How are long time lapse scenes shot?

[jtvang125]

This technique is often used in nature programs. Examples are flowers blooming in the spring, a forest changing colors from summer to fall or a fallen tree decomposing on the forest floor.

Using the last example, how are these very long time lapse scenes shot? It can't be feasible to keep a camera rolling and changing the batteries for months on end can it?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Old days:
Place a camera on a fixed, stable mount, use a mechanical timer to trigger taking 1 frame every x seconds, minutes, hours or days.

Battery use would be very low since it's only taking pictures once in a long while.

But yes, you would have to change film and batteries every so often.

 

[OdiN]

It depends on the rate of what is happening.

For a flower blooming, you could sit it there and record it all most likely.

For something decomposing, it would likely just have some sort of setup which takes a picture every so often. Say once every hour. These are strung together to get the final result. So a battery could last quite a long time if it's just taking a shot ever hour. For stuff that happens quicker, then yeah you probably keep it rolling a lot quicker.