]

thank you so much.

[@andyk9685]

Thanks !!

[@PatrickGuerrisi]

Hi mate.. I looked up this tutorial because I am trying to work out how to do a day to night timelapse. I normally use aperture priority with my Sony a7iii and get good results processing in LR timelapse but I've Only down golden hour to blue hour I have not done day to full night in a dark area before I tried to do this.at a cabin we stayed at with the milkyway in the background The cabin had one lamp one that the light shines through the windows which looked so nice but this caused the sky to be underexposed I did however fix the iso to 4000 which only made the shutter speed to be 3 seconds When you mentioned the exception is being the Sony a7Ciii would this apply to my Sony a7iii and or a7c ?

[@arcanefilms9380]

I may have missed this but are you shooting on auto white balance the whole time or is it a set balance?

[@sooocheesy]

i'm sad that you didn't use a wider angel lens. so much of the milky way got cut off

[@BriangjohnsonTv]

Wizard award.

[@QuanTranVisuals]

Another question: you started shooting your timelapse right before sunset about 1700 hrs until what time to see the milky way. In this case did you have to shoot continuously until you captured the milk way or you paused your shooting until the milk way rose? TIA

[@gensadiri8831]

What camera that you use bro?

[@Nivenization]

Thank you.

[@swapsaraf3]

Wow was that Aurora light at around 7:15

[@joshualombard7759]

How long did you shoot for?

[@RaysAstrophotography]

Nice Video

[@PhilipProchazka]

awesome cheap setup !!! what is the batery adapter Hack you did ? I wold Really like to make it too, i have got few of helikopter bateries too.. whar Rezistance did you use ? is the batery adapter in your camera Canon DC DR-E6 ? or another one ? i would really love to adapt more battery live to make the timelapses longer

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi Philip! You have a good eye! It's a Lithium Polymer battery made for RC cars, that is soldered directly into a "dummy" battery. WARNING: this certainly voids your warranty, and could explode. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS unless you actually understand electricity, and how amps/volts work etc. If you get a 7.5V LiPo, then you don't need any voltage regulation for most Canon, Sony, and Nikon cameras, however some Nikons are very picky about voltage and may think they are dead before they actually are. That's a safe thing, because it means your battery is less likely to drop below its safe voltage and explode, however it's much too conservative in my opinion. Canon DSLRs seem to be much more accepting, they'll run on any voltage down to ~6.5 or 6.7V or so. In this particular case, because I'm on Nikon, I use a 3-cell ~12V) battery instead of a 2-cell (~7.5V) battery, so I have a homemade voltage regulator to make sure that the camera doesn't get 12V because that could fry its guts. If you're interested in a more standard, mainstream solution, the Tether Tools Case Relay is a great item with hot-swappable capabilities...

[@LiviusMaximus]

Or you can use qdslrdashboard app and let it deal with the exposure

[@candaleja]

Hello, Could you please give some alternatives for Alpine Labs Radian? (Same price and quality range). Thank you!!

[@christiandebney4447]

yep sold out :(

[@francescof96]

Is better full manual and just adjust ISO or use aperture priority and only if needed change the ISO?

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi Francesco, Both methods work well, however it depends on how attentive you are to changing your camera settings at perfect intervals, and/or how good your camera's metering is. Many cameras can meter perfectly to within 20-30 minutes of sunrise / sunset, and you can just leave your camera in Av mode and auto-ISO as well. However, at 30+ minutes after sunset, or more than 30 minutes before sunrise, your metering might not work, and you'll have to go full manual, both aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. One of the few cameras that can continue metering perfectly is the Sony A7S. (other Sonys may not be able to either!) However if you use the "Holy Grail" technique that works with LRTimelapse, you can get very smooth results even in manual exposure adjustments.

[@DishonBen]

Good video but in final result its slightly flickering right.....? Me too faces the same problem... If u have any idea to overcome that suggest me too.... If I found any i ll tell u...

[@stevedillonphoto]

Dishon there’s a ton of good info on deflickering and how to shoot day to night in general in the forums on lrtimelapse.com

[@AlexArmitage]

Matthew, great content. Quick tip, check your mic levels in comparison to your intro logo. I'd bring those volumes down on the intro to match your talking volume :)

[@Naturettl]

Actually that's our fault in the Nature TTL office!

[@priteshpatel7673]

Could you show how you reduced the noise when the iso was set at 3200? This was a great video.

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi @Pritesh, to be honest, I don't perform very much noise reduction at all when I'm at ISO 3200; I am usually quite comfortable with the level of noise at that ISO. I know it's a personal preference, but I don't like my night images to be overly smooth, it makes them seem fake. At ISO 6400 and 12800, however, I do use quite a bit more noise reduction. I usually leave all of Adobe's settings at default, and in Lightroom/Bridge I set the NR slider to 20 or 30. That's all!

[@wonderfulworld2000]

Hey i want quick reply.. can we shoot those stars from action camera?? Plz reply!!!

[@MatthewSaville]

Sorry for the lack of a quick reply. The short answer is, no, you cannot really shoot stars from most types of gopros etc. I'm no sure about the Sony RX0, though, that might be able to do the trick with it's better sensor!

[@doruksimsek3636]

Need too much practice with this technique. Worst thing about the time-lapse is if something goes wrong with only 1 or 2 frames by mistake almost your whole video will go down. But I think that's what makes it so great.

[@vuhongquan516]

wowwwwwww

[@kenyadifferentperspectives2325]

Matthew , thank you for the video -it has given me some ideas but at the same time I have a lot of questions. I'm really passionate about making time lapses and I've already made a few With your setup - If I was to change the parameters every 5 minutes or so, would the 5 seconds be enough to change them? And what if during the process of changing the settings the camera moves slightly? Secondly, besides LRTimelapse, is there any other option for smoothening out the exposure and the deflickering? I can't really spend all that money in buying the software plus it doesn't work on my low end device I use Rawtherapee for editing RAW files and then use Videomach for creating the time lapse videos - both are free and very reliable Also, when exporting the timelapse video -what data rate would you recommend? Especially for 4k videos? What did you actually use to change the settings every 5 minutes? Did you change on the camera itself or using your phone or something else? Reading your replies to other comments -you said you would go with f2.8, 30s and ISO 6400 - but when I took photos at night I was using f3.5, 25s and ISO 2000 - and the photo was bright enough - is there something I'm missing? Lastly - are there any programs that I can use on a pc for checking of the movement of the sky and bodies? I rather do that on a pc than on a phone Thank you

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi Kenya, If you only have 5 seconds in between the stop of you last exposure and the start of your next exposure, then that might be enough time to wrangle your shutter speed or ISO a little bit, however depending on your camera it might leave you with ZERO time to actually see your histogram, because of the rather dumb way that image playback is limited on most modern cameras. In fact the creator or LR Timelapse wrote an open letter about this matter, here: lrtimelapse.com/open-letter/nikon/ Unfortunately, there are no other options that I know of for smoothing your exposures BEFORE you export raw files, although there are plenty of de-flicker programs you can use in video post-production. However if you're changing your exposure by anything greater than 1/3 stop, I doubt those video editor options will do a good job at all, it might look terrible. Both LR Timelapse and Adobe Bridge can be had either for free or for pretty cheap, if you don't buy the creative cloud software, but yeah they're a bit resource-hungry when it comes to your computer specs. Unfortunately to edit hundreds or thousands of files in any decent amount of time, there is no way to get around this. If you're not using an Adobe raw converter, though, then LRTimelapse won't help you. (I personally love editing my still photographs in Capture One Pro, for example...) Export quality totally depends on where you're sending / displaying the file. For KZbin or Instagram, the limiting factor is their compression, so it almost doesn't matter what you export at, be it MP4 at 50-100 MBps, or MOV, or whatever. Unfortunately I'm not an expert at video post-production, only at still photography and timelapse. If you can adjust your exposure wirelessly, then go for it! Unfortunately my Nikon's wifi doesn't offer this, it's very limited and downright dumb if you ask me. I just change the exposure with my fingers and rely on the sturdiness of my tripod to avoid camera shake, or "stabilizer" in (video) post-production. If your exposures were bright enough at 25s, f/3.5, and ISO 2000, then you might have simply had a brighter night than most. Was there any light pollution nearby, or moonlight? This scene was captured in the middle of the wilderness, on an absolutely moonless night, and also in a valley, not on a mountaintop. ;-) If you'd rather check the night sky on a desktop computer instead of your phone, then TPE has a great desktop web-based page, I forget the URL but just search for The Photographer's Ephemeris Desktop and it'll come right up.

[@endeavourfreestylers4675]

I may have missed something but im using a sony a7iii with a fe 1.8/14 gm lens and this doesnt really help . The issue im faced with is when I start im way over exposed to the point where the screen is white . I can only adjust the ev in iso auto. So if I get the starts I wont get the start as it will be too bright and if i get the sun set I wont get the stars as firstly the shutter speed is all wrong as its set too fast to let stars show and likewise with f stop ect ?

[@Naturettl]

What mode are you in?

[@Naturettl]

You need to ramp the exposure. Watch the video again and notice he adjusts the exposure manually throughout the timelapse. You expose for the sunset, and as it gets darker you gradually adjust the settings to allow for more light. Then you process through LR Timelapse (link in description) to smooth the exposure jumps.

[@AdamCraigOutdoors]

so basically your taking a timelapse for 5min and then adjusting exposure. Then another timelapse for 5 min etc?? or are you adjusting it while the timelapse is going on?

[@Naturettl]

The exposure is changed during the time-lapse, that's why there is an intervalometer used :) If you were to do separate time lapses, you would get jumps in the moving elements of the scene.

[@promofilmsstudiojoseignaci1496]

Subtitulos en español por favor

[@hongqi9732]

The AV mode mentioned in the video is not allowed to be adjusted within 30 minutes after sunset except for the A7S camera. It is recommended that even AV mode be used,adjusted to the manual after sunset, but the shooter also cannot manually adjusted the compensation and said It is also possible to add 3 stops at a time. The machine ISO is 100 particles, and the shooter really makes the adjustment 1- 2 stops. Finally found it in the post, it is ok! I really wonder why you not use the A mode, it is easy,camera do ,you drink coffee!

[@PJ_Sandwiich]

I hope to see the stars with the Northern lights with my own eyes one day

[@ronhudson8518]

Mattew, first thank you for taking time to do this. Now where would one start to learn this type of photography? What camera and lens did you use in this video? You started out at ISO 100 did you up the ISO every 5 minutes, what was your top ISO. Your PP on the Milky Way looks great, nice color and natural looking. Could you go into that. Please I know this is second nature to you so again can you recommend more of a step by step instructions or where to look. Thank you again and to B& H. Ron

[@Naturettl]

Hi Ron. Thanks for watching! Nature TTL is the best place to start learning! We're the leading resource for landscape, wildlife, and macro photography and our website is filled with in-depth tutorials - all free, of course. www.naturettl.com/start-here/ Check the description of this video for the exact kit Matthew used - but namely that's a Nikon D750 with a Tokina 17-35mm lens. I'm sure he'll reply with more info shortly. We'll be publishing tutorials soon about how to process Milky Way photos - so make sure to subscribe to our website on the link above and we'll send you it when it comes out. For now, here are some tutorials to get you started: Milky Way Photography Tips: www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-the-milky-way/ Getting Sharp Stars: www.naturettl.com/sharp-in-focus-stars/ Star Trails: www.naturettl.com/how-to-photograph-star-trails/ Enjoy! - Will

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi Ron, The highest ISO you decide to "cap out" at is dependent upon which camera you're using, and what your own personal standards are for noise. Sometimes what I am OK with might be 1-2 stops beyond what someone else is OK with, while others may feel comfortable pushing even higher than I am. On my Nikon D750, though, I feel comfortable going up to ISO 6400 for even "important" stuff, and up to 12800 if I absolutely have to, like I did with this timelapse since I was "stuck" at f/4 on a moonless night. Generally speaking, that's about how much of an exposure you need to capture pure starlight. If I had an f/2.8 lens, that would have been f/2.8 and ISO 6400, 30 seconds. If I had an f/2 or f/1.4 lens, I might have been able to drop my ISO even further, or shorten my shutter speed. You get the idea. I hope this helps! Thanks for asking such a great question.

[@ronhudson8518]

Will, Thank you for TTL . Thanks for sharing your knowledge and for folks like Mattew who share theirs.

[@mattdepalma6565]

Hey Ron, here is a really in-depth article about ISO, written by Ian Norman of Lonely Speck. He has loads of useful KZbin videos and articles to help with the basics of astrophotography www.lonelyspeck.com/how-to-find-the-best-iso-for-astrophotography-dynamic-range-and-noise/

[@paulfensome1404]

@@MatthewSaville So say you started shooting before Dark at a Shutter speed of say 1/30. Your Aperture is Set Manually at say 2.8. And you set your iso at 50. Obviously as it gets darker you will become under exposed. You are not going to change your Aperture at all so that only leaves two options , shoot in Aperture which changes the Shutter speed or change the iso. what is the difference between setting the iso yourself or doing auto iso ? Also does 1/30 seem to slow at night , i mean way to low ? so the Bottom line is there is no Perfect easy fool proof method , you either lower the shutter speed or raise your i.s.o Bottom line is it's that simple , the hardest part is deciding the length of your interval depending on how much motion you desire. Then into LTRtimelapse.

[@mahendrakambli466]

Can we do all of these things in our smartphones?

[@dyright-1414]

mahendra kambli unfortunately no. You can definitely take long exposure shots on your smartphone and time lapses, but the camera sensor isn’t good enough.

[@prathampandey]

Nice one. How did you lock the camera rotation with the Galaxy? What are the calculations (degree/min or degree/hour). Because if you don't lock it with the stars they would just run away and would produce a shitty time lapse.

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi @Antariksh Pandey! Some people get very advanced with this calculation, and they match the camera perfectly with the speed of the Milky way based on its angle of trajectory, etc. I'm not that complicated, I just use simple division: There are 24 hours in a day, and 360 degrees in a full circle. So, if I want to shoot a night timelapse for 4 hours, 24/4=6. So, 360/6=60. So I just set the timelapse to cover 60 degrees (clockwise) over the course of 4 hours. If you wanted to shoot your timelapse for a different amount of time, the calculation should not be too hard. Hope this helps!

[@prathampandey]

@@MatthewSaville thanks

[@thevfxwizard7758]

that poor person who disliked this.

[@GiuseppeFrattura]

are there other software like LRTimelapse?

[@MatthewSaville]

Hi Giuseppe, There aren't any that I know of which can do the same thing at the raw level, unfortunately. I STRONGLY recommend getting the learning curve of LRTimelapse tackled, it's worth it!

[@GiuseppeFrattura]

ok, thanks! Il'll try the demo

[@thomasmorrison8011]

I second that. It takes about an afternoon to get the handle of it, but after your third video, you start to get the flow of the software and how it inetracts with Lightroom.

[@SocramZ]

I use it and is an amazing tool. I bought the personal license for about 100 bucks, best spent money ever.

[@priteshpatel7673]

There is an app for androids called qdslrdashboard which will make the camera changes without manual intervention.

[@MatthewSaville]

Yes indeed, thank you for mentioning that! I'd love to make a video about QDSLRdashboard, but it's a pretty complicated subject that couldn't be included here for the sake of time. Thank you for expressing interest in more nightscape / timelapse tutorials such as this!

[@westenbergerstephan5955]

Just to add on LRTIMELAPS. If you want to use this tool properly you M U S T shoot in Manual mode!!! Otherwise the holy graile function will not work! Thought to share this might help!

[@robertbascelli6433]

My radian is a brick and the company refused to help me. Only used it 4 times and its dead.

[@CanyonCarver70]

I have that shirt.....you have great taste.

[@oneeyedphotographer]

I don't think it's useful to me, I edit in Capture One, not Lightroom.

[@SFbayArea94121]

I love ❤️ getting abducted in the wilderness

[@arnonym7643]

Stupid intro. "We stayed and enjoyed" and then a screaming intro ... Oh man, my thumb accidentally fell on downvote because of that.