Time lapsed

Time-lapse photography is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example, an image of a scene may be captured once every second, then played back at 30 frames per second; the result is an apparent 30 times speed increase. In a similar manner, film can also be played at a much lower rate than it was captured at, slowing down fast action, as slow motion or high-speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, e.g. the motion of the sun and stars in the sky or plant growth, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking. Stop motion animation is a comparable technique; a subject that does not actually move, such as a puppet, can repeatedly be moved manually by a small distance and photographed; the photographs can be played back as a film, showing the subject appearing to move.

Some classic subjects of time-lapse photography include:

The technique has been used to photograph crowds, traffic, and even television. The effect of photographing a subject that changes imperceptibly slowly, creates a smooth impression of motion. A subject that changes quickly is transformed into an onslaught of activity.

The first use of time-lapse photography in a feature film was in Georges Méliès' motion picture Carrefour De L'Opera (1897).

F. Percy Smith pioneered the use of time-lapse in nature photography with his 1910 silent film The Birth of a Flower.

The first use of lapse-time to record the movement of flowers took place in Yosemite in late 1911–1912 by Arthur C. Pillsbury, who built a special camera for this purpose and recorded the movements of flowers through their life cycle. Pillsbury owned the Studio of the Three Arrows in the Valley and applied the technique to solving the problem of ensuring the survival of the rapidly shrinking varieties in the meadows. The United States Cavalry, then in charge of Yosemite, were mowing the meadows to produce fodder for their horses.

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