Amazing Cityscape Time-lapse Photography

City skylines have long been an interest of photographers and videographers alike.  Dominic Boudreault is no exception. The Quebec based photographer compiled a dramatic timelapse using hundreds of thousands of individual photos he captured in cities ranging from Chicago to New York to Quebec. Take a moment and enjoy:

“My goal was to show the duality between city and nature.” -Boudreault

Beginning work in 2010, Boudreault set up his Canon 5D Mark II along with a Canon 14mm 2.824mm 1.4135mm 2.070-200mm 2.8 IS, and a Gitzo tripod in the various locations over the span of a year. The thousands of images that went into the video were initially edited in Adobe Camera Raw, then imported into Adobe After Effects and Apple Final Cut Pro, respectively, for the finishing touches.

When City Limits captured over one million views in a week, media giants MSNBC caught wind of it, they contacted Boudreault to do an interview and discuss what went into making the 3 1/2 minute film.

The interview uncovered not only key insights into how to produce  the film but also reveals the success story of an amateur photographer who was able to make it as a pro. Boudreault, a former web designer for Quebec National Parks, highlights some key details when making a timelapse which include knowing your equipment and what kind of photographs it is capable of taking, investing in a tripod, and using an intervolemeter to ease the long process of gathering so many photographs.

For Further Training on Time-lapse Photography:

Check out this new COMPLETE guide (146 pages) to shooting, processing and rendering time-lapses using a dslr camera. It can be found here: Time-lapse Photography Guide

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8 responses to “Amazing Cityscape Time-lapse Photography”

  1. speck says:

    O U T S T A N D I N G . I N S I G H T . I N T O . T H E . C O N T I N U O U S . M O V E M E N T . O F . O U R . U R B A N . A R E A S . A N D . O F . O U R . P L A N E T . . . W O U L D . L O V E . T O . S E E . M O R E . . .W E . A R E . S U C H . A . S M A L L . P A R T . O F . T H E . B I G . P I C T U R E . . .

  2. Pretty amazing and very impressive to me. I think he has a sense of the dramatic that could do well in cinematography — for example, in a “Spiderman”-type movie.

  3. Pascal says:

    Your time-lapse make me dream. Wonderful work ! I like this duality between big city and nature too.

  4. Ed says:

    Incredible work…truly inspiring

  5. Mark says:

    Watched about five times and liked to fb the music makes it also but WOW at the photography lovely stuff thanks for sharing he deserves crediting highly for this it up there with the Japan one in my books and gives timescapes a run also

  6. Absolutely stunning! Excellent work, from start to finish! Congratulations Dominic.

  7. eifion hughes says:

    Just watched The City Limits in H.D Full Screen
    Its absolutely stunning.
    Well Done Dominic.

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