Time lapse is essentially a succession of stills at less than the common playback frame rate. Most video plays at 30fps so if you capture at every other frame or 15fps over the same amount of time, it’s twice as fast. The problem I used to run into is that most natural events occur relatively slowly. This would use a great deal of video tape as it was recorded in real time and then I’d reduce the frames in post. Therefore, I decided to try to perform the same operation with my digital still camera.

This was an exercise in producing time lapse from a digital still camera. It was shoot at the SF Bay from my island of Alameda.
Details:
Shot with Fuji S3 Pro at 1 frame every 3 seconds
Nikon MC-36 intervalometer
Stills assembled together in Quicktime Pro
Flicker effect overcome with a GB Deflicker plug in for After Effects
Music: Philip Glass’ Prelude from Act I of Akhnaten

Video Duration 1:03 minutes