time-lapse cinematography

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics

Videos

Observe a dandelion from flowering to forming of a seed head

Time-lapse: A total lunar eclipse

Learn how scientists use time-lapse photography to track movement and flow of glaciers

Experience the city of Chicago

View a time-lapse video of cloud formations rolling across the sky followed by a thunderstorm

Observe how the sporophytic fern appears to unfurl upward as it grows from its rhizome

See the blooming of the reticulated iris (Iris reticulata ‘Pauline') flowers

See a Matilija poppy blooming, a native to California (US) and Mexico

Observe a living plant cell undergoing mitotic cell division recorded by time-lapse photography

Behold a time-lapse video of a mushroom cap's emergence from the ground

Read Next

Vandalized Art list. Combo of EB owned illustration (top) and parent Asset 182294. 4 of 11 The Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez was hit with a meat cleaver by Mary Richardson

Art Abuse: 11 Vandalized Works of Art

Painting palette with oil paints and brushes. Rainbow colored paints, arts and entertainment

Art History: The Origins of 7 of Your Favorite Art Supplies

Bag end on Bagshot row from the movies Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in Hobbiton, New Zealand, Australia

You Ought to Be in Pictures: 8 Filming Locations You Can Actually Visit

Members of the public view artwork by Damien Hirst entitled: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living - in the Tate Modern art gallery on April 2, 2012 in London, England. (see notes) (1991) Tiger shark, glass, steel

Vile or Visionary?: 11 Art Controversies of the Last Four Centuries

Sculpture of woman before restoration (left) and after restoration on the exterior of an office building in Palencia, Spain. (art restoration)

5 Art Restorations Gone Wrong

Discover

earthquake. Heavily damaged school in the town of Yingxiu after a major earthquake struck China's Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008.

The 6 Deadliest Earthquakes Since 1950

Odissi Indian classical female dancer on white background. (Indian dancer; classical dancer; Indian dance)

6 Classical Dances of India

Data analysis of the Super Bowl's "winningest" teams, game locations, MVP winners by position, teams with the most game losses. football, sports, infographic

From Sport to Spectacle: The History of the Super Bowl

Parsons Weems' Fable, oil on canvas by Grant Wood, 1939; in the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Catalog entry: The historian Mason Locke Weems, commonly known by his clerical title, Parson Weems, pulls back a curtain to point at 6-year-old George Washington. Bearing an adult head and holding an axe, George gazes blankly up at his father, Augustine, who questions his son while holding a partially cut cherry tree. All of this takes place in front of a 20th-century brick building, which Wood modeled after his own home in Iowa. The scene illustrates the fable of Washington and the cherry tree, which Weems invented in 1806 for the first president's biography. Wood playfully suggests the artifice of the tale here, presenting the story in the manner of a costumed stage play rather than a real event. Amid the action, two Black figures pick cherries in the background, a reference to Washington' slaveholding past and a reminder of of what often gets left out in historical mythmaking.

Did George Washington Really Say, “I Can’t Tell a Lie”?

Chapter 4 pg 42 - Chapter header of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Published in 1884 by The American Publishing Company

Periods of American Literature

Title: Senate Square, St. Petersburg, December 14, 1825: repression of the troop mutiny - watercolor by Carl Ivanovitch Kollman, 1825 depicts Decembrist uprising clashing with cavalry, with spectators watching. (new style December 26, 1825) Europe. Saint

8 of the Largest Empires in History

Secret Service Agent Listens To Earpiece

Secret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. Presidents

time-lapse cinematography

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Jan 16, 2025 • Article History

Related Topics:: cinematography

See all related content

Observe a dandelion from flowering to forming of a seed head — Observe a dandelion from flowering to forming of a seed headTime-lapse video of a dandelion, from flowering to the forming of a seed head.
See all videos for this article

time-lapse cinematography, motion-picture technique by which a naturally slow process, such as the blossoming of a flower or cloud-pattern development, can be seen at a greatly accelerated rate. Normal sound cinematography reproduces movement by recording and projecting it at 24 frames per second. In time-lapse cinematography, single frames are exposed at much greater time intervals (usually minutes) and then viewed at the standard 24 frames per second. Most often the technique uses a camera that operates automatically upon the signal of a timing device.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Robert Lewis.