What Is Time-Lapse Photography?

You have probably seen examples of time-lapseto product the time-lapse movie.
photography in action without realising. Have you everTime Lapse photography is usually carried out with a
seen a sports stadium fill in a matter of seconds, onhigh resolution (better than HD) quality camera. The
what looks like a video on fast-forward? Or cloudscamera is usually connected to a PC or laptop that
moving extremely fast during the course of a fewhelps monitor and store the images. Again, depending
minutes of video? These are examples of Timeon the environment the camera will usually take a
Lapse Video.picture every 3 or 5 minutes.
Putting it simply, Time-lapse photography is a series ofThis also depends on the length of time that you will
photographs taken over a period of time. The periodbe taking the pictures for. If you are taking the pictures
of time is usually defined by an event, such as aover the period of a day then you will take them more
sunrise, the construction of a building or product or anfrequently, and for a larger project you might reduce
event or concert.the number of images taken. Of course, if you miss an
When you watch a time-lapse video it is a series ofevent you have missed it for good, so perhaps it's
still images that have been edited together to give thebest to keep the clicks happening as often as possible
perception of a fast moving video. The images are putso you can make best use of the images in the edit at
together in such a way that certain ‘gaps' appearthe end.
to make events look like they are happening fasterOnce the photography period has ended the images
than they did in real life. The timing and number ofneed to be edited together. This is usually done using
these ‘gaps' usually depends on the environmentspecialist video editing software. You can then overlay
that you are shooting. Time-lapse photography is thatthe video if required, or simply supply it raw on DVD or
process of taking the pictures that can then be editedFlash for the web.