How to make time lapse videos using webcam

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that which will be used to play the sequence back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example, an image of a scene may be captured once every second, and then played back at 30 frames per second; the result would be an apparent increase of speed by 30 times. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking, and can be confused with stop motion animation.

In time lapse photography technique wherein multiple photographs, taken at the same location over a period of time are stitched together to form a video. The resulting effect is of time passing by very quickly, hence the name. Free software called Tilaphos (http://sourceforge.net/projects/tilaphos) or Webcam TimerShot (available on http://download.cnet.com) can do this for you without hassling you with too many technical details.

 An external webcam is recommended for time lapse videos because it is easier to keep it still. Also, it is much easier to place it at a location from where a wider frame can be captured — larger coverage would result in capturing of more movements, which in turn will make the video look good. It's important that the laptop (or webcam) is kept perfectly still and that it receives constant power. After that, it's just a matter of setting the time interval and recording the time lapse.

Most photographic cameras, even digital ones, offer limited (if any) control for time-lapse photography and that at a high price. Webcams on the other hand are much cheaper and ubiquitous, though in many cases the images they produce are of inferior quality. Depending on the objective, however, they can provide a cheap but adequate solution for time-lapse photography.

Courtsey: Wikipedia and Economic Times