A way of filming in which the camera takes one picture every few seconds, minutes, or hours, and then all those pictures are played quickly one after another. The result is that something very slow appears to happen fast: a flower opens in three seconds, clouds race across the sky, a whole building goes up in half a minute.

A way of filming一種拍攝方式in which the camera takes one picture every few seconds, minutes, or hours，是相機每隔幾秒、幾分鐘或幾小時拍一張照片and then all those pictures are played quickly one after another，然後把這些照片快速地一張接一張播放出來。The result is that something very slow appears to happen fast結果就是很慢的東西看起來變快了：a flower opens in three seconds, clouds race across the sky, a whole building goes up in half a minute一朵花三秒鐘就開了、雲朵飛快掠過天空、整棟building半分鐘就蓋起來。

Used before a noun — time-lapse photography, a time-lapse video, a time-lapse camera — and people also just say 'a time-lapse' for the finished clip. It is the opposite of slow motion, where many pictures are taken and played back slowly to stretch a fast thing out.

Used before a noun — time-lapse photography, a time-lapse video, a time-lapse camera —可以放在名詞前面——time-lapse photography（縮時攝影）、a time-lapse video（縮時影片）、a time-lapse camera（縮時相機）——and people also just say 'a time-lapse' for the finished clip，人們也會直接把做好的影片叫做'a time-lapse'。It is the opposite of slow motion它跟slow motion（慢動作）剛好相反where many pictures are taken and played back slowly to stretch a fast thing out，slow motion是拍很多張照片、再慢慢播放，把快的東西拉長。

Note the everyday meaning of the two words apart: a 'time lapse' with no hyphen can simply mean a gap of time that has passed. But in photography and video, the hyphenated word is the one you want.

Note the everyday meaning of the two words apart要注意這兩個字分開來、日常的意思：a 'time lapse' with no hyphen can simply mean a gap of time that has passed沒加連字號的'time lapse'可以單純指「經過的一段時間」。But in photography and video, the hyphenated word is the one you want但在攝影和影片的脈絡裡，你要的是加了連字號的那個字。