Photography, Time-Lapse

The purpose of using time-lapse photography is to speed up events that normally take considerable time. A simple example is the opening of a flower. In a sense, it is just the opposite of the process used in creating slow-motion pictures. Both processes involve a technique for intentionally altering a normal duration of time in order to learn more about the subject by closer examination. But, whereas slow-motion focuses only on the specific subject being filmed at the time, time-lapse photography can record processes that in real time take or months or years to be completed. with both techniques, humans are able to effectively manipulate time for their own practical or artistic purposes.

In time-lapse photography, the photographer takes a sequence of pictures at a slower rate than the standard 24 frames per second used by the movie industry. The special skills needed to perform time-lapse photography include being able to discern how much time should be allowed to lapse between each photograph being taken, so as to record discernable changes that are occurring. Time intervals may need to be adjusted depending on the particular changes the subject is undergoing, but the process will usually involve taking individual pictures over 24-hour periods for as long as is needed to record the entire process. The effects of both temperature and light must also always be considered.

John Ott is generally considered a pioneer in time-lapse photography. What began as a hobby in his high school days in the late 1920s developed [Page 989]into a career in which his skills became influential. Because this type of photography was relatively unexplored, he had to use whatever equipment was available and to devise improved equipment himself until he was satisfied that he was photographing subjects in their most realistic setting. Starting with a Brownie camera and a timer made from kitchen clock works, he eventually built an automatic plastic greenhouse. He developed the ability to take microscopic pictures, as well as a process known as “total spectrum lighting.”

Ott witnessed growing interest in uses of time-lapse photography beyond entertainment and advertising, such as applications in horticulture and medicine. He received numerous honors, including an honorary degree from Loyola University, and eventually became a faculty member in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University. He worked as a researcher for various companies, including Quaker Oats and General Electric.

In working with Walt Disney on the film Secrets of Life, which was to include a segment on the growth of an apple, Ott discovered that ordinary glass would not transmit all the ultraviolet and shorter wavelengths needed to accurately record the normal process. He was finally able to complete the assignment by substituting special plastic materials.

In his film Our Changing World, he wanted to depict the orderly progressions of earth and the creation of life and its development. The power of the single cell had always impressed him. He noted that humankind has been on earth a much shorter time than plants and that plants and animals tend to respond similarly to light.

...