Code for capturing time lapse images with a raspberry pi. It only saves one file at a time, so it should be scheduled in cron.

pi-capture-single.py

from time import sleep
from datetime import datetime
import picamera

now = datetime.now()
filename = now.strftime('%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S-%f')


# Camera settings depending of daylight
sunrise = range(6,7,1)
daylight = range(7,16,1)
dawn = range(16,19,1)

camera = picamera.PiCamera()
#camera.resolution = (1280, 720)

# Camera warm-up time
sleep(3)

# Common settings
camera.exposure_mode = 'off'
g = camera.awb_gains
camera.awb_mode = 'off'
camera.awb_gains = g

if now.hour in daylight:
    #it's day
    camera.iso = 150
    camera.sensor_mode = 2

elif now.hour in dawn or now.hour in sunrise:
    # set to medium iso
    camera.iso = 400
    #camera.framerate = Fraction(1,6)
    camera.sensor_mode = 2
    #camera.shutter_speed = 6000000

else:
    # It's night
    camera.iso = 800
    camera.framerate = Fraction(1,6)
    camera.sensor_mode = 3
    camera.shutter_speed = 6000000

camera.capture('/home/pi/projects/time-lapse/img%s.jpg' % filename)

camera.close()