Recording Slow Frame Rates for Time-Lapse Photography
Slow frame rates are used for time-lapse photography, in which a scene is recorded
relatively slowly, perhaps one frame every second, hour, or day. This is useful when you
are trying to capture gradually changing events, such as growing plants, the movement
of clouds, or the rising and setting of the sun. When played back at standard frame
rates, events occur rapidly on screen and otherwise undetectable patterns emerge.
Stop-motion photography, traditional drawn animation, and computer rendering
take a similar approach. The point here is that the rate of creating a frame does not
necessarily correspond to the rate of playback. This is one of the most exciting
propositions of motion pictures and their ability to manipulate time: you can create
images at whatever rate suits you and play them back at a totally different speed.