But a photographer who travels to the beach and sets out a camera on a tripod to capture a timelapse of the sunset DOES have copyright over those photos. What'

But a photographer who travels to the beach and sets out a camera on a tripod to capture a timelapse of the sunset DOES have copyright over those photos. What's the difference if they leave the camera there for longer? They still chose the placement and the angle and the lens. In either case, the camera's electronics are deciding the minutiae of the image acquisition.