Time-lapse video, shot from overhead, of Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery creating a sand mandala over 5 days: Eight frames per second (1:30); Thirty frames per second (0:23). [via MeFi's Own™ carter]
posted by not_on_display on Oct 21, 2009 - 22 comments

Ben Wiggins features stunning time-lapse photography. From the strange colorings of the Cnidarian and Montipora coral species, to summer cloud transformations in and around San Francisco. Couldn't make it to Burning Man 2009? See it... in just two minutes (2008, 2007).
posted by netbros on Sep 26, 2009 - 6 comments

Mountain Light is the latest beautiful time-lapse video from Tom at Timescapes. A little behind the scenes showing his dolly and camera setup in action. Check out his other videos, or follow him on Twitter.
posted by knave on Sep 22, 2009 - 18 comments

A road trip from San Francisco to Washington D.C. in time lapse.
posted by The Devil Tesla on Sep 9, 2009 - 24 comments

Time-lapse video of the Southern California wildfires. Another image of the fires, as seen from space. Google Map.
posted by mattdidthat on Sep 3, 2009 - 20 comments

"The arc of the Milky Way seen from a truly dark location is part of our planet's natural heritage," said Connie Walker, and astronomer from the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. Yet "more than one fifth of the world population, two thirds of the U.S. population and one half of the European Union population have already lost naked eye visibility of the Milky Way." In these areas, people are effectively living in perennial moonlight. They rarely realize it because they still experience the sky to be brighter under a full moon than under new moon conditions. "Reducing the number of lights on at night could help conserve energy, protect wildlife and benefit human health," astronomer Malcolm Smith of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. One study found an increased risk of breast cancer for women living in areas with the most light pollution (abstract). Some communities are embracing their dark skies, such as the New Zealand community of Tekapo, possibly home to first "Starlight Reserve," waiting on UNESCO's official approval. Not sure where to look in the vast night sky? Follow some guidelines, or check the view in Chile, Queensland, Australia, or Texas.
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 13, 2009 - 74 comments

Inspired by its 10th anniversary, the Earth Observatory has pulled together a special series of NASA satellite images documenting how the world has changed. From these images, Wired Science has made 5 videos, presenting convenient time-lapse views of the world changing (mainly) because of human actions. Watch the urbanization of Dubai, specifically the growth of Palm Jumeirah. See the Aral Sea dry up - once the fourth largest lake, down to 10 percent of its original size (marked by the thin black line in the video) by 2007. View the clearing the Amazon, as observed from above the state of Rondônia in western Brazil. Behold the return of Mesopotamia's Wetlands, now in the process of being restored from near total destruction under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Witness the impact of drought on Southern Utah's Lake Powell, where water level dropped from 20 million to 8 million acre-feet from 2000 to 2005.
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 4, 2009 - 12 comments

So bored you could watch plants grow? Okay, start with Corn [0:35] and Radishes [0:46]. [more inside]
posted by mudpuppie on Mar 25, 2009 - 25 comments

Control time... A face gets punched, a face gets water-ballooned, and a dog laps water (with its face!) at your accelerative discretion. (If that's not enough... Previously on Metafilter.)
posted by pokermonk on Oct 9, 2008 - 6 comments

Four fast motion videos. And two slow ones. (You might want to open these in new windows. A funky nav scheme may not bring you back here with the "back" button. And it might show another video after the linked one. They really want you to watch their videos.)
posted by Fuzzy Skinner on May 3, 2008 - 3 comments

28 Hours in Jyväskylä Filmed at locations in and around Jyväskylä, a city in Central Finland. The idea was to show city life in a way that no-one normally experiences it - in time-lapse, often shot from roofs and masts. [Shorter version on youtube]
posted by gomichild on Apr 14, 2008 - 27 comments

Ross Ching is a time-lapse photographer. Ross traveled across the US, Argentina, and Chile to shoot Eclectic 2.0 (480p Quicktime) with a DSLR mounted on a telescope tripod. Here's some production stills. See how it was made here and here. View a flash version at the website of The Ghost Orchid, who provided the music.
posted by Sfving on Apr 3, 2008 - 17 comments

When snow threatened the Cleveland Indians 2007 opening game, the stadium grounds crew was there to save the day. Watch them battle the forces of nature in this time-lapse video. Think you can handle this monumental task yourself? Play the game and find out.
posted by Faint of Butt on Apr 2, 2008 - 18 comments

"Road Trip is a short film composed of 12,397 pictures taken automatically from the back seat of a car while driving accross [sic] America from Portland, Oregon to New Hampshire."
posted by dersins on Dec 28, 2007 - 34 comments

Undular Bore Waves
posted by geos on Oct 19, 2007 - 17 comments

Light Graffiti. Wacky Japanese kids use glow sticks and time lapse to make a pretty sweet (embedded) video.
posted by Ufez Jones on Aug 10, 2007 - 20 comments

R. Luke Dubois' Billboard is a study in time-lapse phonography. Dubois digitally analyzed every #1 Billboard single from 1958 to 2005 and found a "spectral average" sound for each song. Every second of the piece represents one week in music history. The results are more interesting than you might think: compare the Beatles-dominated 1964 with the more processed, percussive sounds of 1997. Dubois has also created a time-lapse study of Oscar-winning movies. See also: "Chart Sweep" (scroll down to bottom of page). (via)
posted by roll truck roll on Feb 25, 2007 - 10 comments

Superbowl in three minutes. (I love you Dallas Clark and Bobby Sanders.)
posted by thirteenkiller on Feb 6, 2007 - 28 comments

This time-lapse video of an oil-painting being created by Pablo Picasso is brief, but captivating. The clip is a scene taken from the 1955 French documentary "The Mystery of Picasso," in which director Henri-Georges Clouzot filmed the artist painting 20 different pieces. Bizarrely enough, almost all the art created for the film had to be destroyed upon close of production due to contractual obligation. Via
posted by jonson on Jan 1, 2007 - 28 comments

Tlapse is the corporate YouTube account of GBTimelapse software, who are promoting their product by posting a series of really interesting timelapse films. Favorites so far are: Pumpkin, Watermelon & Bananas, but maybe I just have a decomposing fruit fetish. Although, this one of the world's laziest cat enjoying another productive day isn't bad either.
posted by jonson on Dec 16, 2006 - 12 comments

The Daily Monster - Time-lapse videos of artist Stefan Bucher turning ink splotches into monsters. A new one every day. Also available on YouTube.
posted by Partial Law on Dec 12, 2006 - 13 comments

Two time-lapse journeys through the Panama Canal.(YouTube)
posted by fandango_matt on Dec 4, 2006 - 6 comments

This video (set to The Album Leaf's "Outer Banks") is an absolutely gorgeous bit of time lapse photography, all shot around a cityscape I couldn't recognize. Watching it made me think of this movie, which is another bit of ethereal time lapse urbanscape beauty, this time shot in a city I did recognize (downtown Los Angeles & LAX initially, San Francisco later). Direct download 480p version of second film here. Of course, watching the second film reminded me of this previously posted third film (Rivers of Light, by the Grass Collective) involving cityscapes(downtown L.A. again - flash based preview here), this time in slow motion, and without audio. All links are quicktime, and HUGE, but highly recommended and very, very pretty.
posted by jonson on Oct 14, 2006 - 19 comments

London to Brighton in Two Minutes (2006) [HI Apple Quicktime, LO Adobe Flash] preceeded by London to Brighton in Three-and-a-Half Minutes (1983) [RealMedia, context] preceeded by London to Brighton in Four Minutes (1953) [RealMedia, context]
posted by riotgrrl69 on Oct 1, 2006 - 21 comments

A self-portrait every day: Sven and Tobias Staude, Ahree Lee, Noah Kalina.
posted by MetaMonkey on Sep 2, 2006 - 16 comments

A cool time lapse video of the progression of the seasons in Norway. via coudal partners
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Jan 3, 2006 - 25 comments

Plants in motion Time-lapse movies of plants doing plant-like things, such as growing, nutating, opening up, and being smelly. [requires quicktime]
posted by carter on Feb 22, 2005 - 23 comments

Playing With Time uses time lapse photography and computer animation to show events that normally happen too fast or too slow for humans to perceive. (via Neat Net Tricks newsletter)
posted by Jaybo on May 15, 2004 - 9 comments

Things going squish on my scanner - time lapse scanner fun with surprisingly cool results brought to you by Kamikazee Killmouse. I'm partial to the kiwi. His page of short animated choppings is also an amusing place to while away some time in a b3ta kind of way. (via j-walk)
posted by madamjujujive on Mar 27, 2003 - 9 comments

Facing Time: A family's yearly self-portrait from 1976 to 2002 is both uplifting and unsettling; a bit like human life itself. How does one separate the morbid fascination with aging from the spiritual joy of growth? Not to mention the element of voyeurism... [From ZoneZero, via Eclectica.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Oct 14, 2002 - 30 comments