So I've been playing with time-lapses a fair bit recently, and I've learned a lot of magical and mysterious things... For example, have you ever considered how it's pretty awesome to be able to speed up time by taking a photo every 2 seconds, and then playing it at 30 fps? When doing it like that, a 1 hour timespan only takes up a minute of video - perfect for sunsets, sunrises, etc. Using this technique, you can create some truly astonishing stuff.

However... That got me thinking. Why have we decided to only have linear intervals? Why stick to a photo every 2 seconds? Why not change the gaps between each photo?

By starting to take photos very quickly at first, and then slowing it down, for example, it would look as if the video was accelerating. Start slowly and speed up, and it looks as if the video is speeding up.

Eased Time-lapse Videos

The next logical step was even more awesome: What if we could use the algorithms used by animators, and actually apply mathematics to the acceleration of each video? So, that's what we decided to do.

Known as Tweened Time-lapse, or Eased Time-lapse videos, we took a leaf out of the animation playbook. So far, I can only share two quick video experiments with you:

The acceleration and decelleration in this video isn't done in post-production: It's done in camera, by varying the intervals between each photograph taken in this time-lapse set. Awesome, eh?

If you want to stay posted on how my experiments progress, or if you want additional information, remember to sign up to the Friends of Triggertrap mailing list!