We’ve all admired amazing time-lapse videos at some point or the other. Remember the father who took a photo of his daughter every day for 10 years of his life and compiled it into a video? Or the stunning vistas of the sun moving across a skyline, the miracle of a flower opening or a bird hatching? No doubt that a lot of these have been the result of inspired photography, but time-lapse videos could be an exciting and effective way of displaying your photographs.

Technically speaking, time-lapse photography refers to the process of capturing the same scene or object with a still camera over a period of time as it changes, and then playing it back quickly (much faster than its actual rate of change) so it seems like a video. For some excellent—albeit at times stomach-churning—examples, take a look at the ‘Time-lapse’ section of Webiocosm.net, or simply search for ‘time lapse videos’ on YouTube.

This method is different from video photography since video or film cameras shoot images at 24 frames per second (or more), which is played back at the same speed to depict the action in a realistic way. With your regular camera, you will get regular still photographs, but armed with the right software you could turn it into a stunning time-lapse video.

Contrary to what one might expect, there are a number of easy-to-use and free tools available to turn ordinary photos into inspired time-lapse creations. In fact, you may already have one installed—Windows Movie Maker, which comes bundled with certain Windows versions. If not, download it free from Windows Live (Live.com). The process is quite simple: navigate to the folder where the photos are stored and import the ones you want. Then select your frame rate and drag your photos to the storyboard or timeline. You are now ready to look at a preview. If required, adjust the frame rate; then add music, titles and other effects as finishing touches.

MakeAVI(MakeAVI.sourceforge.ne) is an open source option for putting your photos together into a video. This is also pretty simple to use, and the developer provides a simple text file with instructions on how to use. Slightly advanced users might want to try VirtualDub (VirtualDub.source­forge.net), another open source application, with features such as resizing, framing and video conversion built in.

Mac users have the free Time Lapse Assembler from DayOfTheNewDan.­com. It’s easy to use: point it to a folder containing sequentially named JPEG files, select a frame rate, and it will produce a Quicktime-compatible movie file. For additional editing, you will have to use a video editing software such as iMovie. Those with the iLife suite installed also have the option of using iMovie directly.

There are a few things to keep in mind before plunging into the process. First, crop images to a sensible size or you might end up with insanely huge file sizes for the videos. Also, it is a good idea to name the photos sequentially, e.g., EggHatc­hing1 thro­ugh EggHatching123. Some applications might require this. Finally, make sure the images are of the same size. Some programmes may have cropping features built in, but many others do not.

Most importantly, remember that whether you use a state-of-the-art DSLR camera, a pocket-sized point-and-shoot or just your cellphone; when it comes to time-lapse magic, all that limits you is your imagination and creativity.

Payal Dhar is a freelance technology write