Category Archives: Time-lapse

Photography, Time-lapse

And They Danced #time-lapse

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2015-11-11 TL Bay City 2 (166 of 254)-Edit

It’s been a while since I have dabbled with time-lapse photography.  I had some time the other day and decided to give it another whirl.  It was a picture perfect morning for a sunrise.  The clouds were a bit thick, but that ended up to be a great feature.  The sun rose through the clouds during the whole shoot.  The sun rays danced on endlessly through the early morning.

Shooting time-lapse is a significant investment of time – or at least I think so.  I brought along a book to pass the time.  The three sequence were shot between 6:58 a.m. – 9:04 a.m. on 2015-11-11 in Bay City, WI.

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I planned on capturing slightly different views and mashing them up together afterword.  As it were, the intervalometer on camera 2 was only set for 90 frames (instead of 999). Live and learn; check every single setting twice.  Set white balance.  Compose and focus; then switch to manual focus so lens doesn’t attempt to focus for each frame.  Manual mode for exposure.  Check those setting twice to be sure.  It is rather disappointing when you spend a few hours capturing time-lapse only to hundreds of unusable frames.  I started shoot these sequences at ISO 200, 18mm; I did however make some adjustments along the way.  I started at F/11 @ 1/40 sec and end up at F/14 @ 1/640 sec.  The changes where gradual with several frames between changes.

I took this learning opportunity to move and setup with a dramatically different angle of view.  There was a nice-sized bit of drift wood on he beach that created an interesting foreground.  I’ve only used my new Manffroto PIXI Table Top Tripod a few times; this is exactly what I envisioned using it for.

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I ended up with two shorter segments and one longer one – longer being completely relative here as the final product is only 57 seconds long.  The time-lapse sequences were produced in VideoVelocity 3 by Candy Labs.  The sequences were mashed up together in Windows Movie Maker.

The final product is below with music added by Kai Engle – With Redemption.

 

Nature, Photography, Time-lapse

Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse #time-lapse

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In the US, Canada, and Central and South America, a rare Total Lunar Eclipse of a Supermoon took place the evening of September 27, 2015.  This event will not happen for another 33 years.  Fortunately it was visible near the Minnesota/Wisconsin boarder in a small Mississippi River town of Bay City, WI where my wife and I along with our friend Linnae photographed it.  Here are a few shots.

Here is a crude time lapse leading up to the full eclipse.

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Nature, Photography, Time-lapse, Video Velocity

January Sunrise #time-lapse

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32 degrees on a January morning is always welcomed to me.  It is also an invitation to get out and shoot a sunrise.  Winter vs. Summer sunrises are a toss-up for me.  One plus to Winter sunrises is they happen later.  I am not opposed to getting up early, but 6 a.m. is always seems easier than 4 a.m.

Cyndie and I initially planned on shooting at a favorite spot in Lake City, MN – a quick 20 minute drive from where we live in Red Wing, MN.  We arrived at the point (off of Chestnut St) and just down from Ohuta Park.  We made good time and had plenty of time to spare.  Giving ourselves plenty of time was a good plan as there were minimal ice heaves present off the point.  There certainly were not enough to fill in the foreground of a photo.

Like any plan, it is good to have a backup.  We back-tracked to the boat landing in Old Frontenac on Lake St.  I had stopped there on MLK day while driving around Lake Pepin after shooting the sunrise.  I noticed some ice fishing houses on the lake; I thought they where closer to the landing.  I was envisioning them as a nice foreground for the sunrise shoot.  Upon arrival the parking lot was already full and folks where lining up on the ice to park.  The ice fishing houses where out further from shore; not in an ideal position unfortunately.

MLK Day 2015 Sunrise
MLK Day 2015 Sunrise

If you were thoughtful enough to have a back up plan, chances are you have yet another idea if the first and second option doesn’t pan out.  We still had plenty of time and decided to head back to Red Wing and then across the river into Wisconsin and to a favorite sunrise spot in Bay City.  This place works well any time of the year; with its close proximity to Red Wing, it is easy to reach if in a hurry.  The springs along the shore leave open water throughout the winter.  The open water affords local Mallards a quiet resting place as well as enable beautiful cloud reflections.

Map

// TPE – The Photographer’s Ephemeris //

I shot the sunrise in three different sequences.  I have not shot any time lapse in a while, but felt inclined to do so because he the clouds were pretty epic this morning with nice gradual movement.  I wish I would have set up different cameras in the three locations and captured longer amount of time.

First sunrise sequence time lapse

Here is a single frame I selected from the sequence of shots to post process.
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Second sunrise sequence time lapse

Here is a single frame I selected from the sequence of shots to post process.

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Third sunrise sequence time lapse

Here is a single frame I selected from the sequence of shots to post process.

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Here are some other shots from the morning.

And finally, some shots from the iPhone.  You need another camera to keep yourself occupied when shooting time lapse – you have some time on your hands.

Photography, Time-lapse

Weather Over Tomato Jungle #time-lapse

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I haven’t created as much time-lapse content as I would like.  I continue to work with my GoPro to get better at it.    I setup on the deck among the tomato jungle I created this season using the Alaskan Bucket System.

Here is new video I produced yesterday afternoon/evening:  Weather over tomato jungle.  I like the clouds most in the second half of the video.

 

Photo mode:  1 frame/30 seconds output @ 15 fps.

Destination, Nature, Photography, Time-lapse

Sunrise @ Hollow Rock | MN North Shore #exploremn

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Fall 2013 MN North Shore series

Hollow Rock

resortlocationHollow Rock is located a handful of miles South of Grand Portage, MN on MN North Shore.  Hollow Rock Resort is situated in between Hollow Rock Creek and Hollow Rock Road.  The rock formation is located right off of the shore from the resort.  Cyndie and I stayed in Cabin #5 – Moose; Hollow Rock was right out the cabin’s front door.

Being right on location was certainly nice.  All that was needed was to wake up, have some coffee and then set up to shoot.  The in-floor heat was a plus; it made the cabin nice and cozy.  I was also happy to see the tank-less water heater.  It is always good to have hot water.  This is what I like to refer to as remote/comfortable.  There is no cable TV, cellular service or Internet here.  It was quite peaceful.  A great place to get lost for a few days.

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Here are a few other shots from the cabin and around the immediate area outside the cabin.

At this particular time of year, the sunrise lines up nicely with hole in Hollow Rock.  We had a picture-perfect morning for a sunrise.  The weather, clouds and color came together quite nicely.  Here are four frames from that magnificent sunrise shoot.

I continued to practice my time-lapse photography at this location as well.  I had the same issues as before, but I am pleased with the results.

Part One

Part Two

Destination, Photography, Time-lapse

Sunrise @ Grand Marais | MN North Shore #exploremn

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Fall 2013 MN North Shore series

grandmaraisharborAs luck would have it, our first morning of MN North Shore yielded a spectacular sunrise.  The clouds and color were quite wonderful.  I am very fond of Autumn sunrises as they happen much later than they do in the Summer 🙂.

Since we would be in position an hour or so before sunrise, I took this opportunity to practice some time-lapse photography again.

There are two parts.  I was having issues with exposure; part way through I needed to adjust and that doesn’t bode well for a seamless end to end video.  The two parts captured the clouds and color pretty well.  I need to do more research on this and practice practice practice.

Part 1

Part 2

Here are a few frames from that lovely morning sunrise.

Destination, Nature, Photography, Time-lapse

Honeymoon Bluff – Gunflint Trail | Minnesota North Shore #exploremn

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Fall 2013 MN North Shore series

Honeymoon Bluff

There is a very picturesque place not so far away from Grand Marais, MN; just up the Gunflint Trail approximately 30 miles on MN North Shore.  Honeymoon Bluff overlooks Hungry Jack lake; if honeymoonbluffmappyou are lucky you will witness a beautiful sunset.  This site is easily accessible by a well-mark and maintained trail.  Steep as it was, it is over very soon.  A quick 1/2 mile and you are looking out over pristine wilderness.

Our first attempt during our stay in Grand Marais/Grand Portage was met with cloudy conditions – not optimal for a sunset.  You come all this way and you sometimes make do with what is available.  I took the opportunity to shoot some time-lapse photography.  Since we were relatively close the second day we decided to have another go at it.

Time-lapse is interesting to play around with; clearly I need to perfect the process more.  The output is a bit crude as I had some dust and dirt issues and I still have the trial version of the software.  Sunset I think is easiest as you just end up with a black frame eventually.  Sunrise is a whole different thing; more on that in a future post.

Cloudy version

Sunset version

Here are my shots from both days – clouds and sunset.  Cyndie and I really enjoyed this spot.  It is easy enough to reach if you are in the area and it looks like there may be a good sunset.