Real & Fake Timelapses of an Empty New York City

Photography Tips  •  Time-lapse Photography

As a follow-up to the eerie timelapse of San Francisco and an empty Seattle, the creator has released an equally haunting timelapse of a desolate New York City. As the timelapse imagery winds around some of The Big Apple’s most thriving landmarks, viewers are treated to an unusual look at them. The relatively unscathed scenery only lends to the eeriness of seeing Manhattan uninhabited by humans in an Armageddon-like way. Keep in mind the people and activity were removed in post production on this one:

You can also check out a brief overview on how the filmmaker accomplished clearing out the nation’s most populated cities from his workstation, here. But, in a nutshell, after the tens of thousands of still photographs were taken, he then used a tedious process involving a lot of Photoshop layers to clean out unwanted objects and people.

Here is another timelapse captured in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. This one has not been doctored and the city actually looked like this as people hunkered down during and after the storm:

“Seeing lower Manhattan without power was a surreal experience. This is traditionally a city that never sleeps. One in which the lights are always on. One that is always bustling with people. When the lights went out it was wholly different. This piece is meant to capture and relay the feeling of what it was like to walk around the darkened streets of lower Manhattan.” –Jared Levy