Time Lapse/ sequences of movement research

Time Lapse/ sequences of movement research

Time-lapse photography is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (that being the frame rate) is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, the sequence’s time frame allows making the sequence appear that it is, that being time is moving faster, thus lapsing.  An example, an image of a scene may be captured once every second, then is edited to be played back at 30 frame per second, therefore the result is an apparent 30 times speed increase.

Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking. Stop motion animation is a comparable technique of this. Moving the camera during the shot creates some of the most stunning time-lapse images; mounting the camera to a moving car for example can do this, where the purpose of this would to be creating a notion of extreme speed.

Short & Long exposure time-lapse -

In time-lapse photography, the camera records images at a specific slow interval such as, for example, one frame every thirty seconds (in technical terms, 1/30 frame/s); What this means is that the shutter on the camera will be open for some portion of that time.

In short exposure time-lapse, the film/ shutter will be open for a certain amount of time, will be exposed to light for a normal amount of exposure time, this being over an abnormal frame interval. An example of this would be the cameras is set up to expose a frame for 1/50^th of a second every 30 seconds. 1/50^th being a fast shutter speed. This type of set up, or create, the effect of an extremely tight shutter angle.

In long exposure time-lapse, the exposure time will approximate the effects of a normal shutter speed/angle. An example being 1/24^th of a second at 180 degrees. Normally this means the exposure time should be half of the frame interval thus meaning a 30-second frame interval, should be accompanied by a 15-second exposure time; the purpose of this is so that the result of the final production will result in appearing in a smooth nature.

Long exposure time-lapse is less common because it is often difficult to properly expose the film at such a long period; this is mostly because of for example, if you tried to do it in daylight situations. For example, a film frame that is exposed for 15 seconds will receive 750 times more light than its 1/50^th of a second counterpart, thus meaning it will be more than 9 stops over normal exposure.

Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton

Harold Eugene “Doc” Edgerton, born April 6^th 1903 – January 4^th 1990, was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts institute of technology, where he is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device.

In 1937, Edgerton began a lifelong association with photographer Gjon Mili, who used stroboscopic equipment, in particular, multiple studio electronic flash units, to produce strikingly beautiful photographs, many of which appeared in life magazine. When Edgerton was taking the multiflash photographs the strobe light equipment could/would flash up to 120 times a second.

Edgerton was mostly known as being a pioneer in using short duration electronic flash in photographing fast events in time, such as a tennis player serving a tennis ball, subsequently using the technique to capture images of balloons at different stages of their bursting, a bullet during its impact with an apple, or using multiflash to track the motion of a devil stick, to name a few more examples.

Sam Taylor-Johnson

Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson OBE, Born March 4^th 1967, is an English filmmaker and photographer. Originally a sculptor, Sam Taylor-Johnson began working in photography, film, and video in the early 1990s. Johnson has said, “the split between being and appearance in situations where the line between interior and external sense of self is in conflict”, which has always been in the centre of her creative work.

Taylor- Johnson has had numerous group and solo exhibitions, such as for example, her solo exhibitions for photography include Kunsthalle Zurich (1997), Louisiana Museum of modern art, Humlebaek (1997), MCA Sydney (2006), Contemporary Art Museum, Houston (2008), & Venice Biennale (1997); the Venice Biennale, being her most prominent as she won the Illy Café prize for most promising young artist. She was nominated for the turner prize in 1998.

Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge, born April 9^th 1830 – May 8^th 1904, was an English photographer, mostly known for being important for that fact of his pioneering work, in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. Muybridge immigrated to the United States at the age of 20 years old, arriving in New York City and then later moving to San Francisco in 1855, a few years later after California had become a state.

Muybridge had left San Francisco in 1860 as a merchant, but returned in 1867 as a professional photographer, where he gained highly proficient technical skills and an artist’s eye. He became successful in photography, mostly focussing principally on landscape and architectural subjects.

Muybridge established his reputation in 1867, this being with photos of the Yosemite Valley wilderness and areas around San Francisco. Muybridge gained notice for his landscape photographs, which showed the grandeur and expansiveness of the west. Muybridge took enormous physical risks to make his photographs, using a heavy view camera and stacks of glass plate negatives. During the construction of the San Francisco Mint in 1870-1872, Muybridge made a sequence of images of the building’s progress, using the power of time-lapse photography to document changes over time.

Justin Quinnell