Flickering is the bane of any long-term timelapse creator (well... once you’ve solved autonomy, weatherproof case, and the download of a large amount of images, of course!). If you've ever wondered why some sequences suffer from this issue, here's the short answer: naive image selection. It creates visible flicker due to variations in brightness between shots.
The reasons are multiple: day and night cycles, constantly changing weather, and the shadows cast by the sun moving throughout the day. When you shoot 6 pictures per hour, 10 hours a day, for 1 year, you end up with a ton (approx. 20k) of different luminosity conditions.

 

So, how do you select those 450 images you need to edit your 15-second timelapse video film? If you try to sample regularly, that’s roughly one image out of 45, or one every 7 hours and 30 minutes. So, it’s very likely you’ll get one in the morning and one in the evening, the next one might be at noon the day after, and so on. Now you should understand that you will never get a smooth long-term timelapse video proceeding like this!

 

At Enlaps, we've developed a groundbreaking solution: Smart Selection. This algorithm optimally selects images for your timelapse by minimizing flicker while maintaining temporal regularity and trying to avoid bad quality pictures.

 

Under the hood, it applies an array of AI-based image classifications:
- Each image is analyzed to determine if it has raindrops or dirt on the lens, what the weather was like when it was shot, how pleasant it is, and, of course, some luminosity measures.
- Then, this huge amount of data is processed in a few seconds to return the optimal selection of images needed to make a pleasant video.
- The more images you have at your disposal, the better: Smart Selection has more room to deliver flawless timelapses.

 

An image is worth a thousand words, then a video might be worth a million! Check out our comparative video below.

 

 

Smart selection is available in our Timelapse Builder tool for all myTikee subscription plans.

 

And you, how do you deal with image selection for long-term timelapse in your projects?

 

Article written by Adrien Fontvielle, R&D Manager at Enlaps