Time-stack is a photographic composition technique characterized by the superimposition of images in a temporal sequence to mark the movement of a given object, or objects, in a single image. Often used, for example, to illustrate the passage of the sun or moon in the sky. But Canadian photographer Matt Molloy went much further. He used hundreds and hundreds of images in each composition to create beautiful images of the sky that look like incredible paintings. The result is a kind of mixture of timelapse with long exposure.
Sometimes the clouds are moving quick and there’s lots of them. If I stack too many photos from a timelapse like that, it can get a little messy. I usually try stacking all the photos from a timelapse to get an idea of what I’m working with, if it’s too crazy I’ll start taking some out and try again. I’ve also found it helps to watch them as a regular timelapse video to pick out the interesting sections. Most of the sunset stacks are around 100 to 200 photos.
Matt Molloy
More info: Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, 500px (h/t: ArtistADay, FineArtAmerica).