LAPSE-TIME PHOTOGRAPHY 



BEFORE starting in lapse-time picture work one 

 should be well grounded in other branches of pho- 

 tography, an expert in judging the correct exposure 

 under all conditions and the dramatic value of a 

 picture, in timing the camera to produce in a con- 

 densed form the action that may take in life minutes, 

 hours, days, or weeks to happen, and which he wishes 

 to show in a given number of seconds. The added 

 expense may be nothing if the work is done by hand 

 for short action pictures, and the more complicated 

 lapse-time units may be homemade if one has me- 

 chanical ability. I have seen all sorts of devices, from 

 water dripping into a balanced tank that tipped over 

 when full, tripping the camera to make one ex- 

 posure, to electrical methods that worked (some- 

 times). 



If one wishes to picture cloud movements, a sun- 

 rise or sunset, the hand method is advisable, as ex- 

 posures made at two or three second intervals, un- 

 less the clouds are moving very rapidly, will give in 

 half an hour's time some twenty seconds on the 

 screen. A football stadium taking an hour to fill up 



31 



