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VIDEO

VIDEO

Time-Lapse Photography

Time-Lapse Photography

Time-lapse photography is used to capture change or movement that occurs over a long period time. In order to capture how a plant grows or a glacier moves, a photographer sets up a camera in a fixed location and takes a single picture at regular time intervals. When the individual photos are played back in rapid sequential order, viewers are able to see growth or movement of the object or process that was photographed.

Grades

5 - 12

Subjects

Photography

Program
Mysteries of the Unseen World (logo height 65 pix)

Fast Fact

In positive phototropism, organisms move or grow toward a light source. In negative phototropism, organisms move or grow away from a light source.

Fast Fact

Auxins are the class of light-sensing hormones responsible for regulating phototropism in plants.

Fast Fact

Dr. John Nash Ott’s work with time-lapse photography and plant growth led him to believe that exposure to different wavelengths of light could impact animal and human behavior. Ott discussed these views in his 1973 book, Health & Light.

Media Credits

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Writer
Angela M. Cowan, Education Specialist and Curriculum Designer
Editor
Julie Brown, National Geographic Society
Copyeditor
Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing, Emdash Editing
Producer
Julie Brown, National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

January 11, 2024

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Related Resources

Funder
National Science Foundation Mysteries of the Unseen World
Partner
National Geographic Entertainment
Made Possible in Part By
Lockheed Martin