Timelapse Earth

Using footage from the International Space Station, photographer Bruce W. Berry, Jr. created a stunning compilation of our planet.

Building the World’s Largest Ship

In just 76 seconds, watch as the construction on the very first Triple-E vessel goes from start to finish.

Produced by: Discovery Channel and Maersk

From Wyoming to Mexico, a Beautiful Time-Lapse Trip Down the Colorado River

Drawing rain runoff and snow melt from the slopes of the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado River is a dominant source of water for the American southwest, providing fresh water for drinking and farming and hydroelectric power to millions.

In 2011, Will Stauffer-Norris and Zak Podmore spent nearly four months kayaking and portaging and hiking the length of the Colorado River, from the Green River in Wyoming, which feeds into the Colorado, to the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. That 113-day journey was crushed into this beautiful three-and-a-half-minute time-lapse, showcasing the varied landscapes of the southwest. Read more at Smithsonian.com.

Infrared Timelapse of Rolling Australian Countryside

This infrared time-lapse footage features the limestone landscapes near Wee Jasper, a village in New South Wales in Australia.

The footage is part of a larger work—in scope, duration and resolution—from Glen Ryan, who shot the footage, and self-proclaimed cloud wrangler James van Der Moezel. The time-lapse served as the motion component of the recent Karst Country prints and paintings exhibition shown at the Belconnen Arts Centre in Australia.

Ed note: Do you shoot cool time-lapse videos? We want to see them! Submit your footage to Smithsonian Magazine’s Video Contest and you could win $2,000. Learn more here.

Timelapses from the Silk Road

These timelapses were shot while traveling along the ancient Silk Road from China to Uzbekistan in mid 2012.

Places featured include (in order)
China - Beijing, Xi’an, Turpan, Kashgar
Kyrgyzstan - Tash Rabat, Song Kol
Uzbekistan - Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand

Video: Chris Northey

Ed note: The ancient gold artifacts from Afghanistan that were hidden for more than a decade.

One Day in the Country

Introducing the “blur-lapse” (a sort of hyper-lapse, with DOF shifted in time frame by frame).

Video: Fabio Palmieri

Ed note: This farm family turned their crops into a giant QR code that can be scanned from an airplane.

Stunning Timelapse of the Pacific Northwest

From stars streaking across the night sky to clouds moving over snow-capped mountains, photographer John Eklund captures the beauty of the region.

Photographer John Eklund, the creator of “Purely Pacific Northwest,” answered a view questions about the timelapse via email:

1. What is your background? How did you get started in timelapse photography?
I originally got into landscape photography because I had an interest in capturing the beauty in nature. Then one day, I discovered photographer online by the screen name of Mockmoon on YouTube. I was blown away by his timelapse work of the stars and Milky Way. After discovering timelapse photography, I viewed the typical landscape photography as static. With timelapse photography, it’s more dynamic. It captures the movement and changes in light that happens constantly in nature.

2. What equipment did you use to capture the Purely Pacific Northwest timelapse?
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 5D Mark III (x2)
Canon 24mm f/1.4 L II
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 L II
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L
F-Stop Tilopa Backpack
Dynamic Perception Stage Zero Dolly
Dynamic Perception Stage One Dolly
Gitzo GT3541LS (x2)

3. What challenges did you come across?
I am still learning new techniques. Everything I’ve learned was from trial and error. Numerous hours of experimenting in the field.

4. What are some of your favorite scenes?
No easy answer. Every location here in the Pacific Northwest is amazing in it’s own way.

John would also like to thank his fiancé for her support.

Video: John Eklund

Ed note: Authors Charles Johnson and Katherine Dunn write about their hometowns of Seattle and Portland.

10 Days of Beautiful Timelapse Footage at Wimbledon

For each day of ESPN’s coverage of the oldest tennis tournament in the world, the production company, The Seventh Movement, put together this stunning footage of everything from the rowdy spectators to the behind-the-scenes set up of the court. More from Deadspin:    

We shot over 250 time-lapse sequences, 100,000 frames in 10 days on Canon 5D3, 5D2, 7D, and the RED Scarlet. We shot Wimbledon at its quietest during the day when there was no one on the grounds. We were firing as fans raced up Murray Mound to get a seat to watch the Finals. And after everyone left and the sun set, we set out to capture the venue at night.

Ed note: The first ball at a Wimbledon tournament was served on Monday July 9, 1877. What’s happened since and why, explained in our “Brief History of Wimbledon”.

EuroLapse

The images used in this timelapse were taken in 2011 over the course of three summer months in Europe. My wife’s mother lives in Lithuania, just outside of the capital city Vilnius, so we decided to make it our homebase from the end of May through August while we traveled to various countries.

Cities visited:
Vilnius
London
Amsterdam
Paris
Stockholm
Copenhagen
Helsinki
Heraklion
Fira
Milan
Cinque Terre

Video: David Smith

Ed note: Check out some of Rick Steves’ favorite European destinations. 

Spring Revisited

Shot over a number of weeks in a small cupboard, every bunch of daffodils appeared to be a different variety.

Video: Mark Rigler

Ed note: We uncovered the secrets behind your flowers.