How to Make Hyperlapse Videos
If you’ve been around a little while, you’d know that we typically refer to our app, Life Lapse, as a stop motion app. But, it actually started out as a pregnancy time lapse app! It is now mostly used as a stop motion app, but it definitely didn’t start out that way.
One of the cool things about Life Lapse is that its format allows you to use the app for more than just what is advertised! A particular video style we love: hyperlapses.
For those that don’t know, a hyperlapse is a specific type of stop motion video where the camera is what moves, as opposed to the object that is in frame. It makes this super cool effect where it feels like the background is moving around you. Hyperlapses are a great way to bring stop motion with you when you travel —that is, whenever it is when we can travel again. 😉
Some hyperlapses have no subject (they are just movement, such as down a street) while others have a subject in the center that stays in place while everything else moves.
Here’s how to make a fixed-subject hyperlapse with our app, Life Lapse.
What you’ll need:
iPhone or Android with Life Lapse
A fixed subject (such as another person)
Your preferred background
Step 1: Set up your shot, with the subject placed how you would like. We recommend centering your subject using the grid overlay in Life Lapse, although that’s not mandatory. Monitor how far away you are your subject is —you want to consistently stay this distance away from each other. If the subject takes a step forward, you must as well, and so forth. To make this easier, the ghost feature in our app will speed the alignment process along.
Step 2: Take your first photo. If you are doing a hyperlapse that is a continuous background (such as moving down a street), you and your subject can immediately step forward and realign the shot. If your background is less continuous (such as a photo in each city you visit), save it as a draft and replicate the photo at a later date.
Step 3: for the smoothest video, it’s important to do everything you can to perfectly align the subject to the same spot in the frame, no matter what. Our ghost feature makes it so much easier to make a smooth video.
Step 4: Launch the editor and make any adjustments you would like! You can speed up the video to make it run effortlessly.
Step 5: Save and share! Tag us on Instagram using the hashtag #LifeLapse or @LifeLapse_app! We would love to see it.
That’s it for our hyperlapse tutorial! As you can see in the video, there are many different ways and styles for hyperlapses, but they all follow the same process for making them.
Interested in creating your own awesome hyperlapses? Download Life Lapse here.
